Six Sigma projects continue to gain steam as the economy remains sluggish. Executives are relying increasingly on continuous improvement (CI) programs to yield higher levels of business process-related efficiency and cost savings. The challenge is to execute a CI initiative in a way that all but ensures its success. Doing so is more complex than it seems.

Senior managers often forge ahead without fully appreciating the factors that contribute to a successful deployment. In this article, I'll provide an overview of these factors. We'll explore the importance of spreading awareness of a Six Sigma project throughout the organization and getting employees involved. We'll also take a look at the tools they'll need in order to contribute to the program's success.

Making An Organization's Staff Aware

Bringing awareness to a company's employees means more than merely telling them about the tasks involved during the Six Sigma deployment. It entails educating them about the reasons for the project. Team members should encourage open communication with employees regarding the advantages of identifying areas in which to improve process-related efficiency. Whenever possible, they should find opportunities to engage employees' minds about the program.

This can be accomplished through several platforms. For example, team members can write short articles for the company newsletter. Or, a screensaver can be pushed to staff workstations. Posters can be distributed throughout the workplace. Each of these can raise awareness and build momentum for the continuous improvement program.

Getting Employees Involved

Once an organization's staff has been made aware of the benefits to be realized through the Six Sigma project, they need to be encouraged to get involved. That requires finding ways to motivate them. This can be challenging, especially in a company with several departments - each with disparate goals and performance targets.

Champions should work closely with senior managers and department heads to identify strategies for motivating each department's staff. That might include rewarding workers for hitting personal and team performance targets. It can also involve ongoing communication regarding the program's progress. It's important to realize that a Six Sigma project can only be truly successful if the company's employees are involved.

Providing The Necessary Tools

A staff that is aware of the Six Sigma project and willing to get involved must be given the proper tools to succeed. It is easy to give them too much and thereby, sabotage their success. Too often, training programs are hastily created to provide a heavy volume of knowledge and skills, even if both are unnecessary given an employee's responsibilities to the CI project. This usually does more harm than good. It wastes time and leads to confusion.

It is critical to build competency. But, if an employee is only tasked with performing low-level problem solving, there's little need to provide training on deep statistical analysis. Give the organization's staff only that which is needed to produce results.

Implementing Action Steps

After the entire organization has been made aware of the Six Sigma program, and the staff has been motivated to participate and given the proper tools, implementation must begin. In many companies, there are multiple CI programs that are being deployed simultaneously. This can present a challenge if a department's staff is stretched over multiple initiatives. Six Sigma team members must develop a system through which contributions (i.e. ideas, results from analysis, and potential solutions) are tracked, collected, and organized. Project leaders should work with department heads to help ensure action items are fulfilled in a timely manner.

Deploying a Six Sigma program is the easy part. Ensuring that an organization's employees are taking part and contributing is the hard part. Invest the time to spread awareness, motivate the staff, and provide the necessary training and tools. Those three steps will dramatically influence the success of your project.