Page 30 - Six Sigma Demystified

Chapter 1 d e p loy m e n t s t r at e g y 11

only a year after officially announcing the inception of the program to his man-
agers, he challenged them:

You’ve got to be passionate lunatics about the quality issue. . . . This
has to be central to everything you do every day. Your meetings. Your
speeches. Your reviews. Your hiring. Every one of you here is a qual-
ity champion or you shouldn’t be here. . . . If you’re not driving qual-
ity, you should take your skills elsewhere. Because quality is what
this company is all about. Six Sigma must become the common
language of this company. . . . This is all about better business and
better operating results. In 1997, I want you to promote your best
people. Show the world that people who make the big quality lead-
ership contributions are the leaders we want across the business
[Slater, 1999].

To get the most from the endeavor, management must actively support the
Six Sigma initiative. Welch urged management to find opportunities to moti-
vate employees to use Six Sigma in meetings, speeches, reviews, and hiring.
Jack Welch further challenged his executive vice presidents by tying 40 per-
l
cent of their bonuses to specific bottom- ine improvements from their Six
Sigma initiatives (Slater, 1999). He realized that it was critical to move beyond
mere words and to demonstrate commitment with leadership and results. This
participation from senior management, through integration with the company’s
business strategy and practices, marked a key departure from run- of- the- mill
TQM initiatives, where leadership was delegated to departments with little
authority or few resources.

The key priorities for management leadership include

• Define objectives and goals of the program. How is program success mea-
sured?
• Develop the business strategy based on key customer requirements and market
conditions. Are there market opportunities that build on the core compe-
tencies of the business? Are there competitor weaknesses that can be
challenged? By reviewing market, operational, and customer- feedback
data, areas of opportunity are identified. Which improvements will have
the greatest impact on the financial status of the organization? Where are
its key losses, the “low- hanging fruit,” for the first wave of projects? Some
of these data are probably already compiled. A review may reveal gaps in