METHODS

CEO’s Guide to Six

Sigma Success
A
33 COMMON ny organization in any industry can run into roadblocks in its Six
Sigma journey. As the CEO, it’s important to watch for these obsta-
ROADBLOCKS THAT cles and help steer clear of delays in arriving at real business ben-
efits from Six Sigma implementation.
CAN OBSTRUCT To help guide you on the journey, I’ve drawn this map from my expe-
YOUR PROGRAM— rience in leading the implementation of a highly successful corporate Six
Sigma quality program. The quality program has been recognized as a
AND HOW TO GET model for the speed of its implementation and the ensuing results. In its
first 18 months, the program resulted in 80% improvement in customer
AROUND THEM. satisfaction scores and financial benefits of $18 million.
This guide—containing 33 common roadblocks in a Six Sigma journey
and routes to get around them—
offers insight from studying Six
Sigma programs at several compa-
nies in which success was achieved or
wrong turns led to dead ends.

By Arun 1. “We’re not ready for this!”

People may believe their organiza-
Hariharan, tion is not prepared in terms of its
culture or business process. For
Reliance instance, the organization may not
yet be culturally mature for the orga-
Capital Ltd. nizational rigor and discipline Six
Sigma requires. This rigor includes
realigning performance appraisal systems beginning with senior man-
agement or releasing top performers from their operational roles into
Black Belt (BB) roles for extended periods—typically 18 to 24 months.
In terms of business process, the organization needs to ensure com-
plete business process discipline—including mapping and documenta-
tion of all processes, putting measurement systems into place and having
reliable data available.
Route: The right time to start is now. Of course, cultural maturity and
robust business processes are critical to Six Sigma. But there is no need
to wait for these to happen before launching your Six Sigma initiative.
Make your organizational realignment plan part of your Six Sigma
strategy or policy document. Immediately roll out the realigned per-
formance appraisal system to reflect Six Sigma related responsibilities for
all levels. Identify and move the required high performers into BB roles
for Six Sigma launch. They can transfer operational responsibilities in the
coming weeks, even after they move into the BB role. You can do both of
these in a day or over six months—with equal effectiveness.
Managing the change is not a one time activity. You need to make it an
integral part of your Six Sigma journey.

16 I M AY 2 0 0 6 I W W W . A S Q . O R G

SIX SIGMA PROJECTS WILL WHIP PROCESSES AND MEASUREMENT
SYSTEMS INTO SHAPE.
Six Sigma projects will whip processes and meas-
urement systems into shape. Most improvement proj-
ects require reliable data to analyze. Reliable data
comes from dependable measurement systems. In
the absence of these pieces, the project team will put
a proper measurement system in place as part of the
project during the define and measure phases of the
define, measure, analyze, improve, control (DMAIC)
cycle. The team can’t proceed with the project unless
it does this.
Some organizations may prefer a formal business
process management or similar exercise to get
processes and measurement systems in order before
launching Six Sigma. This approach is also sensible—
provided it is completed in an intense, focused and
timely manner.
2. Part-time BBs. Having employees who must con-
tinue their operational (read firefighting) roles and
assume BB responsibilities strongly indicates the
absence of commitment to the project and low levels
of expectation of what Six Sigma can do.
Most failed or delayed projects are led by part-time
BBs—pulled in two directions to attend to both the
Six Sigma projects and everyday operational respon-
sibilities. They are unable to do justice to either.
Delayed projects also lead to poor motivation levels
among these BBs and their project teams.
Route: Ruthlessly root out the temptation to have
part-time BBs. Have a relatively smaller number of
BBs if necessary, but make sure they are all full-
time—preferably for a continuous minimum period
of 18 months to deliver breakthrough results. Your
organization has made a significant investment in
training BBs—make sure you get the full return on
this investment.
3. “Can I borrow my BB back?” This is another dis-
guise the previous hurdle sometimes takes. In one
company, due to operational pressures (a sophisticat-
ed name for inefficiency), a BB was moved back to his
operational role in the billing function “temporarily”
after being in the BB role for two months. Four
months later, the operational pressures persisted. In
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some cases, BBs keep shuttling between both roles.
