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Intro: Welcome to the E6S-Methods podcast with Jacob and Aaron, your weekly dose of tips and tricks to achieve excellent performance in your business and career. Join us as we explore deeper into the practical worlds of Lean, Six Sigma, Project Management and Design Thinking. In this rebroadcast of episode number 22, part 2 of “It Takes A Village,” we continue our discussion of the Lean Six Sigma village with advice on closing out any gaps in your programs. If you like this episode, be sure to click the "like" link in the show notes. It's easy. Just tap our logo in the artwork, click and you're done. Tap-click-done! Here we go. http://bit.ly/E6S-022RB Leave a Review! http://bit.ly/E6S-iTunes

***It Takes A Village*** LSS Community for Program success

I Main Failure Points: The Champions and the Black Belts are central to the success of the LSS projects. The LSS Executive and Master Black Belts are central to the success of the LSS Program

II Who they are in the LSS community and their role

a. LSS Program Lead/Executive – Facilitates program steering team, sets expectations for Sponsors and Champions. Ensure proper resourcing. Ultimate authority over program direction. Manages a program of several focus areas or geographies.

b. Sponsor/Champion Team – “Cabinet” members to the LSS Program Lead. High level business decision makers and key program stakeholders. Pool from which project champions are assigned. Peer police group for project champions.

c. LSS Master Black Belt – Subject matter experts in LSS methods. Teachers, coaches and advisors to the LSS Executive Lead, Project Champion and Project Manager. Coaches and oversees several projects at a time.

d. Project Sponsor/Champion – Project Owner. Responsible for the project success. Maintains pressure. Removes roadblocks. Ensures project is properly resourced with direction from MBB and Project Leader (BB/GB)

e. LSS Black Belt or Green Belt Project Leader – LSS tool practictioners. Manage Project Team resources, timeline, and budget. Facilitates LSS tools, coaches team, handles team and stakeholder dynamics.

f. Project Team – “Doers” within the project. Cross-functional subject matter experts and action owners in the area of project focus. The “bearers” of the solutions.

g. Project Area Process Owner – Lead stakeholder in the area of the project focus. May be the area lead, supervisor, operations manager or process engineer. Ensures resources are available to participate on the team and opportunity is given to run experiments within the process. May or may not be a team member.

h. Financial Representative – Assists with Financial Benefits Measurement/ Valuation Strategy. Monitors and reports financial progress throughout the phases of the project.

i. Champion/Sponsor has a central role in each individual project, equally important as the project leader (GB/BB). Top reason for project failure is a poorly engaged Sponsor/Champion

III What if these roles are not being fulfilled? (“Lame” for lack of better term.) How do you pick up the slack?

a. Lame LSS Program Lead/Executive –

i. Impact: Individual projects primarily unaffected. Overall program can become disjointed, “silo-ed,” and lack strategic direction.

ii. Workaround: MBBs can pick up the slack, particularly in their geographical areas. They have the tools and know-how to facilitate champion team. However, they usually do not have the same authority the LSS Executive has to keep the Champion Team in check. Would need to operate on behalf-of the CEO or top area executive.

b. Lame Sponsor/Champion Team –

i. Impact: Program and Projects suffer. The peer accountability will be gone. No ownership over projects selected.

ii. Workaround: LSS Executive Lead needs to jump in. Recharge or replace the Champion Team members. Retraining and alteration of incentives may be required.

c. Lame LSS Master Black Belt –

i. Impact: Some projects may suffer, primarily those that are more technical. Training and coaching may be sparse, which could cause the program itself to fizzle out, especially in a local geography.

ii. Workaround: Black Belts can step up and peer mentor each others project of technical difficulty. The Champion will also need to step up to ensure the Black Belt is on steady ground with the project and help maintain project scope.

d. Lame Project Sponsor/Champion –

i. Impact: Project lagging, or failure. Without the authority of the champion/sponsor, the detractors can gain greater footing and stall any changes to the status quo. Black Belts may also become complacent.

ii. Workaround: MBB can step in to give greater assistance to the Black Belts, particularly regarding stakeholder and team management. Process Owners can assume some level of project authority if the Sponsor is “lame.”

e. Lame LSS Black Belt or Green Belt Project Leader –

i. Impact: Project Failure. Poor leadership or mastery of the tools

ii. Workaround: The MBB and Champion step in for greater support. If the project leader cannot be helped, replace them.

f. Lame Project Team –

i. Impact: Project Failure. Insufficient input from the area experts can lead to the incorrect conclusions.

ii. Workaround: BB needs to take control of the team. This is the BB’s whole purpose. Work with Champion to decide whether or not to switch out resources or remove other obstacles.

g. Lame Project Area Process Owner –

i. Impact: Project Failure or delays. Resistance from this person is common.

ii. Workaround: Good Stakeholder management from BB and the Champion. Part of normal project management

h. Lame Financial Representative –

i. Impact: Financial benefits are not being captured, improper valuation, etc.

ii. Workaround: The Black Belt and Champion pick up the slack.

IV It takes a village and the Champion Plays a central role.

Outro: Thanks for listening to the rebroadcast of episode 22 of the E6S-Methods podcast. Don't forget to click "like" or "dislike" for this episode in the show notes. Tap-click-done! We love hearing from our listeners and learning about how you use Lean and Six Sigma. Feel free to email us, aaron@e6s-methods.com, or contact us through our website, we reply to all messages. Reviews on iTunes are always appreciated and keeps us higher in the ranks and allows us to reach more superstars like you. Don't forget to you can find notes and graphics for all shows and more at www.E6S-Methods.com. "Journey Through Success. If you're not climbing up, you're falling down? Leave a Review! http://bit.ly/E6S-iTunes

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