Barriers to Lean and Six Sigma

Jay Arthur
888-468-1537
303-756-9144
KnowWare International, Inc.
DBA LifeStar
2253 S. Oneida
Ste 3D
Denver, CO 80224

We work with companies
that want to fire up their profits using
Lean Six Sigma

Copyright © 2011

Sadly, the biggest barriers to Six Sigma are human and psychological, not methods or technology. Most of this resistance is about fear of one kind or another. Here's the barriers I've encountered and some ways to handle them.

1. People don't like being measured. Why? Fear! Let's face it, most companies use measurement to blame and punish people not improve processes. Is it any wonder that employees and managers resist measurement? Crafty dodgers use artful, distracting challenges to delay, derail, or ditch measurements:

• Challenge the statistics or the statistician. One doctor challenged a hospital QA manager with: "Where did you get these formulas [for control charts]? Where does the standard deviation come from?"

  Redirect: You must already know the answer, so why don't you share it with us?

  Snappy answer: "That's like asking: 'Why are there 60 minutes in an hour?' These are widely accepted statistical techniques. If you're really interested in the details, I'll get you a book to read."

• Challenge the data. I can't tell you how many times I've heard: "That's not the 'right' data." Or "That data's not accurate or valid."

  Teach them: Let's face it, no data is perfect. There's measurement error caused by measurement methods and instruments. And, because people fear being punished for poor performance, defects are systematically and routinely underreported by a factor of at least two.

  Snappy answer: "You must have better data. Show it to us."
  If they don't have better data, tell them to get over it and use what they've got. Or kick them off the team.

• Challenge the focus. "We have more important problems than this!"

  Snappy answer: "How do you know there are more important problems? Where's your data? Show it to us." If they don't have a line graph, pareto charts and cost of quality analysis to prove that their problem is more important, ask them to participate in this problem or drop out.

2. Macho Man
Most managers, directors, and VPs don't want to believe that they are wasting 10-20% of their budget. If there were such hidden stashes of $250,000 or more, shouldn't they have found it by now? After all, gut feel, common sense and trial-and-error has served them well in the past. And what does it say about them if they can't find it? (They fear looking stupid or inept. Also remember that numbers are systematically distorted to make everyone look better. Six Sigma is going to adjust the counting methods, but rarely in a positive direction.)

Reframe: It's not that what you're doing hasn't taken you a long way, it's just that gut feel and common sense stop working at around 3-4 sigma. They just won't take you any farther.

Metaphor: In the 1800s doctors believed that sickness was caused by an ill wind or bad blood. But, with the development of the microscope, Pasteur was able to "see" the invisible agents of disease. The tools of Six Sigma, like Pasteur's microscope, enable us to see the seemingly invisible root causes of waste and rework.

3. Achievers vs Problem Solvers
Businesses have employees with two opposing points of view: Achievers who want to set and achieve goals, and Problem Solvers who want to fix broken processes. Six Sigma sounds like ambrosia to the Problem Solvers and more like dog droppings to the Achievers.

Reframe: Six Sigma will free up resources to achieve more of what you want to accomplish.

4. Big Picture vs Detail
Half of your employees are "blue sky" thinkers. They love the big picture but hate the detail. Six Sigma is a rigorous, detail-oriented process. Your detail thinkers will dive in without good direction available from the big picture thinkers, and the big picture thinkers will resist taking the mission-critical issues down to an actionable level.

Reframe: Haven't you waited long enough to dig down to the root cause, or do you just want to keep watching from a distance as the business drowns in its own waste and rework?

5. Evolutionaries vs Revolutionaries
Evolutionaries want to improve the business. They make up about 65% of the workforce. Revolutionaries want to reengineer the business. They want to make a difference. Paradoxically, businesses need both styles to succeed.

Reframe: We need to create new products and improve our methods of delivering them to keep the competition at bay.

6. Hero Worship
Companies rarely let defective products escape their walls; usually by brute-force heroics of a small band of self-sacrificing perfectionists who are routinely rewarded for their heroics. Preventing problems would steal their claim to fame.

Reframe: It's not that what you're doing hasn't taken you a long way, it's just that the secret to success lies in consistency and repeatability, not random acts of heroism.

7. Fix-it Factory Fiefdoms
Most large companies have huge groups of people who do nothing but fix mistakes created elsewhere in the business. The managers and employees in these groups have based their whole careers on finding and fixing errors in the product or service. And they'll fight anything that will eliminate their jobs (fear).

Reframe: Don't you get tired of fixing the same old errors every day? You're the expert on the most common types of errors. Wouldn't you rather help fix the processes that create them? (Shift their focus from products to processes.)

8. Instincts vs Instruments
In almost every team I facilitate, I have one or two people who "know the answer." They've got a pet theory which is invariably destroyed during the root cause analysis.

Metaphor: Most barnstormers like to fly by the "seat of their pants," but combat pilots know that your instincts can get you killed. They know that when you're flying blind you have to trust your instruments, not your instincts.

Reframe: Instincts are ideal for making decisions based on insufficient data, but they are rarely sufficient when you have enough data to analyze.

9. Fear of Looking Stupid
I don't know what it is about school and grades, but most of us are afraid of looking or feeling stupid. And most people are still afraid of the math behind Six Sigma.

Reframe: We've got computers to handle the math; we just want you to understand how to use the graphs to optimize performance and profitability. And we've hired experts to show you how.

Of course there are many more human issues than these, but these are some of the most common ones I've run across. Which ones have you found? How have you handled them? Email me: support@qimacros.com.