Six Sigma Weekend Training

Hi Tami:You are not likely to get an answer because any company that tried this likely failed at it miserably.Successful implemeters are managers who see it as a valuable resource to meet business objectives and well worth the investment in people and time. Weekend only six sigma implies no committment – and doomedLance  

I have never heardof a company doing this on weekends – your management is clueless

Hi,
As you can see, this kind of policy sparks a somewhat angry response.  Even among those not directly involved.
A good argument against is the difficulty which the company has retaining employess with good training.  An employee who feels that his/her company does not support his training is more likely to leave!!
Our company normally runs three day training programs for other topics from thursday through saturday to ensure that only the interested people visit the course (and to save costs).  They chose not to implement this with the six sigma.
Every awareness course or text book highlights mangement commitment at the start.  Perhaps you should send your boss on one over the weekend.

Hi!
In answer to the first question, I don’t know of any examples that can help.  Companies don’t tend to make such failures noticable.
Our company didn’t push six sigma over into the weekend because they wanted to show 100% management comittment.  Also because the training is compulsory (we are based in Germany and would have problems with the unions on that one).  Other training courses are all voluantry (even if necessary for current or perspective job).
The weekend course ensures that people are interested because those who weren’t wouldn’t give up free time (comare with those who might take a course because it is an easy alternative to “real” work).  This is a company policy and not one that I agree with.  Another common model is that the company provide the time and each person must invest a small sum of money in the course.
People who have reached the higher levels of mangment are often very comitted.  Possibly at the cost of family life.  They probably either fit into this bracket or fancy a weekend break!  They may not understand why others might not want to offer this level of comittment.
I guess you’ve considered that your campaign against more than one dedicated manager could joepardise your future prospects ;-)

Hi Tami,
We also conduct things like press training, confined entry procedures, etc. on the weekends. The main reason for this is that we can give the same message to everyone at the same time…the participants also benefit from the typical idea exponential growth that happens in this type of environment.
Our black belt training occurs off-site in the (apparently) typical style of one week training, 3 weeks putting to good use, each month for 4 months, taking a single project through to completion.
So…what is my point? If it is black belt training you are referring to, then in my humble opinion, you would be better served by spending an entire 5 days for each phase to keep the subject matter fresh while learning.
On the other hand, if you are referring to project meetings/activities etc, there is no specific reason NOT to do them on a weekend, however, you just might introduce another variable into the process…not the least of which may be the participants state of mind, which will impact creativity.
At the end of the day, I believe that most of any project needs to be done (as far as practicable) as close to the real world as possible…which means during “normal” working hours…’though some may argue that over the past decade this includes weekends…
Just my 2 cents worth.

Tami,
In all honesty, my experience is very little in comparison to the other respondees. But on the face of it…if you are simply looking to provide training at the weekends, are you talking about yellow belt, green belt, informal roadshows, simply the promotion of the methodology to the workforce?
I would say that weekends would provide ample time for any of the above except Green Belt. As in my experience, I went on a week long block course for GB training.
Common sense I think would say that unless you have an extremely committed workforce, the bulk of the attendees are likely to be those who work on the weekend, therefor, you may only see an impact in activites undertaken during that period.
Good Luck
Bob

Failed Six Sigma Deployments – We have had several locations whom are struggling and in a sense failing in their deployment for not having support of management.  This support starts by having an in-house resident black belt who reports directly to the Plant Manager.  A black belt works across departments, at suppliers, and with customers.  The autonomy to makes things happen (Change Agent) must be committed from the top down.  This doesn’t mean you are adding another Manager…you are adding a 100% dedicated resource to problem solving.  The locations were there isn’t a Black Belt just a Green Belt and no allegance to the Plant Manager are falling behind in successful certifications and project completions.  During training progression should be reported out to the exec. staff monthly. 
Weekend Training – In my opinion a strong training class during the work week or on the weekned will require work at night and weekends.  It takes a commitment from the person attending the training and the company to realize that for 3-5 months everyone is going to be busy…and rewards should be established up front for the commitment.  (Company = Cost savings; Person = Professional Development and $)  GB and BB training should also be accumpanied with a laptop for portability of working at work, shop floor, home, vacation etc.
Management Committment: To enhance the commitment our executive staff is going through the same GB training as the engineers.  Talk about buy in and understanding of the true commitment of training and application of tools.
I support weekend training if you get the chance to sit next to a manager who is doing it with you.
 

I’d suggest that you start to look for a position in another company.
Your management’s reply is a measure of their commitment to the six sigma methodology specifically and to quality in general.

“The challenge came in the form of a manager asking me to provide one company’s name that failed because they did their Six Sigma stuff on the weekend.”
If your management has this type of committment you most likely will not have a good deployement.  Even when companies spend a lot of money and time during the work week, there are failed deployements.
Six Sigma cannot be driven from the ground up, it has to be a top down decision.  They need to believe it and support it.
Has your management been through Champion training?  I’d be surprised if any consultant wouldn’t bring up the same issues.
Ask them if they only have time to do ISO, PPAP, Lean or any other improvement system on the weekends?

I don’t think diverting training to weekends is a guarantee of failure. However, it should raise new questions, the answers to which are pretty conclusive:

How much weekday time is being devoted to Six Sigma?
What portion of top executives’ time is devoted to Six Sigma?
Are there indications that top management is making personal changes in management approach, use of problem-solving methods, data gathering & analysis?
 
If these things are moving along, weekend training might work. If you don’t see the right things happening in these regards, my advice to you is FLEE!

I do not like the idea of having training during the weekends, since who wants to lose their weekends anyway, but you may want to consider these facts based on my experience:
During weekdays, and let’s face it, students are often distracted by going in and out the classroom attending “important” everyday activities or emergencies. That would not happen in weekends. Besides, I do not think losing one weekend every certain number of weeks(depending on the training schedule) is too hard to accept. You can keep the students interested by providing lunch, treats, or by making the sessions enjoyful.
Last, I do not think there is a statistically significant difference between the number of companies failing to implement SS because they did training over the weekend and the number of companies failing since they decided to provide it during normal weekdays. That x is then discarded.