Qualtec's Business Performance Improvement Blog

After a long business cycle that saw the creation and expansion of performance improvement programs, we have undergone tremendous change that has forced every initiative at every company to re-evaluate its goals and validate its existence.  At some companies, continuous improvement has been repatriated to operations.  At others, it has mistakenly been eliminated and will undoubtedly have to reconstitute at a later date. And for a lucky few, economic changes are providing an opportunity to start for the first time or reorient their efforts to contribute to a new set of challenges. 

Those that seek to prosper in the new normal get excited by the prospect of implementing or applying a responsive system that offers such promise. It is a pretty appealing prospect and there are a number of books that paint this picture as attainable using a variety of methodologies (i.e. Lean, Six Sigma, etc).  The challenge is that with all the turmoil of the last several years few have the infrastructure needed to really identify or sustain high value improvements, and this presents a major dilemma.  

So, how can you overcome this dilemma? If you want to implement any improvement methodologies effectively, there are some pre-requisites must exist, possibly even before you attempt your first improvement project.  You can’t put an improvement in place if staff doesn’t follow standard work in a disciplined way – improvements rely on control to actualize the planned benefit.

The very arguments that support the exciting prospects of improvement methodologies often neglect to mention these issues, perhaps because they assume that the desire to improve makes you “ready”.   But sometimes that’s not the case and you must build a foundation before you try to put up the building.  The term that’s normally used for being “ready” is Basic Stability. It means that you can pretty much rely on your people and equipment to do what they are supposed to do, and you have a way (i.e. metrics) to verify.  Basic Stability usually involves establishing (or re-establishing) standard work processes and key process metrics.  Everything need not be perfect, but operations should repeat in a consistent manner or any change will soon be lost and thus the effort will prove to have been worthless.  

A good Business Process Management (BPM) program establishes the cornerstones of repeatability and thus Basic Stability.  Along with establishing alignment and cross-functional thinking, it  identifies and characterizes processes, identifies data sources, identifies key metrics, and provides for process analysis and control.  If this is in place, soon enough you will get to the place from which you can make those improvements and have them stick.  

And, the good news is that establishing a foundation Business Process Management (BPM) does not have to be overly expensive or resource-consuming.  See more about our BPM approach with our complimentary power point download or contact me directly if you want to discuss.

As a followup to my recent post titled Trained Yellow Belts Think Differently, I thought I would spend a little time talking about what yellow belts can actually DO.

In a traditional six sigma deployment, yellow belts play a critical role in supporting higher level black belt and green belt projects.  They are trained in the foundation of the DMAIC problem solving process and can speak the language of Six Sigma.  They can handle some of the lower level tasks of process mapping, data collection, setting up measurement systems, establishing and maintaining control systems , and may actually be subject matter experts. Basically, they allow the black belts and green belts to focus on the more complex analytical aspects of the project.  If yellow belts are used effectively, they can improve the productivity of black belts and green belts in a BIG way.

BUT, what can they do outside of supporting higher level belts?   What if you don’t even have higher level belts?  What can a yellow belt trained employee do for the organization? 

Six Sigma purists might argue that Yellow Belts should not be trained, without Black Belts and Green Belts, and that their role is to support higher level belts.  I don’t agree with this at all.   Again, I have to hedge by saying that I’m talking about the level of capability that yellow belts trained by SSQ have (i.e. 4-5 days of training).   So, what can Mr. Yellow Belt do?

