Any new project starts with a lot of enthusiasm from a few change agents. However, that change must become contagious throughout the organization and contribute to a positive expe- rience for the business as a whole. During any project’s life cycle, the starting point is the most pleasant, with its associated fun and festivities. As the project starts, teams are formed, objectives are defined, plans are developed, and progress is made. When a cross-functional team starts working, members
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from the various departments may have different expectations.
They have different priorities and levels of commitment.
The team goes through the famous four stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. During the Forming stage, the members in the team are identified, and their roles are defined toward a common objective. During the Storming stage (initial meetings), the team members present their views and their experiences and assert their wills. This Storming stage might last from one meeting to several meetings.
As everyone on the team is heard, a common understanding of one another’s views is developed. With that common under- standing, the team’s methodology and rules are established, the team leader playing an important role in establishing them. This is the Norming stage. Within the scope of the objectives and span of the team rules, members reach the Performing stage and participate in implementing the desired change, in this case, the Six Sigma Business Scorecard. Once the planned change has been implemented, it is monitored for a period before the team is discontinued.
In the early phase of the change process, team members and the corporation invest resources to develop methods to work together to implement the change. Somewhere after the first quarter of the change process, leadership might become concerned if few results are evident. This unfulfilled expectation leads to dissatisfaction and frustration, among both leaders and team members. A leader with a shallow commitment might intervene at this point and disrupt the change process, changing the team players and redefining the objectives. These actions could be fatal to the strategic initiative and counterproductive to the corporation. At this point, leadership that focuses on short-term goals might even make a change in personnel, firing some individuals, including consultants if they are vulnerable.
This is one reason why leadership embracement of the full concept is important. The leadership must be committed from the outset to the complete cycle of the change process, as shown in Figure 7-1.
As resources are invested in a change process and few tan- gible results are evident, team morale may slip because their effort appears to be going nowhere. After the halfway point,
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however, the input effort starts declining and results start show- ing up. Morale rebuilds and the enthusiasm returns. The lead- ership must understand that this is a natural change cycle and resist frustration and untimely intervention. Avoiding excessive intervention does not abrogate the leadership from its respon- sibility to maintain accountability for success of the project.
After the initial success of the pilot projects, the challenge becomes to institutionalize the change. To do so, the leadership must make management responsible for implementing the Six Sigma Business Scorecard and accountable for its success.
Each category on the Six Sigma Business Scorecard is assigned to one executive for clear accountability of the initia- tive and measurements.
To maintain constancy of purpose, focus, and commitment to the Six Sigma Business Scorecard, the leadership must set high expectations for dramatic improvement as well as com- municate a sense of urgency. Superior companies maintain
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Project Eff ort
Results
Team M
orale
Leadership Confidence
1/4 1/2 3/4
Project Timing
Change Level
FIGURE 7-1. The project life cycle.
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the sense of urgency irrespective of corporate performance.
Similarly, the strategic initiative of implementing the Six Sigma Business Scorecard must become a priority and be imple- mented with a sense of urgency to achieve dramatic improve- ment in corporate performance, including dramatic improvement in profitability and growth.
Initially, some difficulties in implementing the Six Sigma Business Scorecard will exist. However, when its purpose and executive commitment are strong, the scorecard will lead to con- tinual and balanced improvement in corporate performance.
At this point, after stable and successful implementation, many businesses tend to either change things because new people have joined the team or create a new initiative to sus- tain improvement.
Although the Six Sigma Business Scorecard is a dynamic tool that can be revised as the scope and direction of a business change, it is counterproductive to change it simply because of personal preferences or style. When business objectives change, however, the Six Sigma Business Scorecard can be revised to maintain its suitability and effectiveness to the busi- ness. Business does not exist to implement the Six Sigma Business Scorecard; instead the Six Sigma Business Scorecard exists to support the business.