The impact of this is the same as that of part-time
BBs. It also reflects an absence of total commitment
from senior management.
Route: In this example, after four months of fire-
fighting, the person moved back into the BB role and
completed the project to improve billing accuracy
and timeliness, eliminating the so-called operational
pressures. The BB and his team had fixed the billing
process and problems instead of just fighting the
fires, which they had been doing earlier.
The BBs’ work will substantially improve your busi-
ness processes and eliminate the need for firefight-
ing. Moreover, a full-time BB will deliver bigger, faster
results with each successive project. Each project is a
rich learning experience, allowing them to deploy
the learnings from earlier projects to future ones. By
pulling back the BB prematurely, you deny your com-
pany the much bigger results the BB could deliver on
subsequent projects.
4. “Key result areas (KRAs) aren’t everything.”
Some say it’s not necessary to change performance
appraisal systems to reflect Six Sigma related respon-
sibilities of all levels in the organization. In some
companies, Six Sigma forms part of the appraisals but
is given insignificant weight.
At one company, after months of negotiation Six
Sigma was given 5% weight on the CEO’s KRA—only
as a favor to the Six Sigma leader. Not surprisingly,
the time the CEO spent reviewing Six Sigma projects
and the results obtained were also similar—about 5%
of the target.
Route: KRAs are certainly not everything, but noth-
ing else will work without them. None of the organi-
zations that have achieved breakthrough results
through Six Sigma year after year have done so with-
out realigning their appraisal systems. While other
forms of rewards and recognition systems will help,
they are at best additional motivational factors and
not substitutes for specific Six Sigma related meas-
ures on the appraisal system.
Senior management’s time and attention Six Sigma
projects get—and therefore the business results your
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company will get from Six Sigma—are directly pro-
portional to the weight given on its KRAs. This is par-
ticularly true in the initial few years, until Six Sigma
gets embedded into the organization’s culture.
The surest indication of top management serious-
ness is realignment of the performance appraisal sys-
tem.
5. Forcing people to become BBs. In one company,
three people were told they must become BBs if they
wished to keep their jobs. Naturally, they agreed and
were put through an expensive training program.
The company had a total of 12 BBs. At the end of a
year, only these three BBs had not completed or had
abandoned their projects.
Route: Never force people to get into the BB role
unless they are enthusiastic about it. While the BB
experience and certification could be major career
steppingstones, some people may be perfectly happy
in functional roles. Respect this. Do a proper job of
communicating how critical the BBs are to the organ-
ization and the value becoming one can add to a per-
son’s career. Answer people’s “what’s in it for me”
questions. In the end, make sure people move into
the BB role because they want to.
6. “We’ll do a hundred projects this quarter.” Some
companies set their targets in terms of the number of
projects they do. The number of projects by itself is
not necessarily an indicator of Six Sigma success.
Particularly in the initial stages, this mentality could
lead to many projects being delayed or abandoned,
which could be frustrating. Also, in their quest to
identify one hundred projects, companies may iden-
tify “saving photocopier paper” type of projects—
beneficial, but they don’t require Six Sigma.
Route: Identify a manageable number of critical
projects that are top priority for your company and
can be successfully completed on schedule. This is
particularly important in the beginning as these quick

How to Review Six Sigma Projects

It’s critical for Master Black Belts or quality leaders—along with the Champion and
project leader—to present reviews of Six Sigma projects regularly to assess and advise
on Six Sigma rigor, including the selection of the right Six Sigma tools at each phase of
the project, the correct application of statistical techniques and proper data collection
and analysis.
The following is a list of points to consider or questions to ask during the review of
your Six Sigma project. CEOs must review Six Sigma projects regularly and keep the
reviews extremely effective, focused and brief.
It is hoped all members of senior management and quality leaders will find these
points useful. Remember, an effective project review requires only 20 minutes. If it takes
you longer, it’s probably a sign nothing much is happening on the project.
1. Within your project charter, what is the problem statement, goal statement and definition
of a defect? Is charter sign-off been completed?
2. For the problem statement, based on data you have collected and analyzed—not
mere brainstorming or gut feeling—what are the top four to five categories or main
causes that account for about 80% of the problem? Show your data and analysis.
