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We are continuing to build the model and consider the impact of leadership
qualities and leadership skills. See the graphic
leadership qualities.
Leadership skills are needed at
every level in the organization. Consistent training and approach from
the executive level
through managers
and supervisors
will help all in the organization develop their leadership
skills.
Development of leadership skills and leadership qualities can start at very early ages. There are a large number of youth groups that will assist young people
with leadership training so they can develop critical leadership
skills. Too few
adults spend the time to take leadership
skills leadership qualities training to understand and work on development of the leadership skills
and leadership qualities learned in their youth.
Some chose to ignore much of the leadership training once they move out side these organizations. Opportunities to develop
leadership skills and leadership qualities outside work are not limited to youth groups.
Social service organizations, church and local government offer a wealth of opportunities for those interested in developing
leadership skills. Even if you never have any intention of aspiring to a management position in your organization
opportunities abound for the application of leadership skills. Every
organization needs people with leadership qualities.
One of the primary mechanisms of management demonstrating leadership
qualities it has, is in strategic
planning. If Six Sigma Plus is part of the strategy there are many opportunities to develop
leadership
skills and leadership qualities at other levels in the organization.
In any organization leadership qualities can always be expanded. With Six Sigma Plus one of the objectives is to expand the concept of
leadership
skills beyond that of organizational position. Frequently people equate leadership with some title, position, or rank. Those who have demonstrated
leadership
qualities frequently have these titles. Unfortunately there are cases where the title or position has been granted before the
leadership skills have been developed. This is an indication of lapse of leadership responsibility by those who place an unprepared person in a role requiring extensive
leadership skills. Too often very successful technical people are placed in roles with leadership requirement without being prepared. The best engineer is made Engineering Manager or the best operator is made Supervisor. None of us would allow people untrained in Civil Engineering to design and build a major highway. Neither would many of us willingly go into surgery with the person performing the operation having no training in medicine. Yet many of our management and supervisory positions are filled with very competent technical people with little preparation for management or supervisor duties. In those cases there are basically two options. One is to move along and hope that instinct and a good support structure will be adequate. The second option is begin accelerated
leadership training aimed at developing the leadership skills and knowledge base required for a leadership position.
Six Sigma Plus implementation offers an alternative while providing major improvements at the same time.
Leadership skills are honed and major improvements are made in the organization at the same time. Those who wish to participate or lead their organization in the application of Six Sigma Plus are guilty of professional malpractice if they do not enhance and continue to develop their personal
leadership skills. Champions and Black Belts have direct and immediate leadership challenges.
The Champions are charged with interfacing with Senior Management and the Black Belt organization. Their ability to gather support, resources and commitment from Senior Management will often mean the difference between success and failure of a Six Sigma effort. If the Champions do not lead the Black Belt selection, education and development of the individuals, odds for success decrease dramatically. One of the most critical
leadership responsibilities for the Champion is to assure that Black Belts who have spent two years or so working on improvement projects are moved back into responsible positions within the organization. If this key leadership responsibility is not actively pursued then the organization will quickly see the Six Sigma Plus Black Belt as a career-ending move. The organization has severely limited the effectiveness of any Six Sigma effort if Black Belts with an increased skill set and new level of knowledge are not moved back into the line organization where these skills can be leveraged even more.
A short sighted approach is to value of the Black Belts in returning value to the bottom line of the organization in very short periods of time and wishing to keep these people contributing in this fashion. An argument is the training was expensive in both time an money and we should keep Black Belts working as Black Belts even longer. This is a short-term view that will eventually keep the best and brightest from ever accepting a Black Belt assignment. Instead consider the leverage if a manager has the training, understanding and experience of being a Black Belt. Better project selection, implementation and retention of the benefits of a Black Belt project will result. Also when it is clear that Black Belt is a requirement for advancement beyond a certain level then the quality of people seeking Black Belt training and application will increase.
Black Belts have a duty to increase their leadership skills while working on projects. Team selection and building offer the Black Belt excellent opportunities to develop
leadership skills. Any Black Belt that is not increasing their knowledge and skill base in people leadership, project management and understanding of the language of management (money) during in each project is cheating themselves and the organization that has invested in them. Black Belts are not technical experts who have learned some statistics and other tools. They are instead people who have been given an opportunity to add to their technical skill level with some very specific training and an opportunity to apply those skills on projects in a very rapid fashion. While applying those new skills there is also the opportunity to enhance the leadership skills. Any Black Belt or organization that has Black Belts and views them as technical experts only is missing the largest benefit of Six Sigma Plus.
Senior Management that is not selecting its managers from the ranks of those who have been trained and practiced the skills and knowledge of a Black Belt does not understand the true benefits and leverage of a Six Sigma Plus implementation. Within just a few years after starting a Six Sigma application, no person should be moved to a management position unless they have completed Black Belt training and have demonstrated the mastery of
leadership skills by successfully completing several projects. Six Sigma Plus must become the primary management development program within the organization. If this does not happen then the Senior Management has had an unconscionable lapse in leadership application. Six Sigma will not have the opportunity to deliver the kinds of improvements possible. Not because the Six Sigma Plus process can not deliver the improvements but because of a lack of leadership and misapplication of a very powerful approach.
Management must assure that the Six Sigma leadership training
and development afforded the Black Belts is appropriate for the high performance expectations. While statistics understanding and application is very important there are
leadership skills that are equally important. It is the synergistic combination of the two that produces a successful Black Belt.
One measure of success in leadership is the cultivation of
employees. This employee empowerment
and employee motivation makes
leaders much more effective and efficient.
Leadership qualities are developed in our
targeted leadership skills training. Click on each link.
Executive
Coaching
Management
Training
Supervisor
Training
Leadership
Skills Development
Quotes that Inspire
The only honest measure of your success is what you are doing compared to your true potential. Paul J. Meyer
A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner. English proverb
The ability to confront issues is really important to a successful career, maybe even a successful life.Amy Digeso
"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound."*James Allen
It is faith, and not reason, which impels men to action... Intelligence is content to point out the road, but never drives us along it. Dr. Alexis Carrel
If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, "Here comes number seventy-one!"
Richard M. Devos
"Success is a simple matter of competence and character. If you have to choose one choose character."Gen. H.Norman Schwartzkopf
"There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them." *Dr. Denis Waitley
"You never achieve real success unless you like what you are doing." *Dale Carnegie
Initiative consists of doing the right thing without being told. Irving Mack
"Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist." Mary Kay Ash
"To accept good advice is to increase one's own ability". Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning." *Claude Bernard
Cary
W. Adams
10A
Bayou RD
Lake
Jackson, TX 77566
1-979-297-5198
cadams@adamssixsigma.com
Previous Newsletters
Customer
Loyalty and Customer Satisfaction. Competitors
Competition.
Distribution, Products, Services, Work
Flow.
Suppliers Supply Chain.
Employee Development
Empowerment Motivation.
SWOT Analysis Business Plans
Strategic Planning.
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