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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
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In his book, Talent is Overrated, Geoff Colvin argues that talent,
IQ or smarts aren't what make people successful; it's what he calls deliberate
practice. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that it can
take 10,000 hours of practice (Colvin says 10 years), to achieve mastery
in your chosen field. And I'd like you to consider that companies are
no different.
If you go to a golf driving range, you'll see lots of people hitting golf
balls, but very few are practicing deliberately in ways designed
to improve performance. Tiger Woods will step on a ball in a sand trap
to practice getting the ball out of a plugged lie. And he'll keep doing
it until he's mastered the shot. That's deliberate practice.
What is Deliberate Practice?
Deliberate practice:
- Is designed to improve performance.
- Can be repeated a lot.
- Provides continuous feedback on results.
- Is highly demanding mentally.
- Isn't much fun.
Frankly, I'd rather come to work most days and mindlessly do the same old
thing, and that's what a lot of people do. They do the same thing over and
over again without questioning the whys and hows of doing it.
Deliberate Practice and Lean Six
Sigma
Colvin says: "Opportunities to practice business skills directly are
far more available than we usually realize.
Lean and Six Sigma are precise forms of deliberate practice. Colvin found
that an average tennis player and a pro or a good worker and a great worker
have many differences:
Great players understand the significance of indicators that average
performers don't even notice. Using control charts, histograms and
pareto charts, great companies can detect tiny shifts in process performance
that are invisible to the naked eye.
They look farther ahead. Using the voice of the customer, QFD, FMEAs
and so on, great companies look into the future of what customer's really
want and how to deliver those wants with a minimum number of mistakes, errors
or problems.
They make finer discriminations than average performers. While most
companies react to defect rates higher than one percent (10,000 parts per
million), great companies react to defect rates greater than 3 parts per
million.
Applying Deliberate Practice
When a problem occurs, good companies fix the product or service, but
great companies go back and fix the process that created the problem.
When creating a new product or service, good companies bootstrap the product,
but great companies Design for Six Sigma.
Good employees like to fight fires; great employees like to prevent fires.
Here's my point:
Are you going to spend part of every day in deliberate practice, getting
better, faster and cheaper? Are you committed to going from good to great?
Or are you comfortable being average? It's up to you.
© 2008 Jay Arthur, the KnowWare® Man, works with managers who want
to plug the leaks in their cash flow.
Hire Jay Arthur to train your staff
in his one-day Lean Six Sigma Workshop!
Contact Jay at (888) 468-1537, support@qimacros.com.
Rights to reprint this article in company periodicals is freely given with
the inclusion of the following tag line: "© 2008 Jay Arthur, the KnowWare®
Man, (888) 468-1537, support@qimacros.com."
 Want
to increase your profits and slash costs by $250,000? Consider our risk-free
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Six Sigma System (#490)
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