Six Sigma

10 Lean Six Sigma Principles you should Adopt Immediately in 2023

In the constantly evolving era, trying to keep up with the effectiveness of a firm is the most challenging job. You constantly need to watch out for your actions and in some cases redo a number of steps to acquire the necessary results. And keeping up with these alterations is the need and demand of a successfully running firm. 

Thus, if you are someone who is wanting to take your business to new heights, you probably should be staying a bit longer, scrolling here. This section of the article will help you understand the different dimensions of your firm and will enlighten you with points that need your instant attention and a truly constructive modification. 

To help our firm grow we tend to hire the best professionals, accumulate the best resources but still fall away from the position we desire. There’s something we surely might be missing upon, isn’t it? 

Well, unfortunately, we do tend to miss upon essentials when making responsible decisions. There might be n number of reasons for it but the major one that requires instant alter is educating yourself and your organization with new and latest developed tools and techniques. 

Your project manager might be giving out all; his/her best. But channelising your efforts in the right direction is more important than just giving it all out. Lean Six Sigma Certifications and the skills acquired through them is no alien to the world of management. It transformed the majority of the management area for good. 

Although, we and our professionals tend to remain well aware and educated with the aspects of Lean Six Sigma but still miss upon larger pictures. That is probably because we tend to avoid or overlook the essential Lean Six Sigma Principles. These principles are the sole curator of a successful firm and missing upon them is surely not something that one can afford in this cutthroat competitive world. 

So what do we do? Learn, Rehearse and Implement but do not miss it. That’s how we can get our business back to track. So what are these essential lean Six Sigma Principles that need immediate implementation in order to have a successfully running firm? Well, let’s unveil them together. Keep Scrolling! 

What is Lean Six Sigma? 

Lean Six Sigma is a set of methodologies and techniques that functions using highly developed fine tools to effectively organize and manage a firm. These newly developed tools are introduced with a vision of eradicating functioning errors and ensuring effective and smooth operation. 

These tools and techniques have been implemented after a number of careful observations and research. Mastering the aspects of Lean Six Sigma allows learners to understand the crucial elements of running a firm smoothly and effectively. It also receives constructive exposure on how to identify errors and resolve them for the betterment of the firm. 

Using the tools and techniques introduced in Lean Six Sigma one can help their firm reach new heights with minimum to no errors. 

So now that we’ve managed to gather some noteworthy understanding of Lean Six Sigma, it’s time that we open a conversation about the major principles one needs to immediately follow for better and effective results. So here we go! 

Top 10 Lean Six Sigma Principles – you should adopt immediately

1. Knowing, Valuing & Satisfying your Customers

This might seem to be an easy to tick name on the list but trust us it isn’t as easy as it seems. Major businesses fall apart due to not being able to understand, analyze and serve their customers. They feel they’re doing their best but willingly or unwillingly a number of other aspects steal your attention and your customers are left unattended. 

Remember, serving a customer is your everyday task and as long as you plan to keep your firm running. There are a million other firms offering similar services you need to stand out and alert. And knowing, valuing and satisfying your customers can surely work in your favor. 

Therefore invest a lot of your time in understanding your customers, their needs, their comfort and only then you will be able to compel your customers to choose you over every other million options available. 

2. Understand your Process – Know what & why you follow something

To help your business grow you might be acting upon a number of ways. But to have them effectively provide you with returns you need to observe them, question them. Only then your investments in time, technique or tools can prove to be loyal. 

If you are initiating or throwing out a particular idea or a campaign, have a very well organized blueprint for it. You should be aware and alert of the next steps, moderations or any kind of eliminations made. This will help you keep a track of the activities you perform and observing them closely will also expose you to the areas of errors and thus, can allow you to eradicate them with productive means. 

Henceforth, when you plan out an idea, campaign or anything as such ensure to have sufficient knowledge on where and how the investments respective to time, money, effort and more are made. 

A clearer idea leads to better execution, always know that. 

3. Takt Time – The ultimate functioning enhancer 

Takt Time here means keeping a record of the time utilized to complete a process. Takt is a German word that means beat. As already mentioned, keeping yourself aware of the processes being worked up in the firm allows you to keep a track of it. Having a constructive track allows you to reform it productively. One other major addition that you should be making while doing so is implementing the Takt Time format. 

It will help you to understand how much time a dedicated segment in a process requires. It will also foray you with the ultimate time required from the production of a product to dispatching it to the customer. Thus, when you have a studied time you can mould or enhance the segments as per your need and requirement. 

So Takt Time is surely a concept that needs your attention for better effectiveness. 

4. Satisfying the 5 Whys – Ultimate Error Eradicator 

As children, we were always encouraged to ask questions because our elders knew out of experience that only asking questions could help individuals explore new knowledge and pathways. 

That is exactly what we need to do in order to enhance our firm’s performance. We need to follow the 5 Whys mantra and shoot out the questions that meet halt or errors. 

We meet errors or odd situations only when we lack knowledge and the best way to eradicate it is, question it. The 5 Whys follow a set of questionnaires that one needs to analyze and resolve in order to achieve effective results. 

Once you’ve understood your errors, finding a solution to that gets quite easy. So go ahead and adopt the 5 Whys Mantra right away. The questions included are as follows:-

5. Communicate your concerns 

Communication is the key to excellence. If the visions between two individuals are clear i.e. well shared and detailed, there occur fewer chances of errors. When your vision is well commuted to your team and their queries are well answered, you eventually tend to receive productive outcomes. 

