Chapter 7. The Way We Work

“With Six Sigma permeating much of what we do, it will be unthinkable to hire, promote, or tolerate those who cannot, or will not, commit to this way of working.”

—Jack Welch, former CEO, General Electric

In Chapters 5 and 6 we discussed managing the Six Sigma initiative, sustaining the gains, and expanding the initiative to all parts of the enterprise, including suppliers and customers, in order to make the organization perform better. A central theme was the need to integrate Six Sigma activities with existing management processes and procedures.

In this chapter we take Six Sigma one step further and discuss how to integrate it into daily work. The changes an organization makes in its work as a result of Six Sigma comprise its control plan for the overall initiative and ensures that it maintains the gains it has achieved. The desired end game is that Six Sigma becomes such an integral part of the way the organization manages that there is no longer a need for a formal Six Sigma initiative.

The recognition that Six Sigma has been institutionalized into your culture is not based on a Gantt chart or predetermined deadline. Rather, you will know that Six Sigma is an integral part of the way you do your work when you see the key elements of Six Sigma being used on a daily basis. Some examples include:

• Continuously working to find better ways of doing things

• Recognizing the importance of the bottom line and finding ways to improve it

• Thinking of everything you do as a process

• Recognizing the ubiquitous nature of variation and its effects on your work

• Working to reduce variation

• Using data to guide your decisions

• Using Six Sigma tools to make your processes more effective and productive

These key elements will be clearer as we discuss ways of making Six Sigma part of daily work processes.

In our experience, the most effective ways to make Six Sigma a part of daily work include integrating Six Sigma concepts, methods, and tools with process management systems (for both your operational and managerial processes), creating and managing an overall improvement system that guides and integrates all types of organizational improvement, and integrating Six Sigma with other strategic initiatives such as ISO 9000, the Malcolm Baldrige Award criteria, and Lean manufacturing. We address each of these methods in turn, and conclude by discussing the long–term impact that Six Sigma should have on your organization.