The Analyze Stage Chapter 14 Normal Data and Team Norms Guiding the Six Sigma Tean in the Analyze Stage 60 NALYZE STAGE, you've s and begun to work to pect for one another's opin- hat opinions are based on b. and team members are cappear: it can, but now much of its BY THE TIME YOUR SIX SIGMA TEAM REACHES THE ANALYZE probably ironed out many of your personal problems and begu tinely by the norms set in its early ground rules. Respect for one ions now comes from working together and the fact that opinions data. The project is becoming clearer as data comes in, and team willing to learn new tools to analyze the data. This doesn't mean that storming can't reappear: it can, but now m energy will be focused on problems of analysis and impatience to find the of the problem being studied, rather than on the personalities of other team members. Nevertheless, there are ways to prevent the recurrence of storming at the same time the team moves its work along. These include: 1. Draw attention to progress the team's already made. 2. Fix "low-hanging fruit" a.nd build some momentum. 3. Revisit and update team ground rules. 4. Pay more attention to how the team works together. Let's look at these in more detail. Chapter 14. Normal Data and Team Norm w Attention to Team Progre woods and there's no one there to hear it, there isn't anty sound 1. Draw Attention When a tree falls in the woods I know I was there in the There are two kinds of I was there in the woods when it fell. gets to Analyze. The o kinds of progress the team should be making by the time e first has to do with progress on the Six Sigma project and word out to others in the organization. The other has to do with the team has made internally, evolving from a group of people into how to get the word out to the progress the team h something resembling a team. Project Progress: Update Your Storyboard todating your storyboard is important at every stage of DMAIC, but particu larly so here. It is your work in this stage that determines what actions you'll be taking in the next stage-actions that will likely affect many other people out- side the team. Informing people of your progress in confirming (or disproving) causes will help them prepare for the upcoming changes. 2. Build Momentum by Fixing "Low-Hanging Fruit" To paraphrase an old saying, "Nothing motivates a team like success." If a Six Sigma team has to wait six months or longer before its sees some improvements in the process it's working on, there's likely to be a drop in motivation within the team. To prevent this decline, once data begins to throw some light on the process, the team needs to start fixing some of the obvious things in the process wat need fixing, the so-called "low-hanging fruit." Where these improvements made, teams gain a boost of energy to continue work on the "high-hang- 18 fruit" that will probably be harder to pick off. nerisk, of course, is that in "fixing" obvious problems, the team w kering with the overall process, muddy the analytical waters team should fix things that a problems. If a process ma the team should make some cycle time, and perhaps a overall process, and add to the variation in it, or otherwise e analytical waters. To avoid making things worse by tinkering the things that are obvious and that data show are really causing "P shows a bottleneck or a hand-off so tight it's often missed, make some improvements. The result will be a shortening of a perhaps a reduction of defects due to missed hand-offs. Ora THE SIX SIGMA WAY TEAM FIELDBOOK 282 ure and is having pub of tinkering in such cases all the team can see some new person may not have trained on a particular procedure lems making it work. They need to be trained. The risk of tink is slight. Measuring the impact is important, and overall the to incremental improvement resulting from its efforts. Major changes in the process should be avoided until essen collected and carefully analyzed. Introducing major new proce puter software and the like will have to wait until the problems the had been tracked to their origins. til essential data has bere w procedures or com problems they might solve 3. Revisit and Update Team Ground Rules The ground rules that the team needed in its early days of Defining a proble project usually need to be revised and updated in the Analyze phase, if not er. For example, early rules on "respecting everyone's opinions" will need to be revised as the team comes to rely more and more on the analysis of objective data How can I respect the opinion of someone on the team who refuses to use date or analyze it, and relies instead on bluff and bluster to get their way? The old ground rules need to be discussed, amended, and added to as the team matures This discussion is all the more important because debate around the mean- ing of data and how to proceed from it can get heated as the team moves toward implementing solutions for problems. As it begins to pinpoint the cause of prob lems, the team may have to add "No cow is sacred if it's causing problems" to the list of ground rules. As the team gets closer to making actual changes in the organization, anxiety often begins to build up and otherwise cooperative team members may start drawing lines in the sand. Ground rules will help to prevent those lines from becoming high walls. And just in case anyone has doubts about the importance of ground rules the team, these should remain an item on each team meeting agenda meeting, it's worth a few minutes to discuss (not simply read out lou the ground rules. If "Be on Time" is one of the original rules, it's UN to discuss why it's imperative to be on time for meetings: it saves ing latecomers up to speed, shows