It is a myth that the CI's Role is to Improve Processes!

One of the worst ways a company can fail in their Continuous Improvement Efforts is to promote the myth that the “CI’s role is to Improve Processes.”

I hope I got your attention with that statement.

First let me define the word “Myth:” it is a widely held but false belief or idea.

It is a myth that the CI’s role (the role of a Green Belt or a Black Belt) is to improve processes, even though this is what most CI departments are tasked with and believe. Before you decide that I am “full of it,” let me explain further.

Here is a scenario of a Green Belt who is trained and tasked to be a “problem solver” engaged in a CI project. This is how a process improvement project is haphazardly practiced in most organizations (you may have seen a similar situation in your organization):

Johnny, a CI engineer in an OpEx department of three people (in a company of 820), is tasked by leadership to “speed up” the order entry process. This mandate has come from corporate because we lost a customer and they think the order entry process could be the culprit.

He schedules meetings with a small group of SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) from the Order Entry process to analyze the process. They meet in a conference room (far away from where the problem happens) for an hour to discuss the process.

Johnny, after the meeting in his office, draws a flowchart from his notes of the meeting. His analysis (the notes and the flowchart) tells him that there are a lot of defects happening within the Order Entry process. These defects could be wasting a majority of the time.

He decides that a detailed checklist could significantly reduce the defects and reduce the Order Entry process cycle time.

He works with some managers that oversee of the “Order Entry” process to come up with a checklist.

Johnny emails the checklist to each of the Order Entry personnel with a note that says “The order entry process has been updated. Please fill out this checklist with each order and sign it to ensure that steps are omitted.”

How would you feel as an SME if this message and checklist were emailed to you? Why do you think I underlined the word “could” in this scenario?

There us so much that went wrong in this scenario:

• Analyzing the process far from where the process really happens.
• Drawing a conclusion from just a subjective process map of a complex process that was developed in one hour.
• Developing an improvement from “could” and “might be” statements instead of data and facts.
• The worst error in this scenario is that the Belt “solved” the problem instead of the SME’s.

The SME’s in this scenario will most likely “round file” the improvement (meaning throw it in the trash). They will not buy in to the solution because they were not a part of analyzing the process to come up with a solution.

It baffles me that some training organizations train Belts to be “the Sage on the Stage” (or the Problem Solver).

This is not a sustainable way to improve a company because you have broken the 1st rule of change management; “the process owner (SME) shall improve their own process.”

The Belt’s job is not to be the “Sage on the Stage” (the problem solver). Their job is to be the “Guide on the Side;” using tools to help the SME’s find the real solution. It is an amazing transformation when the SME’s see the “fix” to the process in the data (swim lane maps, VSM’s, Spaghetti Diagrams, Hypothesis Tests, etc.). When the SMEs are team to identify and implement the fix then the SMEs will take ownership of the new process.

We teach our newly trained belts to be the mentor and facilitator of change. They are taught never to voice an improvement, rather to let the data speak to the SME. Our belts know that the SME’s are the most important people in the room.

After reading the article, do you think I am “full of it?" Let me and other readers know what you think. Let us know your experience!

About the Author, Kevin Clay, President & CEO of Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc.

Kevin Clay is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt and a Lean Master Practitioner. Kevin brings over 20 years of operational experience into the classroom. He has a wide range of Lean and Six Sigma project experience in industries such as manufacturing, food processing, residential and commercial construction, insurance, banking, healthcare, etc.

Kevin has taught Public Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Training courses all over the world. Some of the locations he currently teaches are: Albuquerque, New Mexico | Anchorage, Alaska | Atlanta, Georgia | Austin, Texas | Boston, Massachusetts | Calgary, Canada | Charlotte, North Carolina | Chicago, Illinois | Cincinnati, Ohio | Cleveland, Ohio | Columbus, Ohio | Dallas, Texas | Denver, Colorado | Detroit, Michigan | Dubai, UAE | El Paso, Texas | Fort Smith, Arkansas | Honolulu, Hawaii | Houston, Texas | Indianapolis, Indiana | Jacksonville, Florida | Kansas City, Missouri | Las Vegas, Nevada | London, England | Los Angeles, California | Louisville, Kentucky | Memphis, Tennessee | Mexico City, Mexico | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Montreal, Canada | Nashville, Tennessee | New Orleans, Louisiana | New York City, New York | Northwest Arkansas | Orlando, Florida | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Phoenix, Arizona | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Portland, Oregon | Raleigh, North Carolina | Salt Lake City, Utah | San Diego, California | Seattle, Washington | St. Louis, Missouri | Tampa, Florida | Toronto, Canada | Vancouver, Canada | Washington, DC

Kevin also works with many organizations onsite at their facilities to provide Operational Excellence to these companies all over the globe.

One of Kevin’s favorite courses to teach is the Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt course because it gets everyone in the organization engaged in simple root cause analysis and bring many small rapid improvements to the organization. 

One of Kevin’s favorite quotes is:

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both." -Zen Buddhist

You can contact the Author Kevin Clay of at [email protected] or 479-739-4940