Have you provided Lean Six Sigma (LSS) training to your employees? What was your goal? How effective was it?
Over 15 years ago, I received my LSS Black Belt (BB) training sponsored by my employer. It was three weeks of classroom training delivered over three months by external consultants. It kick-started my Continuous Improvement (CI) journey. Since then, I have delivered LSS training as an internal trainer or external consultant to many large global organizations. I also helped organizations in their LSS deployment, led many CI projects, and coached Green Belt (GB) and BB leaders in their projects.
Despite my own positive experience with LSS training, what I have learned over the years is that in most situations the traditional weeks long LSS training is ineffective in driving CI.
If measured by the number of people trained or certified or the number of methods and tools covered, such training programs are very effective and easily justified for the investment.
But if we start to measure the improvement of business outcomes, the desired problem-solving skills and behavior of the trained employees, and the positive impact on the CI culture and mindset of the organization, the training is very often ineffective. Some troubling signs are
- It took 12 months or more to complete the first GB project.
- The GB could not recall some basic topics only a few weeks after the training.
- BB candidates have to create flash cards to prepare for their certification exams.
- GBs or BBs are no longer engaged in CI after obtaining their certifications.
- Certified BBs fail to exhibit or apply knowledge of some fundamental concepts, such as process stability, in their daily work.
- The trained employees do not perform or behave differently from those untrained in the CI methodology
I can see two main factors contributing to this poor outcome.
First, the training program only teaches the general methods and tools and does not improve skills.
Previously, I discussed training and coaching considerations in LSS deployment in The First Six Sigma Project and recommended customized training in Making Employee Training Effective.
Most LSS training programs developed by universities, professional organizations, and commercial vendors are designed for efficiency and profitability. The generic programs do not connect the content to the client organization’s problems and operational reality. Few external trainers have the subject matter or industry knowledge to tailor the training to each client’s need. Even if they are able to customize, few clients are willing to pay the substantial premium.
Corporate internal programs are not much better in terms of sufficiently relevant materials that relate to each employee’s job. Employees do not start learning real problem-solving skills until they encounter problems in their projects, by which time they already forgot most of what was taught in the training.
Second, the organization overly relies on training to improve business performance.
Two common fallacies can lead to this “improvement training trap.”
- Employees have to be trained in the methods and tools or they won’t be able to learn themselves.
- Once the employees are formally trained, they will solve all the problems on their own.
Can classroom training help accelerate learning? Absolutely. Is it necessary or sufficient to develop the skills, mindset, and behavior for CI? No.
These programs train methods and tools, whereas what the organizations really need is leadership development and behavior modification.
Management has to understand that employees’ knowledge in CI methodologies is only a small but essential driver in business improvement. When employees are not engaged in effective CI activities, it is not necessarily due to lack of knowledge – something else is likely limiting. The root cause is rarely lack of training, and the solution is not more or even better training.
It is management’s job to critically analyze all aspects of the organization, e.g. processes, structure, policies, resources, people, and culture, to identify the barriers to CI. When they do, they will likely find out that LSS training is not the solution to their problem.