3. For the top four or five categories—based on further analysis using data—what root
causes have been identified? Show your data and analysis.
4. Based on the root causes, what corrective actions do you recommend?

18 I M AY 2 0 0 6 I W W W . A S Q . O R G
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hits will help ensure complete buy-in across the organ-
ization.
7. “I want results in one month.” Some CEOs want
instant results. In some cases, project Champions
think they know the solutions even before the project
starts. When the project schedule is decided, overly
aggressive timelines are set—and almost always
missed once the project rolls. Gradually, people stop
taking these deadlines seriously as they are almost
always reset.
Route: Data collection and analysis require a rea-
sonable amount of time. If results could be produced
overnight, you probably wouldn’t have needed this
project in the first place.
Set realistic timelines and stick with them. During
reviews, do not allow the Champion to start by show-
ing planned corrective actions. Insist on first seeing
the data and root cause analysis that is the basis for
these actions.
8. “We’ve never had such huge rewards and recog-
nition systems costs before.” You may hear some
protests against the expense of rewards and recogni-
tion systems for successful project teams.
Route: Highlight the fact that Six Sigma has
brought breakthrough results, not simply marginal
benefits. Measure the direct financial benefit—cost
reduction or revenue enhancements through the
projects—and show the organization how significant
it is as a percentage of net profit. Annualized finan-
cial benefits from Six Sigma equivalent to between
25% and 50% or higher of the company’s net profits
are not unheard of.
Also highlight the projects’ impact on specific attrib-
utes of your customer satisfaction survey. Set aside a
certain percentage of the financial savings through Six
Sigma projects for rewards and recognition systems.
Comparing this year’s rewards and recognition systems
expense with last year’s in absolute terms may not be
meaningful.

5. What is the status of implementation? What is the completion date for the implementation of
each corrective action?
6. Due to the corrective actions, what is the improvement in performance on the critical to quality
measure (CTQ) in your charter? Show actual results for the last three months.
7. Is customer satisfaction (C-SAT) one of the objectives of this project? If so, identify the specific
attributes of the C-SAT survey questionnaire impacted by your project. Show the C-SAT scores on
these attributes just before the start of your project and from each subsequent survey.
8. Is there a direct financial benefit from this project? Show your financial calculation. Has the CFO
signed off on the financial calculation?
9. Is your project on track per the original timelines in the charter? Are there any roadblocks to
completion?
10. As part of the project, has the project leader put into place a permanent measurement system or
dashboard” to enable monthly measurement, monitoring and reporting of performance on the proj-
ect CTQ? During the control phase of the project, have the project leader and Champion used this
measurement system to monitor performance for two to three months to ensure results are
sustained? Show the dashboard. Does the project Champion take responsibility to continue to
measure, monitor and report performance on the CTQ each month for as long as the CTQ
continues to remain critical to the business?
—Arun Hariharan

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Involve the protesters in Six Sigma projects in their
own functional areas so they can experience the ben-
efits themselves. Finally, educate the organization
that rewards and recognition systems are not a cost,
but an investment.
9. Overscoping projects. CEOs or project
Champions occasionally tend to overscope projects—
either the scope may be too wide or the target for
improvement may be too aggressive. For example,
“reducing customer complaints” may be too broad
for a single project. A target of reducing complaints
per 100 customers per month from 10 to 1 may be
too aggressive for a single project.
Route: Projects with scopes too broad must be divid-
ed into multiple parallel projects. Reducing customer
complaints may turn into three projects: reducing
technical complaints, reducing billing related com-
plaints and reducing sales related complaints. Projects
with overly aggressive targets must be broken into
multiple sequential projects. For instance, the num-
ber of complaints in a month for every 100 customers
may be reduced from 10 to five through one project.
On achieving this target, the project should be for-
mally closed. If there is scope for further improve-
ment, a subsequent project may be created. Set a gen-
eral rule for your company on the time most projects
will require. Scope your projects and set targets so
projects can be completed and targets achieved with-
in the timeframe. Overscoped projects tend to go on
without closing, can be extremely demotivating to
your Six Sigma teams and can dampen your compa-
ny’s Six Sigma program.
10. “The CEO is too busy this month; can we do the
review later?”