• Characterize Processes.  Process mapping and characterization is a skill that should not be taken lightly.  All too often,  improvements are made to processes when we don’t know how the current process really operates, the current state.  These so-called improvements, in many cases, add unnecessary complexity and create more problems than they fixed.  We call this tampering and it is a sure-fire recipe for disaster.  A great example of where process characterization is an invaluable skill is with large-scale enterprise software implementations.   It seems common sense that we should understand exactly how a process works before we try to systemize/automate with software, right?  How often is there really a focused effort to characterize and optimize processes?   I would argue not enough of the time and this is readily apparent in the big $’s spent on configuration, customization, tweaks, etc.
• Establish/validate measurement systems. Yellow belts learn the basics of Six Sigma and its focus on using data to understand problems and get to the root cause.  The learn the basics of what makes a good measurement system, and what does not.    The can certainly help establish measurement and data collection systems that are actionable, and validate (or invalidate) existing ones.
• Establish Process Control Systems.  This is a key yellow belt skillset and its importance should not be overlooked.  Yellow belts learn how to set up process control systems to assure that processes function as expected by the customer.  Spec limits are establish, as are response plans when an indicator goes out of control 
• Execute small scale improvement projects in their own areas.   Will they have the deep statistical analysis skills that well-trained green belts or black belts have?  No, they will not.  But they will have a solid problem solving foundation around DMAIC and they will have a working knowledge of the basic tools in D-M-A-I-C.  They know what a well scoped project looks like, they know the basic measure and analyze graphical tools, they know how to use a structured approach to select improvements, and they definitely know about process control systems.   Let’s not lose site of the fact that these basic tools will likely be sufficient to address a significant portion of the process problems you’ll face.  

Some may think of Yellow Belts as team members, data collectors, or assistants to Black Belts.  I strongly question this view and think, in reality, a Yellow Belt’s role should be much deeper than that.  Yellow Belts practice a Process Management approach (control and manage processes using metrics and data) and can solve real business problems using basic, but proven, quality tools and a systematic approach.  

Yellow belt skills are valuable at any level of the organization, from managers to the lowest level process operators, and the processes they improve are usually the ones they work in day in and day out.  Many years back the term daily process management was in vogue.  The term has certainly faded a bit, but it’s hard to argue against the value of actively managing and improving processes on a daily basis.

Contact me if you’d like to talk about how yellow belts might be able to help your organization.  And, if you haven’t already, download our yellow belt training manual to see for yourself the rich skillset a yellow belt acquires.

Companies often deny they have a process or admit they don’t follow the processes they’ve developed.   In today’s economic environment, many attribute this behavior to a lack of resources.  Oddly enough, this behavior and explanation often comes from professionals that know the cost of not establishing or following processes.  Leaders have created a seemingly endless list of reasons for dismantling process efforts and eliminating process improvement projects.  Let’s examine those reasons and how to respond to them:

Reason No. 1: “I can’t do just a couple of processes. I’ve got to improve them all, and I’ll never get that done.“

Response: Concentrate first and foremost on the processes that touch the customer.

Reason No. 2: “Process improvement takes too long. “

Response: Not every process requires the same level of resources or attention to build, design or repair.  And not every process carries the same importance.  Also, most processes can be fixed or redesigned in weeks, and some should be finished in days.  Pick the ones that provide the most juice for the squeeze.  Get them 80 percent right and get it done. Resort and prioritize frequently.  You eat an elephant a bite at a time.

Reason No. 3: “All processes require a blank-sheet approach to redesign. “

Response: Not true. Some portion of the process can always be salvaged and reused in the new version.

Reason No. 4: “Modeling my process is complicated and it won’t get me anywhere. “

Response: Software is available to perform modeling and save hours of frustrations. It runs the process in the confines of the computer before it’s unleashed on the organization.

Reason No. 5: “We don’t need to spend time understanding the current process. I already know what the new process needs to look like. “

Response: Take the time to understand the current environment. This is by far the best technique for ensuring a smooth transition to the future.

Reason No. 6: “We’ve already improved our processes. “

Response: Process improvement is never done.  It is constantly on-going as people, technologies, customer requirements and competitor offerings change.

The point of this discussion is that if your company has responded to profit pressures by dismantling its process management and improvement efforts in favor of simply responding to immediate needs, you must revive mission before the undeniable problems come home to roost.  In restarting, reviving or keeping such efforts alive, adjust to the realities of our new economic environment.  Reduce what is being done to the available resources and focus on the customer.  Then continue to make the business case and document the ROI\ which reminding what has happened in the past when these efforts have been abandoned.  The case is as strong now for process improvement as its ever been.

