Lean Six Sigma and Talent Management

Lean Six Sigma and Talent Management

A few years ago when I began to read numerous articles and case studies concerning the now famous “Six Sigma” and “Lean”methodologies, I thought that this was something that in essence applied only to manufacturing. I’ve read about all of the variations and theories and I have now come to the clear conclusion that this is simply not true.

Six Sigma, Lean, Kanban, JIT, WIP, DMAIC: these are all significant process improvement methods that if thought out and applied correctly can change the face of an organization. Regardless of which theory you subscribe to, each will complement the other.

In a recent study that I was introduced to written by Michael George it talks about how Six Sigma and Lean can and does apply to services. How does this relate to service oriented professions? We all know Jack Welch and the success that he attained while at the helm of GE. By effectively implementing DMAIC, Jack was able to truly define and revolutionize the way the top companies in the fortune 20 conduct business.

DMAIC – Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control.

Let’s look at how this can be applied to professional services,specifically within an HR management firm (an EPO), where multiple clients are serviced respective to their individual needs. According to Jack Welch, “The best Six Sigma projects begin not inside the business but outside it, focused on answering the question — how can we make the customer more competitive? What is critical to the customer’s success? One thing we have discovered with certainty is that anything we do that makes the customer more successful inevitably results in a financial return for us.”

After a very brief brainstorm, it has become clear.

What will make my client more competitive?

- Recruiting and attracting Q-Talent or Quality talent.

What is critical to the customers’ success?

- Retaining the Q-Talent

The services provided in this example are directly related to the recruitment and management of quality talent (Q Talent), and retained employees. Obviously the project scope is not included here in this Blog entry, but in short:

How do we approach the project?

Utilizing the DMAIC series of steps one can: Define the issues at hand within the respective client/project, Measure it, Analyze the potential causes, develop and implement improvements, and in the end Control the corrected process developed.

So what does all of this mean?

With a focused urgency and proper implementation, DMAIC will result in a higher quality of output; that is: Increased quality and Less quality costs resulting in greatly increased margins.

So what about Lean?

Lean is another process by which we can measure quality and ultimately WIP (Work in Progress). In essence, “Lean will effectively increase velocity. Increased velocity means less WIP.”

Jack Welch: “This will ultimately determine which activities are value added, and which are not? By joining these two unique but similar methods, Jack was able to create one of the greatest and most respected cost saving methods known to modern business.