Route: This is a sure recipe for disaster. Nothing
should stop the CEO from reviewing Six Sigma proj-
ects at least once every month. The CEO identified
these projects based on the big Y’s or big business
imperatives. These projects help the company
achieve strategic business objectives—and therefore
must be top on the CEO’s agenda.
11. Project Champions make or break Six Sigma
successes. Many companies don’t give enough impor-
tance to the role of Six Sigma Champions. Champions
are typically functional heads who report directly to
the CEO. Each project primarily impacts a functional
area. The head of the function is the project Champion.
For the BB or project leader, the Champion is the imme-
20 I M AY 2 0 0 6 I W W W . A S Q . O R G
diate beneficiary or customer for the project. When
Champions take an active interest in projects, there’s
usually a high rate of success. The best BB and team
members in the world cannot produce results with-
out a Champion who wants the project to succeed.
Route: Ensure only Champions are accountable for
success of Six Sigma projects as far as the CEO is con-
cerned. In the CEO’s monthly review of the project,
the Champions—not the BBs or Green Belts (GBs)—
must present the project’s progress. Six Sigma related
measures also must form a significant part of the
Champion’s performance appraisal. If this is in place,
Champions will review their projects regularly with
the BBs or GBs and ensure success. Champions are
only doing themselves a favor—remember they are
the primary beneficiaries of the project.
12. BBs or GBs get into analysis paralysis.
Occasionally, the project leader may deploy various
statistical tools learned during their training. But the
leader can’t translate all this analysis into the impli-
cations for the business.
Route: Come back from the statistical world to the
real world. Constantly remind all project leaders
about what they learned during their training on con-
verting a business problem into a statistical problem
for ease of analysis. Also remind the leaders on com-
pletion of their analysis, converting the statistical
problem into a statistical solution and finally convert-
ing the statistical solution into a business solution.
The project leaders may need help from Champions
or other team members with domain knowledge of
the function to keep the project close to the ground
and to ensure they do not get lost in “statosphere.”
13. Passing off routine operational work as Six
Sigma projects. A salesperson once took up a Six
Sigma project to achieve a revenue target. Isn’t this
the job of this person anyway?
Route: Constantly ask whether this is part of some-
body’s routine work. Occasionally, the line dividing
routine work and what qualifies as a Six Sigma proj-
ect may seem blurred. An easy way to make this dis-
tinction is to ask one question: Is the project aimed at
putting a permanent, sustainable improvement in
place? If the answer is yes, go ahead with the project.
For one company, a project initially aimed at just
achieving a revenue target. Realizing this alone could
not qualify as a Six Sigma project, the scope was
enhanced to include a permanent systemic improve-
ment—in this case, implementing a key account man-

THE PROJECT LEADERS MAY NEED HELP FROM
TEAM MEMBERS WITH DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUNCTION TO KEEP
THE PROJECT CLOSE TO THE GROUND AND TO ENSURE THEY DO NOT GET
LOST IN “STATOSPHERE.”
agement process. Incidentally, the company achieved
the revenue target once the process was in place and
has continued to achieve the target consistently—
even after the project closed.
14. Team members don’t show up or do their bit. A
frequent grievance expressed by BBs or GBs is team
members don’t have time to work on the project or
don’t attend team meetings. This results in project
delays. The real reason for the absences may be team
members aren’t motivated to make the project suc-
ceed. Maybe they don’t know why they’re doing the
project or their “what’s in it for me” questions have
not been answered. Perhaps a team member’s super-
visor has no stake in the project and pressures the
team member to give priority to operational tasks at
the cost of the Six Sigma project.
Route: Share the bigger picture with all team mem-
bers and their supervisors. Make them understand
what the project can do for the business and how it will
help them in their own functions. Motivate and
empower team members to participate in the project.
Rewards and recognition for successful projects must
be not only for the project leader but for all team
members. Their performance appraisals must include
their Six Sigma roles.
Team members should not be required to seek per-
mission from their bosses every time they need to
attend a project team meeting. Train BBs and GBs in
team leadership and motivational skills so they can
keep team members engaged and get results out of
the team.
