Talent Managament and Lean Six Sigma

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.

Ryan Leary

http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanleary