Blog Posts - The Institute for Strategic Improvement

Improvement Culture

2/5/2018

Developing the culture necessitates establishing a team based environment that is rich in communication and where improvement is tied to strategic goals. As an organizational leader behavioral expectations are set for the organization which are guided by policies and standards. The culture is further developed when leadership models the behavior it wants to be seen as the culture of the organization. Some practical tips to improve this are:
1. Communicate openly about the transformation’s progress and success
2. Everyone should clearly see how her their work relates to the organization’s vision
3. Be the change you want to see. Leaders model the behavior changes they ask employees to make
4. All personnel adapt their day-to-day capacity to changes in customer demand
5. Everyone should be actively engaged in identifying errors before they reach customers
6. Best practices should be shared
7. Develop employees so they can exceed performance expectations
8. Be sure roles and responsibilities are clearly defined
9 Focus energy on the early adopters and assign projects to high-potential individuals to
10. Start each day with a huddle about the previous day’s results and current day’s work

Create Persuasion for Change

1/25/2018

Create Persuasion for Change

Creating the culture for change is done by showing the value of Improvement. This comes from showing people in your company the successes of your projects and maintaining a continual improvement climate. Once people see the changes and improvements is becomes contagious and they want to become a part of it. A good sales pitch is that Six Sigma can take your company out of crisis mode.

Do you feel like you continually struggle to reduce costs, improve performance, or improve your customer’s satisfaction? Providing tools and providing a framework to your employees to improve can easily be done using the DMAIC methodology. In order to create a persuasion for the change you only need to show the success of one project.

Developing a persuasion for change and improvement mentality may include establishing systems to match your company through process orientation. This process orientation encourages a collaborative atmosphere which has fluid conversation and communications to better meet the customers’ expectations.

To create the persuasion of change start small. Discuss the principles and the benefits then develop the framework for a Six Sigma program at your company. One of the greatest inhibitors to good implementation of change is time. It takes time to develop any good program but good leadership understands the value of taking time to improve what you do.

Once you have the buy-in of leadership you can begin integrating Six Sigma tactics into your company using instrumental steps to persuade the change:

Focus your improvements on the customer. The Voice of the Customer is key to your success and in order to gain Six Sigma buy –in you tie it to what your customer wants.
Understand your company’s culture first. If the existing culture is one in which company employees do not work together well, or have difficulties with civility or simply do not appear to care. It will take more time to encourage them to Participating station in process improvement.
Develop your data. What are your data sources? Take inventory of what is available. Do you trust the data or will you need more. You will need data to help define the problem in the initial phases or at least give it some validity. If you have any existing critical to quality measure data have it available and know the input and output data as it exists. Determine the validity of your data and if you need additional software to review it.
Commit time and resources to your improvement. Without resources and time, improvement teams will suffer and your improvements as well.

Six Sigma Roles

12/11/2017

What’s your plan?
If you are currently using Six Sigma are you meeting your goals? Are you getting the return on investment you had hoped? Is everyone on board and aligned with the goals, or only part of your employees?

How much time are you investing in Six Sigma deployment and improvements a day? 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour, once a day, one a month, once a quarter, once a year? Six Sigma is like any company initiative of for that matter similar to a living object. You have to feed it to grow.

How are you hardwiring your deployment and usage?

How much time did you put towards improvement today?

Engage in consistent action

Creating a Six Sigma Infrastructure

Creating or developing a Six Sigma Infrastructure will vary depending on the size, geographic locations, and culture of your company. The culture of your company is an important factor in your companies Six Sigma deployment. If your existing corporate culture is positive Six Sigma integration will be a factor that increases your success many times over. If the culture struggles specifically in civility or communications your implementation will be more challenging.

You have several choices for infusing Six Sigma into your company. You can develop a Six Sigma program or develop a complete infrastructure. The strength of Six Sigma is that it is entirely scalable for implementation. You see the benefits within a short time frame and you can invest a few hundred dollars to get the ball rolling or you can invest thousands depending on your needs.