15. “This will not work in sales” or “this will not
work in HR.” It is sometimes argued Six Sigma will not
work in certain functions. “Sales is an art. It requires
thinking on your feet. You can’t put a process to it.” Or
perhaps you’ve heard, “HR is about people and too
subjective for these statistical techniques to work.”
Route: Six Sigma tools can be applied in all func-
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CHAMPIONS OR OTHER
tions. Companies have successfully applied Six Sigma
to improve sales processes to achieve significant and
sustained revenue growth, increase the orders
booked by each salesperson per week and reduce the
time it takes from the initial proposal to obtaining
the order. Six Sigma also has been applied to improve
employee satisfaction scores.
16. Project review presentations need to show
data—not just a bunch of words. During a review
before the CEO, one project Champion presented for
two hours—with 98 PowerPoint slides. At the end of
the presentation, nobody was any wiser about the proj-
ect and its results than they had been before the
review.
Route: An effective project review requires only 20
minutes. If it takes longer, it is probably a signal that
nothing much is happening. Projects progressing on
schedule and achieving real results take the least time
to review.
Build a template on what the presentation should
cover and insist the Champion adheres to this. The
difference will be noticeable and immediate. Ask a
few specific questions on the project and don’t allow
any digression (See the sidebar How to Review Six
Sigma Projects, p. 18).
17. Jumping to corrective action based on brain-
storming or domain knowledge. Some Champions or
project leaders recommend corrective action at the
beginning of the project—even before they com-
plete the define, measure or analyze phases. If they
knew what to do without needing any data or analy-
sis, they probably would have done it by now and you
wouldn’t have required this project in the first place.
Route: Avoid the temptation to jump to corrective
action without proper data based analysis. Brain-
storming or domain knowledge can provide
hypotheses, which must be validated with data.
Identifying top categories accounting for about 80%
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of the problem and root cause analysis must be
based on data. Failure to ensure this will result in
quick fixes that may mask the symptoms temporarily
but not bring sustainable improvement.
18. A fluid project charter. A project charter is a con-
tract between the CEO (Six Sigma sponsor) and the
project team. Does the charter change each time a
project is discussed? Do the project scope, the critical
to quality (CTQ) parameter or measure, target or
other components of the charter get altered? Even
worse, do these changes happen verbally without mak-
ing the changes in the written charter? If answers to
these questions are yes, it is a sure sign the motivation
levels of the team and the chances of your projects
closing successfully and on time are pretty low.
Route: Treat the charter as seriously as any com-
mercial or legal document. Freeze and secure signa-
tures in the charter early in the project with signa-
tures from the project Champion, project leader (BB
or GB), quality leader (Master Black Belts, or MBBs)
and the CEO. For charters that indicate financial
benefit, the projected savings must be mentioned in
the charter and signed by the CFO.
Once it’s signed, don’t keep changing the charter.
Naturally, there may be necessary changes based on
new information or data not available earlier. These
changes may be inserted into the charter in the form
of a change document and signed off on again.
19. “That’s beyond my department’s control.” A tele-
com company’s order fulfillment process involved three
broad steps: getting orders from the customer, prepar-
ing the work order (an internal document with addi-
tional details for its installation teams) and delivering
the service. The sales department’s responsibility was
getting the customer orders. The installation depart-
ment took the work orders and delivered the service.
The company started a Six Sigma project to reduce
the time to provide the service. The head of the sales
department, the project Champion, limited the proj-
ect to reduce the time taken from obtaining the cus-
tomer’s order until preparation of the work order.
The rest of the process was considered beyond the
sales department’s control.
Weeks later, the company realized it wasn’t seeing any
significant improvement because the bulk of the delays
happened after the preparation of the work order.
Route: The customer doesn’t care about individual
department’s responsibilities. Put yourself in the cus-
tomer’s shoes and think wing to wing. Define the
22 I M AY 2 0 0 6 I W W W . A S Q . O R G
project scope based on what the customer expects—
not on individual department’s responsibilities.
The telecom company redefined the project scope
to reduce the time taken from obtaining the cus-
tomer’s order until confirmation that the service was
delivered to the customer’s satisfaction. The project
team was made cross functional to include members
from both the sales and installation departments, and
they became jointly responsible for the entire project
goal wing to wing. When the project closed, the time
taken to provide the service to customers had been
reduced by 40%.
