Standard Bank Group – one of the largest financial institutions in South Africa, with more than 1.33 trillion rand (R) (US$200 billion) – recently released a case study about how it deployed Lean Six Sigma methods to reduce waste and errors, and also created a balanced scorecard system to track its progress. As a result…
In an era of complexity and contradiction, many healthcare organizations are seeking bold strategies for leading and managing change. While concepts behind the balanced scorecard and core Six Sigma methodologies are not new, a powerful management tool can be crafted through the unification of these two proven strategies. An approach that combines the targeted performance…
One of the crucial elements of the project charter in the define phase of a Six Sigma project is the selection of project metrics. Project metrics selected should reflect the voice of the customer (customer needs), as well as ensure that the internal metrics selected by the organization are achieved. Metrics selected should be simple…
Lean Six Sigma can be overwhelming to an organization if implemented without regard for an organization’s change management history, culture and readiness. That said, the starting point for Lean Six Sigma – as well as any organized approach to effecting change that both enhances customer experience and impacts profitability – is actually having a strategy that includes…
Six Sigma, with its emphasis in many cases on hard, current-year results, is often not associated with government agencies and their processes. One reason is that a government’s mission is as much about providing services to the public and other stakeholders as it is about cutting costs and realizing efficiencies. In fact, there is frequently…
Some industry analysts and organizational executives have questioned the effectiveness of the balanced scorecard. The tool, introduced by Robert Kaplan and David Norton in 1992 in an article in the Harvard Business Review, is used to articulate to individual employees the organizational goals and objectives set by management. But some modern critics of the balanced…
A successful company and its leadership must have the ability to meet financial and customer expectations in a changing global economy. To win customer confidence and meet business plan objectives, the leadership team must not only develop a winning strategy, but drive results by turning the strategy into a reality through communication and a fact-based…
The journey to organizational improvement involves a major investment. Any executive deploying Six Sigma within their organization can describe the plethora of time, effort and money spent in bringing such an initiative to life. There are questions about organizational dynamics to consider: Who will serve as Champions, Master Black Belts, Black Belts and Green Belts?…
Randy Woods
Bradley Schultz
Shree Phadnis
Richard Simpson
Bill Abbott
Henry Killackey
Laura Ponticello