A Six Sigma Program is used to teach employees Six Sigma Methodology to use and apply on a job when needed. It provides a process-oriented approach that teaches employees to select the right tool, at the right time, every time.

Deploying Six Sigma as a business strategy through Six Sigma tools usage and projects is an effective way to realize the benefits of Six Sigma deployment. Six Sigma projects offer better bottom-line results. They allow for better feedback and increased communication for process strategies and critical business processes. To properly create the infrastructure all projects should be used to meet the company’s business strategy and use Six Sigma as a plan and map to effectively meet those goals.

When creating a Six Sigma infrastructure you choose the roles and responsibilities for your company. The team formation is very simple. Six Sigma teams typically consist of stakeholders, executives, champions and team members (yellow belts) who are led by a green belt or black belt.

Develop the structure - Project level membership may include, master black belts, black belts, green belts, or yellow belts who help in management of the improvement initiative. Project team members are obtained throughout the company for expertise and technical guidance.

Executives provide the strategic alignment within the organization for initiatives and Six Sigma projects. They ensure Six Sigma goals are linked to company goals and make sure that Six Sigma aligns process excellence efforts across the company. They also determine what projects are needed based on the impact each has on the company. They also provide reviews of improvement teams but are most responsible for developing the cultural transformation and removing barriers.
Champions guide the team through organizational support, resources, and removing roadblocks. They identify teams or individuals required to facilitate Six Sigma deployment. Six Sigma Project Team provides input into policies and procedures and Six Sigma activities such as training and special recognition events.
Master Black Belts train black and greenbelts and manage the strategic direction of the Six Sigma program. They identify high-leverage opportunities for applying the Six Sigma approach across the company. Master Black Belts are highly proficient in using Six Sigma methodologies to include advanced statistical analysis, project management, project coaching and communications.
Black Belts are seasoned at problem solving, Six Sigma team leadership, and application of Six Sigma tools. They are Six Sigma technical experts who change agents who lead business process improvement projects.
Green Belts lead Six Sigma teams and assist the project teams with data collection and analysis.
Yellow Belts review overall activities, gather data and information, and participate as a project team members.

Depending on your goals or your company’s goals you may also benefit from an overarching steering committee for process improvement oversight and monitoring to provide recommendations to leadership based on the volume of process improvement Six Sigma teams you have going at the same time.

How much time did you put towards improvement today?

Why Is Quality Important?

11/29/2017

Why Is Quality Important?
Business success may simply be the extent to which your organization can produce a higher-quality product or service than your competitors are able to do at a competitive price. When quality is the key to a company’s success, quality management systems allow organizations to keep up with and meet current quality levels, meet the consumer’s demand.

What can I do?

Infusion of Blue Ocean. What companies were around 20 years ago and are there no longer? Compaq, EF Hutton, Eastern Airlines, Woolworth’s, Standard Oil, DeLorean Motor Co. just to name a few. Use Blue Ocean thinking to prevent this from occurring to you.

Selecting projects with the highest ROI and that are found to be feasible in time and budgetary constraints.

Offer your customers training related to your quality initiatives.
Using dynamic tools and new more advanced tools to achieve efficiency.

Deploying dynamic strategies not static. Try DFSS, DMDV, TRIZ and DMADOV

Use lean as a management system through Lean leadership. A great example of this is using GEMBA walks to go out into areas and see the work being done.

Incorporating transformational culture and transformational coaching to pull together your overarching strategy with Six Sigma, lean, project management and overall organizational excellence.

Are you using your True North? “True North" is a key concept in Lean process improvement. It emerged from Toyota twenty years ago and symbolizes the compass needle for Lean transformation. True North works as a compass proving a guide to take an organization from the current condition to where they want to be. For some businesses it is viewed as a mission statement, a reflection of the purpose of the organization, and the foundation of a strategic plan.