20. Need BBs? Take people who can be spared. In
most companies, functional heads are reluctant to
release their best performing people from opera-
tional roles for the BB role. Instead, they offer others
who are available.
Six Sigma projects are the most critical improve-
ment initiative in your company. The projects’ suc-
cessful completion contributes directly to achieving
strategic business goals. Can you afford to leave these
most critical activities to people who can be spared,
while your best performers are wasted on firefighting?
Route: Those fires wouldn’t be there if your best
performers were made BBs. The BB role should be
seen as a reward for good performance. Make your
functional heads think beyond their silos. Make them
realize they are the leadership team for the entire
company and need to think from the overall business
perspective.
21. “No harm trying it out. Maybe it will work.” Is
your company one of those organizations that con-
tinually has a new flavor of the month? If you plan to
check out Six Sigma for a while before you move on
to the next big thing, don’t even bother.
Route: Companies get the kind of results they
expect (and deserve) from Six Sigma. A half serious,
hesitant Six Sigma program will get your company
nowhere. Take your time to decide whether you want
to do Six Sigma, but once you make up your mind to
pursue it, do it wholeheartedly.
22. “Of course it’s part of the CEO’s agenda. It’s
item No. 101.” As part of its strategy setting exercise
for the year, one company I know came up with a list
of strategic initiatives on the CEO’s agenda. Six
Sigma was extremely low on this list—maybe No.
101 is an exaggeration. Two years later, they are yet
to start their Six Sigma journey.

IF THE COMPANY HAS TOO MANY STRATEGIC INITIATIVES, IT IS UNLIKELY
TO FOCUS ON ANY OF THEM.
Route: Without exception, companies worldwide
that have significantly benefited from Six Sigma have
one thing in common: Six Sigma is among the top
three items on the CEO’s list and on his or her mind.
It needs to be top priority on the CEO’s personal
agenda and cannot be delegated.
The other thing in common among successful
companies is that the CEO’s agenda tends to be
rather small. If the company has too many strategic
initiatives, it is unlikely to focus on any of them. Each
will eat up precious management and employee time.
Each initiative must have its share of committees and
brainstorming sessions and meetings. Delivering
results is another matter altogether.
23. “We must achieve Six Sigma on all our process-
es.” Some companies take Six Sigma too literally and
attempt to achieve Six Sigma on almost every process.
Route: You are in the business of meeting your cus-
tomers’ requirements profitably and not in the busi-
ness of achieving Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a direction
toward which all your business processes must con-
stantly move. What is important is this movement and
the outputs you deliver to your customers through
your business processes become increasingly consis-
tent and defect free.
Set aggressive but achievable targets for each Six
Sigma project. On some CTQs, a mere 0.5-sigma
improvement could mean significant business benefits
or savings. A good rule of thumb for setting targets for
a Six Sigma project is to increase the level on the proj-
ect CTQ by 1 sigma if it is currently at less than 3 sigma.
If it is already at 3 sigma or higher, target an improve-
ment of 0.5 sigma. This is only a general rule—do not
apply it blindly to all your projects.
Depending on your business and the specific
process, you may not need to achieve 6-sigma levels on
all processes. For some, your customers may be satis-
fied if the process is operating at 3 or 4 sigma and may
not be willing to pay for higher levels. Your current sys-
tems and processes have an entitlement, and improve-
ments beyond that will involve additional costs.
On the other hand, in some processes, even 6
sigma may not be enough. For example, the sigma
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level of aircraft landing safely needs to be higher than
6 sigma. That is, 3.4 defective landings in every mil-
lion is still too high.
24. “We need consensus of the top team.” Some
CEOs seek the consensus of their top team for all
major decisions. If you wait for consensus to decide
your Six Sigma launch or align the performance
appraisal system, you may never move forward.
Route: General Electric (GE) started its Six Sigma
initiative because “Jack wanted it.” Jack Welch, then
the CEO, called Six Sigma the most difficult stretch
goal GE had ever undertaken—yet he did not wait for
consensus. In every company that has achieved signif-
icant success through Six Sigma, the program has
been driven top-down in the initial years. You may not
be another Jack Welch, but prepare to be a benevo-
lent dictator and make some decisions yourself.
