Volatile economy affect on Lean Six Sigma

QUESTION: How will the volatile economy affect lean six sigma and process improvement professionals? Will there be more demand? And with what type of skill set?

RESPONSE: Whenever times get tough in a company, often the improvement professionals are among the first to get laid off.  What is wrong with this picture?  One of the main reasons is that improvement efforts are often in silos and the executives don’t see the benefit of what is getting done; e.g., we saved 100 million dollars and nobody can find the money.

To address this problem, I think that improvement professionals need to adjust their skill set and focus so that they look at what could be done to improve the overall business management system.  This effort should include how to create predictive scorecards and conduct analytically/innovatively determined strategies (i.e., avoiding strategies that are worded not unlike “we are to be the best of the best”), which lead to projects that benefit the enterprise as a whole.

If this makes sense, suggest that you check out Figure 3.6 of the free e-book that is available for downloading from the home page of Smarter Solutions, Inc.  This figure provides a roadmap where process improvement efforts are integrated within the overall business management system.  The traditional basic skill set of process improvement specialist can be invaluable in facilitating the execution of this business management system; i.e, there would be more demand for those who could help with its implementation.

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