Six Sigma in recession

The decisions made in this regard will define leadership….or not.

Think of people and processes – both are important.These are interesting times we live in.An economic crisis bigger than any in my lifetime.Job losses in the US at catastrophic levels and it’s even worse in
areas dependent on the US Big 3 automakers. Reports of GM
buying all or part of Chrysler and the cascading effect on
employment. Optimistic views talk in terms of 30,000 displaced in
the metro Detroit area. Some reports say it will be 124,000. I think
it is like what we have seen with the bank and credit crisis, it will
be worse than current projections. GM announced just in the last
few minutes that they will lay off 30% of their work force and stop
funding 401K’s.How are companies responding to this? They have stopped
spending money. They are looking for cost savings in 2009. This
will mean more job loss and it will mean many okay processes will
be broken.It is a time of hope and opportunity.At a macro level in the US, it is the presidency of Barrack Obama.
Many, many are willing to take the risk that he is real and that he
can move us out of these troubled waters.On a smaller level, many companies can use this time to redefine
and reinvent themselves. Some companies get the opportunity of
high risk investment by the government, some get the opportunity
to take advantage of grants for business development in areas like
alternative energy.On a personal level, if you have been displaced in banking or the
auto industry, it is a reasonable assumption you will not be going
back to your old job. The opportunity is to learn new skills, to go
into new industries, or maybe to start your own business.What is the role of people who have dedicated their life to
teaching, mentoring, and making companies processes better?I think there are three distinct areas in which we should play –1) For those displaced and looking for new skills, we should help
find the grants and teach them new skills. This is not confined to
training as Lean Masters or Six Sigma “belts”, but how about things
like taking the person who has been working in Quality and has
been taught the “real world” approach and getting them certified
as a Quality and/or Reliability Engineer?2) For companies that are in survival mode, we should go in and
help them make quick gains by leading the improvement projects.
Many companies will not be worried about training their internal
resources in 2009, it is hard to think that way if you don’t know if
you will be in business in 2010. I will offer a company gains on a
focused project in one month or they do not owe me any money.
They just have to commit the time and team on their end.3) On the companies in the emerging sectors, they will be making
the transition from startup to fulfillment. Many companies struggle
with that. They also will not see clearly how to go to the outside for
help since they have limited resources. Again grant money will
need to be found, but we can go in and teach them to set up an
efficient business system that can comply with things like ISO 9000
or 14001. We can go in and help set up their processes to flow and
we can teach them best in class methods to run their processes
with efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness.How does this impact the traditional Lean Six Sigma consulting
model?In short, I think the model is dead.Few companies will go for the idea of adding infrastructure and
diverting 1% – 5% of their resources. Of those that have been doing
it, many will pull back. For what it is worth, the original model had
process improvement being everyone’s job where everyone got
trained.Does the focused full time model have merits? Of course, especially
where is an apprenticeship every professional serves as they
transition into a company or as we transition from professional to
manager. But the idea of setting aside a significant portion of a
scant resource in 2009/10 – companies will be running away from
this idea in mass.What is the new role?The new role is the ability to give companies very focused help on
people and processes.People – two factors here, knowledge and behavior. Both can be
assessed fairly succinctly. Companies will need to know if the
remaining people in their enterprise are right people in the right
jobs.Processes – Are they efficient and effective at least with respect to
their competition? If they are not, how do we offer to make
significant gains in a very short amount of time.This means we need new skills with respect to people and we need
to be people who know how to really do what we have been
teaching.My opinion. GaryA special thanks to my friend and mentor, Elmano Nigri, of
Arquitetura Humana in Sao Paulo, Brasil for helping me talk
through this.http://blog.gpsqtc.com

It’s so dead that I get pinged by head hunters every day looking for expertise and offering 6-figs + bonuses.
BLING!

For a second there, I thought it was Elton John.
Anyway Heebee, you look great.  I’d hire you in an instant.

Pretty weird that you never see both of them at the same place at the same time, huh?

In my experience at the moment the focus has been on very short projects with great focus on cutting heads as quick as possible… quite frustrating when there are so many other issues that make process improvement benefitial.  Less labour cost is always welcome, but to render everything else useless and “airy fairy” is a quite dangerous approach in the mid term… or even shorter than one may think.