To be successful, we require teamwork in the execution of Six Sigma. The successful implementation of the Six Sigma methodology is dependent on high performing teams that come together to collaborate on getting a result. All teams go through a developmental cycle, from the time they form until they adjourn at the end of the project. The traits of high performing teams include seamlessly sharing skills, honoring ideas, and empowering individuals. Everyone must be actively involved. And through collaboration, we drive consensus to reach our goals. Process improvement teams tend to come together around very specific kinds of objectives. For example, a team may assemble with the purpose of reducing the amount of time it takes to complete a specific step in the value stream. A team will focus on that very specific business or operational process. They will have urgency around getting rapid results. And they’ll be highly committed to making things happen. Another aspect of process improvement that focuses on process is that we want to focus on the low hanging fruit. Or the improvements that have high impact, are very easy to execute quickly, and, of course, the actions that will generate a good return on investment. Quality teams are often formed and kept intact for a longer period of time. They tend to drive efficiency for a couple of reasons. They may improve a particular process or add or remove a process.
Processes may also be restructured or realigned. Finally, a quality team may be involved with developing a quality plan. So that we can help the organization operate in a consistent manner, follow best practices, and get consistent quality results. Quality teams provide strong support to make those things happen. Ad hoc teams could come together to solve a very specific problem. For example, we may have a one-time problem that’s popped up and we need to pull some people together to address it. They tend to operate with a pretty limited lifespan, and may only come together just one time to accomplish a very specific set of goals. They usually come together with a very well-defined purpose, and a very clear idea of what success would look like. These teams could be interdepartmental or cross functional, with lots of different functions within an organization. Or they may include specific stakeholders close to the work itself. Self-managed teams correlate very highly to the concept of quality circles and Kaizen circles. They tend to be formed around repeating processes that occur on a routine basis. For example, at a manufacturing company, if we had a group of people sharing a number of machines to produce a product, they may come together every day in a very short meeting and talk about the things that happened yesterday. How can we get better, and how are we making progress toward our quality and throughput goals? In a service environment, such as a technical support contact center, where we serve customers, we may come together and talk about call volumes, allocation of resources, and creative things we could do to deliver better service every day to our customers. A great feature of self-managed teams is that they require minimal supervision from management. Instead they have team leaders who work inside the teams to facilitate their work and remove the barriers, as opposed to managing them. These agile teams can make a huge impact on organizations, and have a lot of flexibility to take on a wide variety of projects over a period of time.