Thus, the key principle to getting your firm to function effectively lies in effective communication. As a curator, you should be open to opinions and discussions in order to filter the best for your firm. Major of the errors the firms suffer are due to poor peer to peer communication. 

Ensure that your firm is not the one dealing with such a crisis. Once you effectively reach out to your team and communicate the process and aim of your project it becomes easier for all to work on the same page. 

So do consider this Lean Six Sigma principle and contribute towards making your firm better. 

6. Recognise & Replace the mistakes (Mistake Proofing) – Poka (mistakes) Yoke (avoid) 

The biggest step of effective management is having a foolproof planned pen to paper process of the project. This helps you keep a watch on each and every step of the process. And in between if you find any mistake that can later contribute to bigger results later you can pause it and correct it right there in order to avoid future conflicts or failures. 

To help you do so, the Poka-Yoke mechanism is all ready to take the front seat. It is a type of mechanism in a process that identifies mistakes or errors when operations are in action and replaces them with effective measures. 

There are a number of benefits associated with implementing Poka-Yoke. Some of them are as follows:- 

  • Enhances efforts and productivity
  • Lesser errors 
  • Ensures smooth functioning
  • Eliminates process complexities

It’s time that you just stop wondering and start acting by adapting the right Lean Six Sigma Principles. So go ahead and implement Poka-Yoke to ensure the smooth and productive functioning of the firm. 

7. Change & Adaptability

A successful firm is one that is open to opinions, change and discussions as mentioned earlier. When a firm works with a closed set of thoughts and leaves no room for change, the services delivered become very monotonous and ineffective. 

As a business developer one needs to keep a detailed track of the evolution of the consumers and the associated areas of business. The rapidly evolving era demands change too and that change is worthy by all means. Thus, to survive and effectively be able to serve daily services to consumers, you as a team need to stay open to changes, opinions and modulations in any and every activity of the firm. 

Feel free and responsible to introduce your team to new and advanced ways of dealing with everyday complexities. This might scare them but then win them again by throwing the list of benefits associated with these changes. Also, remain open to new suggestions and advice coming from your team members. This will help the conversation to flow from both ends thus, effective results can be witnessed by the firm. 

8. Compel your team to participate & add value to the process

A project heads towards success only when all the ends of the project are strong and aligned on the same page. This is only possible when all the team members actively participate in the decision making and execution process. Letting your team know and understand your project vision and motive is a pivotal aspect of launching your project or managing your firm successfully. 

Your team in a real sense is the executor of the ideas in your firm. Thus, knowing how they feel about it and requesting their 100% participation is very important to acquire effective results. Therefore, create a safe space for your team to come ahead and discuss their points effectively. 

This will allow the team to have more open and transparent conversations which further will only foster productivity and effectiveness. 

9. The 5S Mantra 

The 5S Mantra is definitely one Lean Six Sigma Principle that you must know and implement in order to witness effective results. These 5S essentials cover all your What and Why’s, giving you a broader and better understanding. The 5S here stands for – 

  1. Sorting Out 

Sorting out allows you to segregate the needed and not needed tools and materials in order to avoid unnecessary chaos. You can sort out your list by asking yourself some Wh questions like What, Why, How, Who. 

  1. Set in Order 

Alignment of the process involved in any particular firm is very important. The more you mould things into order the more effective results they produce. Thus, to avoid a final moment clash, once you’ve sorted out the essentials it is advised that you get them placed in the order of their requirements. 

  1. Sweep 

The sweep section allows you to take over the maintenance of the tools and materials by planning out an effective strategy that cleans and replaces the equipment at specific intervals of time. 

  1. Standardize

Before getting it started, save yourself some time and have your team go through a quick check with all the needed essentials for effective performance. 

  1. Sustain 

This section demands you to initiate long term sustainability where you are well aware of the documentation and other related aspects. 

10. Ensure to eradicate errors based on facts and logics

Identification and eradication of errors is really a vital task to action. One has to be responsible, alert and logical while making the call. Successfully being able to identify the error is a half goal achieved but replacing it or rather eradicating it with factual and logical components is really important. 

When in management, you need to realize your job is not just to pinpoint errors it instead demands an effective replacement of them. And while doing so always ensure to have done it using reliable facts and logic. Only then you can acquire constructive results. 

Final Words:- 

Managing a firm successfully is really a tough job to place your foot in. What even makes it more challenging is the constant effort and alertness required to excel. One needs to be highly updated and relevant with everything going around and pick out the best aspects to nurture and enhance his/her firm. 

This expertise comes through constant practice and learning which lean Six Sigma perfectly tends to offer. The principles of Lean Six Sigma is a great shaper to any firm struggling with management issues. So, if you are one of them, feel free to follow our top 10 Lean Six Sigma Principles in order to achieve better expertise. 

Do let us know in the comment section below if it worked for you or not. In case of query or question feel free to reach us using the comment section below. We will be more than glad to help you crack the best. 

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Gulshan Singh
the authorGulshan Singh
Hi, I'm Gulshan Singh an Arts Graduate working as a Content Writer. I also have my hands clear on Copywriting, Poetries, Children Storybooks and Teaching ( TEFL Certified Trainer ). Love for writing is what gets me here. Currently, I'm serving as a Freelance Writer to BCN / CND / RR.

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