Coaching in Six Sigma projects

Six Sigma is a complex five-step problem-solving methodology (Definition, Measurement, Analysis, Improvement and Control).

From the beginning of the Six Sigma program, starting from the strategy approached by Top Management, listening to VOC (Voice of Customer) or VOB (Voice of Business), evaluating problems and prioritizing them, the coach is involved in opening the management horizons for choosing projects. Six Sigma.

Green Belt and Black Belt coaching is for many organizations an integral part of the implementation of Six Sigma at the organizational level and essential for the success of improvement projects. This must be done throughout the projects, and sometimes in the period after the control phase, to ensure that the gains are maintained.

The coach must be a Six Sigma expert both in the methodology itself, but also in the choice of working methods and tools, but also in the ways of applying them in practical projects.

Project work involves an individual interaction in which a coach focuses on each specific case (project) and on the practical use of the theoretical knowledge learned in the training part. One of the key principles a coach should follow is: Don't tell the belts what to do, but help the belts learn to find the best way to solve problems.

• In the first step, Definition, the coach provides assistance to students in listening to VOC / VOB and its transformation into CTQ (Critical to Quality), this being the main indicator that shows the performance of the process in the case of the chosen project. Here, too, care must be taken that the area of ​​the project is not too large for the team to focus. The coach will also emphasize to team leaders the importance of teamwork.

• In the measurement phase the belts are helped to understand the role of understanding the process using the process diagram, how to identify the influencing factors using the Ishikawa diagram (fish bone) or through the S diagram (IPO) C and to choose the most important ones using the Cause diagram. - Effect. Then, also in this phase, the coach guides the students in collecting reliable data - how to draw up a data collection plan, how to use sufficient and unambiguous operational definitions, or how to ensure the validity of the measurement process. through the tool called MSA (Measurement System Analysis)

• As the project evolves in the analysis phase, the coach also focuses on advanced statistics - Hypothesis testing and statistical tools to prove the root causes. These tests could be: Test of Equal Variance, ANOVA or T-test - for normally distributed data or Moods Median Test for other types of distributions.

• In the Improvement phase, students are taught methods to identify solutions such as brainstorming and prioritizing them, how to draw up an action plan or a Gantt Chart, and then how to verify the effectiveness of their application.

• Last but not least, in the control phase, the belts are helped to standardize the new process, to implement a monitoring system (control diagrams), to hand over the project to the process owner and to propose its replication to other possible similar processes.