Six Sigma? You need to train me to think like a customer?
It’s like a rash that’s spread all over the corporate body and the more you look at it the worse it gets. To start fixing any customer facing organisation it first needs to check itself against its customers and what they want. Simple enough but no, not if you want to use Six Sigma. (Btw, here’s a test: speak to anyone you know outside of work and ask them if they understand my second sentence. Then ask them if they understand what is meant by Six Sigma.)
To understand Six Sigma you need to go on weeks and weeks of training (away from the customer) and become accredited by the Six Sigma providers. So Six Sigma certifies Six Sigma. Nice and cosey. It’s even better when they then give themselve karate sounding levels of attainment. Customers pay companies to do this! “Hey” say the customers “I’m here, come and see what we want!”
I’m going to bow down to the super John Seddon here. As he says, Six Sigma is all about training managers and trained managers interviewing managers about what they see. Not actually looking at the work that is done. So Six Sigma starts from managers looking down at their system. Six Sigma does not it seem do anything to actually challenge the managers point of view.
Furthermore it’s seen as focusing on costs, elitism, and measures it’s effectiveness through the amount of training they receive and an endless ream of statistical output. Six Sigma provides grand training, wonderful reporting and elaborate terms.
And companies want to pay people to do all this? It truly is a mad mad mad world.
I’m going to d
