Successful workplace changes require a foundation that provides direction, sets expectations and establishes accountability for results. To achieve adoption, the focus has to be about the people—not the dollars. It’s the employees and impacted departments or business units of the organization who will be asked to change and adjust to a new process. Their perception […]
Establishing a Foundation of Change Read More »
Empowerment is the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action, control work, and make decisions autonomously. This is a very useful managerial tool; especially as empowered teams are beginning to play an increasingly more prominent role in the modern economy. An organization with empowered teams encourages creativity, innovation, communication, and
Maximizing the Team Leader Checklist Read More »
There’s nothing worse: You’ve implemented an improvement and it is running into resistance. This unwillingness to adopt the new way (resistance to change) is like a tug of war – who will win out? As the project leader, you may feel that resistance represents the team’s unwillingness to accept change, but oftentimes, this is not
System Factors for Managing Resistance to Change Read More »
I am often asked about the difference between value stream maps and process maps. Which is better? Which one should I use? Your project may benefit from either or both tools. So, let’s look at each of them and their benefits to your next project. Process Mapping Let’s begin with the tool most of us
Using Process Maps and Value Stream Maps Read More »
When teaching our Lean Professional class, I am often asked, “How is Lean different from Agile?” Lean and Agile are both operational excellence methodologies, and they both have the common goal of efficiently delivering the client’s most important requirements, when it is needed, with no additional cost or time. Both methodologies focus on eliminating and minimizing
Many of the potential clients I meet have the same dilemma; they need to get more of their team equipped with Lean Six Sigma training needed to drive operational excellence, they want to have their teams attend onsite training, but they need the time, investment, and cost to be as minimal as possible. It’s not
Lean Six Sigma Blended Learning—Getting the Most Out of Your Training Investment Read More »
The SIPOC is one of the most valuable tools in the Operational Excellence toolbox. It typically can be completed in less than an hour and helps us understand who our customer is and how the value flows through our process. It provides a high-level, end-to-end picture of the process that your team is looking to
Maximizing the SIPOC for your Lean Six Sigma Projects Read More »
As a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, the measure phase can be full of potential data. How does the DMAIC methodology help us skim through it, spot the significant data, and focus the team? Recently a student called and described their own struggle to identify what data to focus on. I explained to the student
So Much Data, So Little Time: Revisiting DMAIC Methodology Read More »
Lean Process Analysis is an essential tool for rooting out waste in Lean Six Sigma, Lean, and Kaizen events and process improvement projects. Whether you work in manufacturing or service, this tool is applicable because waste can be found everywhere, in any process. No industry, organization, or business is immune from waste. Lean Process Analysis is a valuable tool for
Weed Out Waste with Lean Process Analysis Read More »
With the popularity of Agile Project Management, there is growing confusion about what that exactly means. Is Agile an approach? A method? A practice? A framework or a toolkit? If you choose to use Agile, does that mean that you should no longer use a traditional or waterfall approach? To answer these questions, I sat
Agile and Project Management Read More »
