Why Do Businesses Need Structured Improvement?

While it may be important for bigger businesses and organizations, is there a need for the structured improvement found in Lean Six Sigma in the medium to small business realm? According to a recent article from Business 2 Community, the answer to that question is a resounding yes. Here are just a few reasons why.

• The gap between what you have and what you want. In the business world, this is called the performance gap. Without a strategic, organized, planned approach to bridging that gap, how are you going to reach your business goals? Are you just going to wait for it to happen on its own? Lean Six Sigma’s method of structured improvement can build that bridge much more effectively, regardless of the size of your business.
• Command and control no longer works. In the 1950’s the approach to solving business problems was “command and control” — those at the top had the information to make the decisions that would ultimately trickle down over the entire organization. Now, with the advent of the internet, everyone at every level has access to information. It is no longer time-effective or even possible for those at the top to have all of the knowledge to make all of the decisions that benefit the company. Lean Six Sigma allows employees at every level to help effect change.
• Employees often tend to focus on areas of the business where they are being measured or rewarded. However, unless those areas depend on improvement as a part of the measures and rewards, change will not happen. Structure is the back bone of measuring improvement and Lean Six Sigma provides that structure.
• Look around you and see the success that others have found through Lean Six Sigma. GE adopted Lean Six Sigma and saved $1 billion in the first five years after implementation. That savings grew to $10 billion in the company’s first decade after implementation. And there are many, many more examples of companies and organizations who have benefited greatly from structured improvement. If it works for them, it can work for you.