If you would like to see how SSQ recommends its clients hone in on what is important and ensures a high ROI on the efforts, either download our slide presentation on BPM or contact me.

We’ve been offering a complimentary download of our Yellow Belt training manuals on our website for a couple of weeks and the response has been extremely positive.   Of course, some people just want to download something that is free.  However, the majority of people are genuinely interested in Six Sigma and process improvement in general, and are looking for ways to bring some foundation capability into their organizations.  From the conversations I have, it is clear that the need for basic process improvement hasn’t gone away, but the way companies are willing to build the capability has certainly changed.  I did a recent post that talks about how companies are moving back to the basics when it comes to CI, basics that are inexpensive and deliver results to a broad base of the organization.

Now, many of the people that are downloading have heard the term yellow belt and are curious about what a yellow belt skillset is.  But I’m seeing that a lot of people don’t have a good feel for exactly what a yellow belt does and how it can benefit the organization.  So, I’m going to provide some thoughts here and on some subsequent posts. 

As a disclaimer, there is really no standard out there for what a yellow belt knows.  I’m talking about our (Qualtec’s) definition of a yellow belt skillset.  For us, yellow belt training is usually delivered as 4-5 days of training.

Yellow Belts really should think and act differently after training so, let’s first talk about what yellow belts should be thinking about after training:

• Analyzing real data to drive business decisions, analyzing root cause to drive implementation of the right solutions, and understanding that CI (Lean, Six Sigma, BPM, etc) is all about improving business performance in terms of voice of the customer.
• Identifying and tracking the right metrics (primary, secondary, etc), really understanding process capability and process performance.
• How to practically get and use data and a scientific approach to solve a problem?
• Understanding what a problem is really costing the business, the real cost-of-poor-quality (COPQ)
• Putting in the proper process control mechanisms to sustain improvements over time …
• The project selection and prioritization process of the company to assure that the right things are being targeted, things that will make an impact.

The Yellow Belt skillset is a foundation set of quality improvement and process control tools.  It is something that can be applied anywhere in the organization and on any process to yield wide-ranging improvements.  It is one approach, and an effective one for many, to building a solid foundation for CI in their organization.

Contact me if you want more info or would like to discuss in more detail ….

Business Process Management (BPM) is a fundamental aspect of effective improvement activities, and is covered to some degree at nearly every level process improvement capability, including Six Sigma Yellow Belt.  The future holds more for business process management (BPM) than just being a linkage between the business side of an organization and the “process modeling” team. 

Currently, activity around BPM and foundation process improvement training like Six Sigma yellow belt is focused on describing and measuring how organizations perform activities that generate value for the enterprise. It can be used as a stable foundation for improvement and optimization that translates directly into operations.

Many (if not most) organizations realize that if they wish to adopt industry best practice or plan to differentiate themselves through innovative processes that business process management techniques will increase the likelihood of success. Through the use of modeling tools and standards to describe the end-to-end processes of an enterprise, a new view of how the enterprise should work can be developed.

The future will have standard business models codified into reusable frameworks that can be used as a foundation for customization. Corporations will be able to look at the model/framework and say “That’s not the way we do things!” and make an active decision about if the current way is better and worth the additional support costs. Today, most organizations passively decide to have custom solutions, because they will not take the time or have the expertise to understand what is already in the market.

BPM tools changes the perception of the situation, by allowing us to integrate existing components and models, leveraging industry best practice, enabling us to build on proven techniques that have a veneer of customization to fit our needs, significantly lowering the maintenance costs and increasing our flexibility over the long term. Organizations will realize that their time is best spent on understanding how the organization generates value, not just in how to move data from point A to point B.

Models will also allow for real time change in how an organization operates. The model will be the application, the process will be the data of tomorrow.

If you’d like to talk about the core concepts of BPM and/or Yellow Belt, contact me.  You’re also welcome to go to SSQ’s Yellow Belt webpage  where you can download complimentary Yellow Belt training materials or to SSQ’s presentation for BPM implementation.