What's really important to top managers

Among the basics addressed in this column last month was "getting to know your boss" as you begin Six Sigma. Since successful Six Sigma efforts require top management leadership, this is an important consideration that merits more attention this month.

This discussion assumes that you are not top management and that top management has not yet committed to a Six Sigma approach to improvement. If you are among top management leadership in your organization, this column may help you to focus your efforts. If you already have a top management commitment, this column may help you reflect on your own experience in getting leaders on board.

If your own interest in Six Sigma precedes top management’s willingness to take on that leadership role, this column is for you. In The Change Masters (New York: Simon & Schuster 1983), Rosabeth Moss Kanter points out that leaders seldom commit to major organizational change without internal evidence that the change will work. She calls the pilot projects or experiments that produce this evidence "departures from tradition." Thus, one starting point for a Six Sigma initiative is to know your boss well enough to know if he or she is ready to commit to this new organizational direction, or if one or more "departures from tradition" are necessary first. How, then, can one get to know the boss well enough to make that call?

First, learn what your management cares about most. Most Six Sigma literature assumes that it is profit, the traditional bottom line. While this is a good assumption, since most top managers must focus on profit, and any good improvement initiative is likely to result in sustained and/or increased profitability, profits may not be what your boss really cares about most. By the way, my assumption is that your boss is top management.

If that is not true, then you need to continue this "understanding" process until you hear the voice of the person who has the authority and inclination to make the system changes that are necessary to make Six Sigma work. (Review W. Edwards Deming on this.)

While all top managers are likely to care about profits, it may not be their primary focus. That focus may be employee satisfaction or even delight. It may be sales, on time delivery, quality, turnover, customer satisfaction, the environment, job creation, bringing new products to market, or community support, for example. A Six Sigma approach can help in any of these areas.

But don’t ever forget two things:

Profitability or economic viability for non-business endeavors is essential to the ongoing life of any enterprise or community that you are trying to change.

All the elements of performance are interrelated.

As I’ve said before, I believe the popularity of Six Sigma comes from its focus on profitability, so let’s start there in terms of increasing our understanding of the boss’s needs. Profit, of course, is the result of sales or revenue exceeding the cost of running the enterprise. But as we all get tangled up in the complexities of our jobs, our businesses, and our industries, we may forget this truism. Explore with the boss how he/she understands this relationship’s importance to the organization.

For some managers, the focus is on sales rather than profit. A classic joke is that business schools teach students that the solution to poor profitability is always to increase sales, no matter what the cost structure looks like. Many managers’ preoccupation with sales may lead one to think they believe this to be true. But, even if their focus is strictly on sales, Six Sigma can help. But someone must also watch costs, or Six Sigma will be a wonderful way to accelerate the path toward going out of business!

On the other hand, some managers focus only on cost. Reducing cost is, of course, a specialty of Six Sigma efforts. Return on investment is a related metric that may be high on your boss’s agenda. Seek to understand where your boss’s passion lies regarding these and other metrics. Both listen and observe behavior. We all know that what we say and what we do may be inconsistent. Check this out carefully.

Once you’ve figured out what’s important to your boss, you’ll need to figure out the process and next steps together. If top management is yet to commit, then next steps are likely to be either:

• a pilot project (a "departure from tradition")

• a formal event to announce top management’s commitment, or

• a strategic plan

So getting to know your boss is an essential Six Sigma ingredient. Find what he/she cares about and what next steps to take. Then get busy and help the boss "make it so!"

David R. Schwinn

David R. Schwinn, an independent consultant in Jackson, MI with experience in automotive-related industries and community quality training. Future columns will respond to user questions, challenges, and comments. Address these to Schwinn via PQ Systems, at support@pqsystems.com.