25. “Six Sigma is the job of the quality depart-
ment.” In some companies, Six Sigma is limited to a
small team, not involving the rest of the organization.
Route: Six Sigma is not a bunch of quality people
sitting in a corner of your company doing projects.
Quality is the job of everyone. Your Six Sigma pro-
gram needs to be a mass movement involving all staff.
However, having a few “crazy” people who are ob-
sessed with your company’s Six Sigma program and
its success will certainly be a huge catalyst.
26. “We trained 200 people this year.” One compa-
ny spent more than a year training a large number of
employees on Six Sigma. However, the company got
no results because none of the employees could
apply the training to any projects.
Route: Six Sigma BB and GB training programs are
different from most others. The difference is that it is
mandatory for the trainees to complete projects in
which they apply the knowledge obtained from the
training. In most companies, they receive their BB or
GB certification only after completion of a certain
number of projects.
Training, orientation and communication programs
are critical to equip employees with the required skills
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C E O ’s G u i d e t o S i x S i g m a S u c c e s s
WHILE A GOOD PARTNER WILL BRING VALUABLE EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE,
THUS HELPING BUILD A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR
COMPANIES OVERESTIMATE THE ROLE OF THE EXTERNAL RESOURCE.
and make Six Sigma a mass movement in your compa-
ny. However, your measure of Six Sigma success must
be business results obtained from your Six Sigma proj-
ects and not just the number of employees trained.
27. “We stopped measuring the CTQ when the proj-
ect was closed.” In some companies, once a project is
formally closed, measurement of the CTQ also stops.
Route: Measuring and monitoring the perform-
ance on the CTQ cannot stop. In fact, it is the respon-
sibility of the project leader—as an integral part of
the project—to put into place a permanent measure-
ment system or dashboard for measuring, monitor-
ing and reporting the performance of the project
CTQ on a regular (typically monthly) basis.
During the control phase of the project, the project
leader and Champion must use this measurement sys-
tem jointly to monitor performance for about two to
three months to ensure results are sustained. After
this, the project is formally signed off on as closed.
Then it becomes the Champion’s responsibility to
continue to measure, monitor and report perform-
ance on the CTQ for as long as the CTQ continues to
remain critical to the business.
28. “We will be successful because we hired the
best consultant.” Many companies hire external part-
ners or consultants already experienced in Six Sigma
to help with strategy, training, project selection and
reviews. Typically, the role of the consultant is more
active during the initial six to 12 months, until the
company can run on its own.
While a good partner will bring valuable experi-
ence and expertise, thus helping build a strong foun-
dation for Six Sigma, sometimes companies overesti-
mate the role of the external resource. Many also
blame the consultant if the Six Sigma program does
not bring significant results.
Route: There’s an old saying about taking the
horse to water. The best external partners will show
you the path and possibly hand-hold your company
along the path initially. Only you—the leadership
team—are responsible for the success of your com-
24 I M AY 2 0 0 6 I W W W . A S Q . O R G
SIX SIGMA, SOMETIMES
pany’s Six Sigma program. It is up to you to get the
maximum value from your consultant’s expertise.
29. “This will not work in services.” Some service
companies believe Six Sigma and other quality mod-
els work only in manufacturing.
Route: If anything, Six Sigma is even more critical
in services. In industries like telecom, banking or hos-
pitality, there is often no scope for any quality inspec-
tion or testing before customers experience their serv-
ices. Therefore, it’s critical for these companies to
build robust, repeatable processes to consistently
deliver quality service. Six Sigma can help them move
toward this goal.
For the service industry, extra thinking and effort
may be necessary to identify the right measures
(CTQs), define defects and put in place reliable
measurement systems.
30. “We closed this project successfully, but we
can’t figure out why customer satisfaction scores are
going down.” One company completed a project to
reduce billing related complaints from customers.
The target was to reduce the number from more than
four complaints for every 100 customers each month
to not more than one complaint. Five months later,
the project closed successfully, the target had been
achieved, and celebrations and rewards followed.
