Market and Knowledge Newsletter September 2008
Market and Knowledge Newsletter September 2008
The onesixsigma.com Market Newsletter for the Six Sigma and Lean Professional
Welcome to the Knowledge & Market newsletter for September.
There’s a lot coming up this month on onesixsigma.com. We will be investigating a knowledge deficit in Lean Six Sigma belts who are too focused on projects to see the broader improvement programme, looking into some alternative views to improvement and innovation, and taking part in a forum that aims to help organisations combine detached projects into a smooth and efficient continuous improvement programme.
The vast majority of Black Belt and Master Black Belt training modules focus on tools and statistics, with only a cursory overview of how practitioners could and should influence the wider deployment programme as a whole. Whilst projects are of course important, choosing the wrong projects, or not finding the ones that could bring the most benefit, can bring a sharp halt to a deployment. Worse still, leadership that goes unguided can drive the programme in completely the wrong direction.
We will be running an interesting article this month which goes further into this knowledge deficit, describes what belts should be doing and suggests some ideas of how they can do it.
John Seddon describes himself as “occupational psychologist, consultant and management thinker” and despite being an advocate of Toyota, Taiichi Ohno and W. Edwards Deming, he is an outspoken critic of Lean, Six Sigma, ISO 9000 and other methodologies that he believes are based on “bad theory”. He has written four books on how he believes current management thinking is fundamentally flawed and how the current management paradigm – which he defines as ‘Command and Control’ - should be replaced with ‘Systems Thinking’.
We will be interviewing Mr Seddon this month, and trying to get to the bottom of why he thinks that current improvement and innovation methods breed only poor morale and waste.
Embedding Continuous Improvement into an organisation's culture is a hot topic for all i&i Members. Both employee and leadership engagement will be discussed at the next UGM through interactive workshops, keynote speakers and the trading of experience in the i&i Knowledge Market. Members and guests will be congregating on the 10th September at the Sheraton Grand, Edinburgh, and will follow a structured and proven approach to knowledge sharing and networking.
onesixsigma.com produces a Special Report from every i&i meeting to summarise and disseminate the knowledge shared throughout the i&i Membership. The i&i Members Code of Conduct restricts publication of this report, but you can request a copy by emailing me. If you are not a service provider, I will be able to help you. If you are interested in attending, then please follow this link: http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9116.
Recent articles you may have missed:
Demystifying the common myths of Six Sigma - http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9293 Road to Excellence: improving the UK's roads with Six Sigma - http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9127 The fundamentals Of Supply Chain ROI - http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9150 Seven essential elements of leading Change - http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9329Finally, a quick mention of the new service onesixsigma.com is running, designed to make it easier for you to find the information you want on jobs, events and training. We have created two forms – the Job Information form and the Events Information form – which allow you to enter the details of what you are looking for, and we will then get back to you with any relevant information. It’s free and confidential. Try it out today. More information here - http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9343
Do you have something to contribute to the onesixsigma.com community? Would you like to share your story, or idea, or knowledge? Getting published on onesixsigma.com is easy, and we are particularly interested in non-English content. Get in touch with me using the contact form on the site or by calling 0870 145 1616.
Best regards
Matthew Moore
Market News:
onesixsigma.com announces thelaunch of two new user services for professional development - http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9343
onesixsigma.com is pleased to announce two new user services that give you the opportunity to receive bespoke information on jobs, training and events to suit your individual needs.
Latest news from the i&i Community of Practice - http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9170
Baxter Healthcare, BP, Centrica, Masterlease and Hoffmann La Roche represent the latest forward-thinking organisations to recognise the powerful force of inter-company collaboration for improvement. Joining the existing ten Founding Members of the i&i Community of Practice, these new members will be inducted into the network and provided with instant access to a self-support network of business improvement experts and deployments.
Minitab offers free webinars for greater learning - http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9361
Minitab offers free hour-long webinars to help you learn tips & tricks about Minitab Statistical Software, as well as guides on how Quality Companion helps you to implement your six sigma projects
BMGI Launches New Webinar Series Leveraging Performance Excellence during an economic downturn - http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9147
If you're concerned about your company's ability to remain competitive, or you're a quality leader who believes your program could contribute more significantly to the company's bottom line, join BMGI’s CEO, David Silverstein as he addresses these challenges in a six-part webinar series, "Lean Six Sigma for Tough Times."
BMGI Hosts 2-Day Innovation Workshop for Executives – Seminar Enhances Organsational Innovation Efforts - http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9149
Innovation remains a hot topic in 2008 as executive teams continue struggling to build effective, sustainable, and measurable innovation programs. The battle over how to structure innovation departments, drive company-wide innovation initiatives, and sustain efforts over the long haul are challenging even the most adept leaders.
The Global Six Sigma & Business Improvement Awards - http://www.onesixsigma.com/node/9353
WCBF has announced the shortlist of finalists for the 2008 Global Six Sigma & Business Improvement Awards program. A total of 40 entries have been selected by the independent judging panel from 12 categories to go forward to the final stages of the judging process.
