What is Six Sigma in a Nutshell?

There are many companies that are trying to imitate the success of companies such as GE as well as Motorola by implementing the six-sigma methodology. However, they don’t understand that setting up six sigma is not easy and will not fetch immediate results. Successful six sigma implementation requires change in various other elements like the organization’s culture, commitment and strong faith in core leadership. Without these principle elements, implementation of Six Sigma will be a big failure. A thorough analysis of few important factors will help you recognize if your company is up for Six Sigma implementation.

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is a name given to the set of procedures and tools that are used to improvise a process. It was initially introduced in Motorola in 1986 by an engineer named Bill Smith. However, this was made popular by Jack Welch at GE in 1995. GE saved $12 billion over 5 years through six sigma. After its successful implementation in GE, many companies have adopted to Six Sigma methodology. The fundamental element of Six Sigma is to identify errors also termed as causes of defects and successfully remove them as well lessen the inconsistency in both the business processes as well as in manufacturing. Six sigma uses quality management procedures, chiefly practical as well as statistical methods and develops an infrastructure of persons in the business organization who are the subject matter experts for these methods. Every project that is carried out in Six Sigma has a prescribed process which needs to be followed in order to meet specific targets like decrease process cycle time, decrease costs, improve consumer satisfaction or boost profits.

Listed Below is three suggestions of how you can successfully implement Six Sigma Methodology in your Business Organization:

1. Burning Platform is the Key: Building a Burning platform is vital for the successful implementation of Six Sigma Methodology, That means the Senior Management needs to identify factors such as “Company Suffering Huge Losses, process to cut down costs” or “the average handle time for a call is more than 3 mins, how to cut the call short in order to increase the customer satisfaction”. These and other similar problems should be used as a burning platform when you are planning to implement six sigma.
2. Training: Without proper training, it is less likely that you will implement six sigma or Six Sigma methodology successfully. Training plays an important role in helping the agents or teams in catching up with the vision of the organization. Implementing projects related to yellow, green and black belts with the support of skilled mentors can help improve the awareness in the organization.
3. Recognizing the efforts: Recognizing the best efforts put in by the team members and rewarding them will help build the enthusiasm and can fetch amazing results. This will also help the members think creatively and will bring some freshness in thoughts and ideas.