Part II: Team Skills Needed to Successfully Complete a Six Sigma Project

Reality Check

At the end of the last chapter we described a project team charged with cost reductions that might result in the elimination of some jobs and creation of new jobs. The team started by imagining what the company would be like if the team were successful. The members were also asked to imagine what their own work lives would be like. It wasn’t surprising that members expressed some serious conflict between the team goals and their personal goals.

They spent several hours talking about how to resolve the conflict, exploring what they might do if their current jobs were eliminated and they had to take on new responsibilities. A number of team members had spent many years in their current jobs and considered themselves experts, so it was difficult for them to imagine starting over in new positions. Eventually, all of the team members felt comfortable with the possibility and saw the team’s success as their best hope of ensuring a future. A few members even got excited about the prospect of taking on new responsibilities. This is an excellent example of the team following the Guidelines: Establishing Project Team Goals.

The disclosure of what each member hoped to achieve as a result of the project led to some interesting discussions of the roles each would play. The team leader, whose position was not likely to change, decided to take a lower-key role and let some of the members who hoped to take on new roles be more visible with senior management.

Another member, toying with the idea of forming a training department, took on the task of designing and delivering training. The team did a good job of following the Guidelines: Establishing Project Team Roles.

Because the team members had disclosed so much to each other, their procedures were somewhat different from previous teams. They met off-site and agreed to a strict privacy code regarding personal information shared in the meeting. One member took minutes on a laptop during the meeting, and the team reviewed the minutes before they were shared outside the team. Finally, they agreed to use consensus to reach any decisions that might result in the elimination of jobs. The task was still difficult, but attending to the Guidelines: Establishing Project Team Procedures allowed the team to be successful.