Strategic planning, as applied to Six Sigma, implies that the drawing down of elaborate and systematic planning of areas of concerns that have far-reaching and tactical implications at the project selection stage. The purpose of strategic planning is to have produced fundamental decisions and actions that guide successful Six Sigma implementation.
An Overview Of Strategic Six Sigma
Many CEOs are skeptical about the outcome of Six Sigma, despite huge annual spending. A critical component which helps integrate the visions of the leader with the functioning of the organization is strategic programming derived from ?strategy deployment mapping?. This is said to produce an entirely new direction for the organization. The skepticism about the vision of building a future begins to gain momentum with the linking of visions to action plans and when it delivers tangible results. Six Sigma takes strategic planning to a different plane of thinking by delivering on this promise.
Success Begins With Planning
It should not be forgotten that the foundation for success is proper and adequate planning. Planning is the elaborate statement of vision by the leader of the company. This is true for both large corporations and smaller start-ups. The core of transforming organizational vision into tangible gains by employees has many steps to overcome obstacles on the path to achievement. Achievements will have to be translated to customer satisfaction for Six Sigma to be successful.
Sharing Of Vision
The vision which begins its journey with upper management needs to be shared by all the stakeholders. It may be difficult to demonstrate to employees that their actions relate to customer reactions directly. Another missing link that needs to be connected is the customer himself. The emphasis of Six Sigma is on factoring in customers & engaging them in defining needs. Deploying employees actively connects these disjointed needs. The powerful tools of Six Sigma highlight and simplifies the linkage between key elements, activities, strategies and finally the vision, paving way for smooth sharing of ideas. The methodology of Six Sigma communicates company vision effectively to all concerned in a language understandable by each of them.
Critical Mass
There is also a danger of leaders getting bogged down by trivial matters of day-to-day operations and numerous details. Two of the tools of Six Sigma (metrics), key requirements and differentiators, come to the rescue. These two metrics highlight the importance or irrelevance of some data and push for excellence on those that matter. The end result is helping leaders to envision the strategic importance of activities and steering clear of trivial, mundane things.
Deployment of Six Sigma can't be disconnected from strategic planning and financial activities, either. If the decision to implement Six Sigma is a result of strategic planning, it means the leadership has recognized the need for complete retooling of the organization, no matter what phase it is in.
In such situations all our strategic planning comes to naught and we are left perplexed and, quite often, desperate. What did we do wrong?
What if, after a lot of introspection, you find that there were no flaws in the way you approached and executed your task?
These are questions that will haunt you, more so because the answer is extremely hard, if at all possible, to arrive at.
How do you overcome these apparent failures? The key is in understanding that these so called failures are as important, if not more, in our progress in life, as are our successes.
Failures are essential, but, given human nature, not the easiest thing to get over. And while we are never going to get around to actually enjoying the process of failing, there are a few things we can do to appreciate the positives that arise from a failure.
1 Always remember that there are multiple ways to perform a task. We pick one based on our understanding of the task, our skills and experience, and our planning. Most of the time, applying our knowledge and planning efficiently will ensure we pick the most optimal path, but it is important to remember, that at the end of the day, it is a choice based on limited information and prone to rapidly evolving external, environmental factors. It can go wrong! When it does, it is important to remember that there were multiple ways from which you picked one. Which means that there are other ways to handle the task. It is far from the end of the road. Go back and revisit those options given the new experience and information available with you.
If, for some reason, you believe that experimenting with different approaches signifies that you don't have a focused plan of work, please put your work down for now and spend some time getting rid of that notion!
There cannot be anything more detrimental to your overall progress and growth as an individual. Read about any of the great inventors and thinkers that the world has known and you will realize that the one consistent lesson that most, if not all of them, thought necessary to pass on, is the virtue of experimenting and failing.
Success never comes knocking with an 'Instruction Manual' in hand. It takes planning, persistence and failures - failures which are the cause for the eventual success.
2 It is in our nature to be impatient.
Everyone wants to complete a task at one go. But that rarely works. Break your task down into smaller, simpler units.
Prioritize and take on the smaller tasks one at a time. Just doing this will ensure that you are able to track and manage your progress much more efficiently.
You will be able to quickly identify which part of your overall approach did not work or yield the expected results and rectify that specific aspect of your work.
Compare this with the situation wherein you attempted the task as a whole, spent a lot of time working with the wrong approach, did not achieve the desired result, once again spent a whole lot of time trying to analyze where exactly you went wrong, and finally started once again from scratch.
3 Finally, understand that failures are necessary.
They are a part and parcel of our lives and can be a great learning tool if we handle them wisely.
Most management gurus, including Tom Peters, have for long been advocating that organizations need to encourage their employees to fail and should reward these failures that arise not out of bad planning or bad execution, but by virtue of evolving circumstances and the effort to find improved, more efficient solutions.
If you don't find yourself reaping any rewards for these failures, reward yourself - you've just learnt something no book can teach you and you may have just started on the path to discovering something new.
Like one the brightest minds the world has known, Thomas Alva Edison once said, "Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work."
Both Tony Jacowski & Barry Share are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Tony Jacowski has sinced written about articles on various topics from University, Six Sigma and Information Technology. Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online and certification classes for lean six sigm. Tony Jacowski's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.
Barry Share has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Management, Web Development and Health. Barry Share is the Founder and Editorial Director of "The New Lifestyle Programme" Where you can get your copy of the amazing..."Design for your Success" a 7 step plan to achieving wealth health and happiness=>. Barry Share's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.