Top 10 Candidate Qualities

I have managed and initiated several six sigma efforts for Fortune 500 and midsize companies. Key ingredients to success are:

1) Strong change management orientation. Knows how to get executives and mid-management support. Knows how to get organization wide buy-in using communications, training, consensus building meetings. Should have implemented six sigma or other process initiatives at all levels of the company.

2) Strategic perspective. How to align six sigma with strategic objectives of the company, so that six sigma is making the company stronger competitively and financially. Many efforts are not focused on strategic issues, but reactive problems. Thus the effort doesn't sustain itself.

3) Political savy. Similar to #1, but requires 1-on-1 networking and consensus building.

4) Ability to get results, quickly to demonstrate early success. Too many six sigma efforts drowned the business and waste time by overanalyzing (collecting way too much data for what is required). Most projects can be analyzed and solutions designed within 1-2 weeks. Anything more is overkill, and loses peoples energy, which you need for implementation.

5) The best six sigma leaders I've seen have a passion for quality, customer service, and business improvement. They are typically frustrated by the status quo and keep pushing to change things.

6) You need someone who has been through it. It gives credibility to the effort.

7) Knows a six sigma or process improvement methodology; and has used it, and taught others. I don't think all the statistical process control stuff and design of experiments is as important as others. Unless you are in a high volume production or process business, then running manufacturing experiments is more important.  In most companies, there are some many processes that are suboptimized, it would be better to get as many big gains, as quickly as possible.

8) Significant change, out of the box thinker. Most processes can be improved by 50+%, if that is the objective of the project. Go for someone who goes after big change. A risk taker. The gains are there to be had.

9) Balanced personality. If the person is a true change agent, which is what you need, you need someone with composure. Changing the organization and how business gets done, will upset and anger many. The person must be good a weathering all the snipers. I hope you are ready to support him or her, because others will attempt to undermine anything new. This is guaranteed.

10) Ability to build trust.  If the person is a straightshooter, and follows through on what he or she says, others may not always like it, but they will come to trust the person. You need trust for others to follow.

Good luck. If you want any clarification or suggestions, I would be happy to share experiences in getting started, or how to select the best candidates.

Dan Tegel, Ph.D.

760-944-1610

Great question by the way.