Do you recognize your value stream? Use Value Stream Mapping (VSM) with methods to measure the end-to end performance of the process. They can be used to manage and improve the end-to-end value stream on an ongoing basis.
Green Intentions - Developed by a plant manager who experienced first-hand the challenges to going green in a business environment, Green Intentions provides organizations with a simple, straightforward, and practical approach to green - the Green Value Stream (GVS) process - that is as mindful as it is profitable. Based on the highly successful, Lean philosophy, the GVS process shows you how to quickly identify, measure, and minimize the seven green wastes to realize immediate cost savings.

Sustainable Business and Industry: Designing and Operating for Social and Environmental Responsibility is an introduction to developing and implementing a successful program in the domain of sustainability and social responsibility. The reader is exposed to financially, environmentally, and socially responsible objectives that are supported by strategies and achieved by clear tactics that have measurable outcomes. ISO 26000 is given detailed attention, slightly more than ISO 9000 or ISO 14000, because it melds guidance on both environmental and social responsibility into one general concept of social responsibility.
Lean out the office environment. It is one of the most overlooked and often can provide greater efficiency and improvement in projects by performing a few lean projects for the administrative and paperwork side of your business.

The current market evolves so fast you may not have time to react with full deployment cycles and long analysis. Using rapid changes may work for you. PDSA, Rapid Process Improvement, and Kaizen.

The Institute for Strategic Improvement offers training in Quality Management Systems.

Black Friday Savings

11/22/2017

Great Savings for you from the Institute for Strategic Improvement!

This weekend you have the opportunity of a lifetime with discounts on quality management training.

½ price green and black belts

https://www.instituteforstrategicimprovement.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

Through Cyber Monday we will offer 50% off these courses:
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification normally $297 for only $146.50 use Coupon code Thankfulweekend
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification normally $189 for only $94.50 use Coupon code Thankfulweekend
Quality Management Systems normally $39.00 for only $19.50 use Coupon code Thankfulweekend
A3 Management Training normally $29.00 for only $14.50 use Coupon code Thankfulweekend
Thank you for all of your support. Sale ends Monday 1/27/17.

Happy Improving Day

11/22/2017

Happy Thanksgiving from the Institute for Strategic Improvement

Wishing us all safe travels and peace with our families

November 15th, 2017

11/15/2017

Multi-part Quality Series

Benefits of Standards

Standards ensure that products and services are safe, reliable and of good quality. For business, they are strategic tools that reduce costs by minimizing waste and errors, and increasing productivity.

ISO has over 21000 International Standards covering almost all aspects of technology and business.

These are some of the most common/popular in use:
ISO 9000 - Quality management - ensures products and services meet customers' needs
ISO 14000 - Environmental management - improves environmental performance
ISO 45001 - Occupational Health and Safety - reduces workplace risks and creates safer working environments
ISO 27001 - Information security - ensures an organization's information is secure
ISO 26000 - Social responsibility - helps organizations to operate in a socially responsible way
ISO 50001 - Energy management – helps with energy savings and makes organizations more efficient
ISO 22000 - Food safety management – provides confidence in food products
ISO 13485 - Medical devices – helps manage quality throughout the life cycle of a medical device. These are some of the most common/popular in use:
ISO 31000 - Risk management – helps manage risks that could be negative for your company’s performance
ISO 37001 - Anti-bribery management systems - prevents, detects and addresses bribery.
ISO 8601 - Date and time format - Uses an internationally accepted way to represent dates and times.

These are the most common groupings
for the ISP standards

Yellow Belts for Veterans

11/6/2017

Yellow Belts for Veterans
Happy Veterans Day this weekend Saturday, November 11, to all of the brave men and women who have served in the armed forces. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard we are all strong because of you.

We thank you for your service and sacrifices. And to those who have lost family members in the line of duty their sacrifice does not go unnoticed.

From our group of Veterans to yours… Happy Veterans Day!