To the company’s surprise, a few months later the
next customer satisfaction survey revealed the score
on quality of billing had actually gone down com-
pared to the score before the project had begun.
It was discovered a large number of complaints from
customers who had not received their bills had been
entered as requests for duplicate bills. Similarly, cus-
tomers disputing their bill amounts were not com-
plaining, but merely “requesting bill verification.”
Further digging uncovered while complaints had
decreased drastically over the last 10 months,
requests had increased equally dramatically during
the same period.
Route: Don’t even bother to make an internal meas-
ure or CTQ look good by such manipulation. The

project Champion and leader must realize Six Sigma
starts and ends with customers. Customers have a trou-
blesome way of exposing such tricks rather quickly.
In this example, some of the project stakeholders
chose to forget the customer temporarily and ended
up only fooling themselves that they had successfully
completed the project. Leadership must send a clear
message to the entire organization, beginning with
Six Sigma Champions, that it will not accept such
manipulation. Any such examples must be exposed
across the organization so they are never repeated.
31. “Six Sigma is the panacea for all ills.” One com-
pany found its customer service agents were not
polite when they took customer calls. Another com-
pany found its field force, meeting customers for
after-sales service and repairs, often visited without
wearing the company uniform and identification
badge. At a third company, although HR had
designed excellent orientation material for new
employees, a majority of employees were placed with-
out going through the induction program.
All three companies started Six Sigma projects to
solve these problems. They formed project teams and
had several rounds of meetings, but these projects
weren’t taking off. While all these companies had suc-
cessful Six Sigma programs, these three projects had
to be dropped or abandoned.
Route: In the first two examples, the companies put
their employees through workshops aimed at instill-
ing a mind-set of customer orientation and building
pride. These will be reinforced through repeat ses-
sions. They also introduced a process of random
audits of customer calls or visits. Employees know any
of their calls or visits could be part of an audit.
For the third company, a process was created in
which an employee had to go through the induction
program within 15 days of joining the company and
take a quiz on material contained in the induction
after another 15 days. The process is strictly enforced.
While there is no doubt Six Sigma can bring break-
through improvements in business results in all func-
tional areas, it must be realized it is not the answer to
every problem. Other initiatives for managing change,
building soft skills, adhering to processes, building a
customer oriented culture and instilling pride among
employees in belonging to the organization must work
hand in hand with the Six Sigma program.
32. Manipulating the definition of defect. A service
company had an internal target that at least 99% of
S I X
C E O ’s G u i d e t o S i x S i g m a S u c c e s s
invoices sent to customers each month would be
error-free. The month it achieved this target of 99%
accuracy, the company claimed it was performing at
100% of its internal target, and hence at zero defect,
which means more than Six Sigma level perform-
ance. In other words, the company’s definition of a
defect was “any shortfall from its internal target.”
However, from the customer’s perspective (and
customers—curse them—have an irreverent way of
not caring for your internal targets), 1% of invoices
had errors. Therefore, the defect rate was 1%, which
means 3.83 sigma.
Route: The target performance level for each CTQ is
a business decision that should keep in mind its process
capability and the requirement to satisfy or delight cus-
tomers profitably. The definition of defect, however,
must not be linked to your internal target—but must
come entirely from the customer’s perspective.
In the example, the company redefined defects in
its invoice accuracy measure as any invoice with an
error. It also acknowledged its current target level on
this CTQ was 3.83 sigma.
Nobody needs to certify you as a Six Sigma com-
pany. The real results of your Six Sigma journey will
be reflected in your customer satisfaction scores,
improved business results and sustained competitive
success.
33. The intelligent cynic. Every organization has a
small minority of employees who are recognized as
highly intelligent but extremely cynical of any
change. These employees can threaten your Six
Sigma program. Because of their intelligence, they
wield considerable influence over their co-workers
and can easily spread their cynicism to others. An
atmosphere of cynicism and low expectations can’t
help your Six Sigma program succeed.
Route: The first step before launching any change
initiative must be to weed out the intelligent cynics
from your organization. Place highly intelligent,
capable and enthusiastic individuals in key Six Sigma
roles, such as BBs, GBs or Champions. These individ-
uals will work as early adapters or role models for the
rest of the organization.
© Arun Hariharan, 2006
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