Lean Six Sigma

Phased Lean Six Sigma Training Example

(3 workshops x 2-days over 3 months)

Though we tailor every client deployment to their unique situation and we have strong capabilities to develop new courseware, some of our existing courses are useful in illustrating our broad range of capabilities to develop and deliver training for varying audience types in order to translate skills into meaningful actions, improvements, and results. We will highlight the following courses below:

• Lean Six Sigma Executive/Champion Workshop
• Lean Rapid Process Improvement (RPI) Train-the-Trainer (T3)
• Lean Six Sigma Project Leader (Green Belt) Workshop
• Advanced Excel Training for Lean Engaged Team Performance (ETP)
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Upgrade Workshop
• Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification Training

Lean Six Sigma Executive/Champion Workshop:

Audience:      Leadership (different versions for Executives and Champions) – 1.5-day and 2-day variants

Leadership is critical in any Lean Six Sigma Transformation, and this course provides an experiential overview to those Champions using our 2-day Simulation Experience. The hands-on experience unforgettably demonstrates the value of Lean Six Sigma by allowing participants to actually take a structured approach to applying the concepts to improve a process. The team works together to make dramatic improvements to a “real” process, reducing turnaround time by 90%, eliminating sources of defects, and maximizing the efficiency and engagement of the “workforce” assigned to the process. This workshop builds excitement and understanding, allowing the internal leaders for each division to learn the basics of the Lean Six Sigma approach and tools before trying to implement transformational changes in subsequent workshops that include project teams from each division.

Lean Rapid Process Improvement (RPI) Train-the-Trainer (T3):

Audience:      Potential RPI project leaders and master trainers – 3-day and 4-day variants

As we deploy transformational projects we will often encounter narrower opportunities to streamline processes, deploy specific Lean tools, and solve problems using root cause analysis techniques. RPI is a team-based, collaborative approach to rapid incremental improvement, and it’s a key tool that leaders will need to leverage as they execute their Lean Six Sigma transformations. The 3-day Lean RPI T3 workshop uses generic “cost action” projects (or other strategically important collaborative efforts selected during Strategy Deployment) to teach the Lean Six Sigma Champions how to facilitate a kaizen event so that they can later replicate those events in their divisions. We have another variant (a 3-day course) that teaches fundamentals of Lean using case studies and simulations. Both course variants focus on group facilitation techniques and follow a set of simple steps to accomplish a specific, narrow improvement objective with a team of representative participants. Note: while not labeled the same, this course also contains general “facilitator” training as well as a focus on “change acceptance” topics.

Lean Six Sigma Project Leader (Green Belt) Workshop:

Audience:      Lean Six Sigma Green Belt project leaders and team members – 5-day, 6-day, and 8-day variants

Each workshop can accommodate 3-4 project teams at once, and it is split into three segments, usually of two days each. Those six days of instruction for each team are spread over 3-4 months, with time in between meetings to get work done and bring back results before the next layer of instruction. The workshop covers typical Lean Six Sigma process analysis and improvement tools (which are too many to list here, but we provide a comprehensive course on the tools that transactional/service organizations need in order to lead process improvement efforts), with additional emphasis on the “standard time” to do specific tasks. The execution of a self-reported time study in each division is a potentially important activity, and our Lean Six Sigma for Engaged Team Performance (ETP) approach incorporates unique methods for accomplishing that type of time study. The information gleaned adds critical detail to the quantification of “standard work” in transactional/service organizations and allows us to set standards for team and individual efficiency. That data also feeds staffing models and performance controls, aligned with team and individual goals. The integration of the transactional time study with other Lean Six Sigma analysis tools is a key differentiator of our approach that is not yet common in the industry.

Advanced Excel Training for Lean Engaged Team Performance (ETP):

Audience:      Experienced Green Belt project leaders and master trainers – 3-day and 4-day variants

This 3-day multifaceted workshop focuses on combining Lean Six Sigma process streamlining, organizational design, and efficiency metrics to drive teamwork. The course introduces advanced data analysis in Excel and reinforces Lean Six Sigma concepts through a case study, adding another layer of detail on data analysis techniques for the Champions and a subset of the working project teams. Real data-set exercises teach analytical concepts in Excel and reinforce the Lean Six Sigma concepts of process streamlining and flow, culminating in integrative activities that leverage time study data to create standard work-time staffing models and team performance control charts. These topics specifically orient on data-based and process-focused organizational design. Participants then leverage those Excel tools (such as pivot tables, vlookups, and charts/graphs) in their ongoing execution of the transformational projects. Note: this isn’t Black Belt training, but it both focuses on organizational design and enables Green Belts to reinforce data manipulation skills in order to eventually bridge to Black Belt. The next course listed executes that Black Belt upgrade.

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Upgrade Workshop:

Audience:      Accomplished Lean Six Sigma Green Belt project leaders – 5-day and 6-day variants

This course prepares seasoned Green Belt project leaders for more rigorous, complex, and statistically demanding projects. The workshop covers typical Lean Six Sigma Black Belt statistical analysis and improvement tools (which are too many to list here, but we provide a comprehensive course on the tools that transactional/service organizations need in order to lead process improvement efforts). The course is structured as an upgrade for previously trained Green Belts who have already led a project, and that prerequisite highlights a key difference in our approach: we don’t even offer the “classic” 3- or 4-week Black Belt course at all, because it doesn’t work. When a new learner is dropped right into Black Belt training, the important concept of structured problem solving gets lost in a myriad of statistics, and we find that too many people fail to “get it” in that environment. Bridging a person to Black Belt through multiple layers of courses (including the Green Belt and Excel Training in the two sections immediately above) works much better.

Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification training:

Audience:      Potential RPI, Green Belt, and Black Belt project leaders – 2-day, 3-day, and 5-day variants

Ideal for repeatable projects with clear requirements, standard project management is an important skill for business leaders, process improvement analysts, and of course, project managers. The standard approach follows the processes of Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring, Controlling, and Closing a project, placing emphasis on balancing scope, resources, and schedule to deliver a project’s requirements on-time and on-budget. We provide training, coaching, and certification preparation services to enable participants to pass the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam, as well as facilitating key projects for our clients as required.