As a special offer to our Nations Veterans contact us now through Veterans Day for a coupon code for our Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt for FREE in our “Yellow Belts for Veterans program”. The course is here:

https://www.instituteforstrategicimprovement.com/store/p51/Lean_Six_Sigma_Yellow_Belt.html

For the coupon code contact us here: https://www.instituteforstrategicimprovement.com/contact-us.html

Multi-part Quality Series

10/30/2017

Multi-part Quality Series

What is your definition Quality? There are a number of quality definitions what is your definition?

Common “Quality” Definitions:
Quality: “The totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs.”
Quality: “An inherent or distinguishing characteristic, a degree or grade of excellence.”
Quality: Do the right thing and do things right all the time.”
Quality: The ratio of performance to expectation.
Each customer has their definition of quality. One way to meet their definition is by developing a quality management system. Quality management systems serve a number of purposes.

Establish a vision for employees
Set standards of operation
Sets goals for employees
Motivates employees
Develops the organizational culture
Fights the resistance to change

Interested in finding out more? Email us at info@instituteforstrategicimprovement.com for a coupon code to receive the Quality Management Systems Course for only $20.00

Multi-Part Quality Series

10/22/2017

Multi-Part Quality Series

Emerging Trends in Quality for 2017 and 2018

2017 what's different from last year and what are we looking at for 2018?

Companies are continually facing industry changes and market forces. Take a look at your smart phone for example. What version are you using, or what operating system did you just load? Six Sigma can be considered the same. It grows over time and can be used to complement any improvement activities. Six Sigma complements project management framework and business analysis framework. Newer, easier, and more robust improvements are developed every day just in the way many software companies use agile development and lean. Agile software development is a set of principles for software development in which requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams. Lean startups are using the “lean” terms to help startups shorten their product development cycles by adopting a combination of business-hypothesis-driven experimentation, iterative product releases, and validated learning. Iterations are no different than PDSA.

Some companies are infusing a number of “customer driven” initiatives in tandem with Six Sigma. In effect using Six Sigma for the larger projects and lean for the smaller waste driven.

Take global corporate initiatives, Companies are rapidly learning there is value added to their businesses using lean processes that have built in processes to help the environment and develop consumer “good will”. The Global Business Initiative on Human Rights’ (GBI) vision is that all corporations in all parts of the world respect the dignity and rights of the people they impact and interact with. The goal is to advance human rights in a business context through cross-industry peer learning, outreach and capacity building, and by informing policy.

Global corporate initiatives show sustainability for the future and socially responsible companies who understand the investment is necessary to lead the market in the future.

Many companies are striving for operational excellence designation, certification, or recognition. The Shingo prize is an example. The Shingo Prize is the world’s highest standard for operational excellence.
The Shingo Prize is based on a complete assessment of an organization’s culture and how well it drives world-class results. Shingo examiners focus on the degree to which the Shingo Guiding Principles of the Shingo Model™ are evident in the behavior of every employee. The examiners observe behavior and determine the frequency, duration, intensity and scope of the desired principle-based behavior. They also observe the degree to which leaders focus on principles and culture, and managers focus on aligning systems to drive ideal behaviors at all levels.

This focus is unique in the world and is the most rigorous way to determine whether an organization is fundamentally improving for the long-term, or just going through the motions of another flavor-of-the-month initiative.

Organizations that receive Shingo recognition fall into three categories:

Shingo Prize - a worldwide recognized symbol of an organization’s successful establishment of a culture anchored on principles of enterprise excellence

Shingo Silver Medallion - organizations maturing on the journey with primary focus on tools and systems for improvement

Shingo Bronze Medallion – organizations in the earlier stages of cultural transformation with primary focus on tools for improvement
Most organizations do not wait to challenge for the Shingo Prize until they are likely to win it.

Interested in finding out more? Email us at info@instituteforstrategicimprovement.com for a coupon code to receive the Quality Management Systems Course for only $20.00