respect, gets things done on tim discussions prevent ground rules from becoming just formalities people that part of the Six Sigma culture is doing things accord upon processes. Ground rules are the measurable required Sigma team. nginal rules, it's OK in Analyze meetings: it saves rework bring one on time, etc. These formalities, and remind S according to agreed requirements for the S Chapter 14. Normal Data and Te Normal Data and Team Norms tion to How the Team 4. Pay More Works Together The ultimate goal of increase customer satis greater importance is the Siema team is not simply to improve a process and satisfaction, important though these goals may be of ce is the new way of doing things in your organization. These nalyze it and then learn from that analysis Sigma way is to The Six Sigma team needs and processes. How the ay is to gather data, analyze it and then la ma team needs to learn about itself by studying its own activities How the team operates and how its members work with one opportunities for learning that far too many teams inone in her provide opportunities for learning that far toom Are to solve problems and get the project over." If this is the melty ny teams, it's no wonder that things don't really change for the better in their desire to solve pro most organizations. How does the team learn about itself? If the team has been using ground rules and evaluating each of its meetings, it will already have an informal "database" about itself. From time to time, the Black Belt should lead a discussion about this data, pointing out the things that have improved or gotten worse. The Black Belt should also call attention to the following actions when they appear, for they are signs of growing maturity in the team: Members of the team other than the Black Belt point out infractions of ground rules. Team members volunteer for assignments. Team members volunteer to assist other team members in completing their assignments. Team members willingly take over the facilitation of a meeting even though the Black Belt is present. ople avoid the use of "I agree with what you said, but... Instead, they genuinely try to build on what others have said or done. Feople stick to the point under discussion and avoid tangenis are signs that the group of people who came to the first meeting rests and agendas are gradually evolving into a team with All of these are signs that the 8 with their own interests and a mon purposes and methods. Thinking about this evo about itself. The hope is that team men at this evolution for the lack of it will help the team learn hat team members will carry these behaviors back into THE SIX SIGMA WAY TEAM FIELDBOOK ve behaviors there, too, expect to introduce their "real" jobs and departments, and begin to change behaviors the Where b.s. and bluster continue to rule meetings, we can't expect to in tools like run charts and histograms successfully! These improved team behaviors will be very important as the team me into the challenging area of developing and implementing solutions for the lems it was chartered to solve. Improvement is the subject of the next chapter Troubleshooting and Problem Prevention for Analyze Failure #1: The Team Bogs Down in the Paralysis of Analysis and Can't Identify Root Causes of Problems and Unwelcome Variation Why this happens: The tools to analyze the data collected range from simple comparative logic ("Does the data explain why we see this problem in Chicago and not in Los Angeles?") all the way to measures of statistical probability and multivariate analysis. Some teams resist concluding that they have in fact dis- covered the major sources of variation in their process, and keep looking for "one more proof." The team heaps up reams of statistical proof when it should be moving on to improvement. How to prevent it: At the end of the day, statistics only offer us probable proof of the causal relationship between key variables and key outputs. These proba- bilities must be balanced by the common sense and experience of the team. Teams should only use enough statistical analysis to reach reasonable conclu- sions of cause, and then manage the risks of improvement. To paraphrase an old saying, "If the only tool you have is statistics, everything looks like a correlation coefficient." Failure #2: Jumping to Conclusions About Causes Before All the Data Is In Why this happens: Of all the challenges facing Six Sigma team members, ing this step without having already made up their minds about the cause problem/defect may be one of the toughest! After all, team members were likely chosen because they have some relevant experience or knowledge the process or problem which means they've likely been living knowledge about living with the Chapter 14. Normal Data and Team Norms 00 285 at for some time, and naturally have their own theories about what's n. And in the long run, having well-informed ideas about causes is what's going to lead to a permanent solution. How to prevent it: While you can't really prevent people from making up their minds early in the project, you can prevent their decisions from harming the project by insisting that the team have data to back up its conclusions. Remind the team that they will be asked by their Sponsor and others to show what led them to their conclusions. Make sure that you encourage open-minded thinking during brainstorming discussions, especially when it comes to creating a cause- and-effect diagram, for instance. Assignment #2: Chapter 14, beginning on pg 280, summarize this section and the importance of maintaining momentum. In addition, include examples or both change management and leadership skills that will encourage this. - 10pts