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		<title>Six Sigma Blogs at the iSixSigma Blogosphere</title>
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		<description>Six Sigma Blogs at the iSixSigma Blogosphere</description>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: 100 Reasons to Embrace Six Sigma]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/100_reasons_to_embrace_six_sigma.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Having recently posted my 100th  blog, I thought it would be worth-while to share my list of 100 reasons why companies should embrace Six Sigma  . . .
Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . .   Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . .   Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers . . . Customers 
Any questions?]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:09:58 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Waiting for W.O.W.?]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/waiting_for_wow.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Today’s world seems to have us all going 90 miles an hour, multi-tasking and stretching ourselves to the limit to get things done.  Finding time for home, work, school, kids, parents, church, volunteering etc. has become one of our biggest challenges.  Time has become a precious commodity for everyone.  No one has it to waste and no one wants to wait.    So what does all this have to do with W.O.W.?  Everything.  
What’s Needed – On Time – With Value . . . Save time for your customers by enabling efficient transactions and watch your WOW-O-Meter go off scale.   How?  Reduce the time waiting in line, reduce the time holding on the phone, reduce the time a customer has to wait for a delivery, and enable transactions when your customer has time.   It’s all about the process.  Cut out bottlenecks and things will keep moving.  Eliminate defects and you won’t have to stop to fix them.  Remove unneeded steps or hand-offs and you’ll be one step closer to ‘lean time’.  Best of all, enable efficient transactions at a time that’s convenient to your customer and increase customer delight.
So, don’t keep your customers waiting for W.O.W.   Act now!]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:48:11 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Customer W.O.W.  - The Time is Now!]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/customer_wow_the_time_is_now.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[What’s Needed - On Time - With Value  (W.O.W.)  It’s even more relevant in today’s economy.  As families struggle to make ends meet, the value provided for the dollar spent is more important than ever.  What does this mean?  Higher expectations from customers at a time when businesses themselves are tightening up the spending reins.  What should we do?   Panic?  No - we don’t need to stinkin’ panic  . . . we got Six Sigma!
For decades, the "excellence minded" have used Six Sigma to balance the Quality - Delivery - Cost equation.   And it’s times like these that will separate the "excellence minded" from the "naysayers".   For excellence is not a linear function of money rather it is a combination of passion, planning, process and people.   It’s not about squeezing the last dollar out of your process; it’s about finding new and innovative ways to deliver value at a lower cost.  So what are you waiting for?  Get out your six sigma toolbox, get engaged and take the lead in creating customer W.O.W.   It’s time!]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:56:51 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Mapping a Path to the  W.O.W. Side]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/mapping_a_path_to_the_wow_side.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
Consistently delighting customers and providing exceptional handling of issues and errors using the R.A.P.I.D. methodology are two ways to create customer W.O.W.  (What’s Needed - On Time - With Value)  But just figuring out how it’s done is of little value if you cannot consistently deliver.    Process maps, which are an integral part of the Six Sigma methodology, enable this consistency.  
Process maps identify inputs and outputs of the process.  Targeting specific inputs where best practices can be applied will help assure actions that create customer W.O.W. (delighters) are integrated into the process.   Customer feedback on past performance as well as trends related to customer issues can also be linked back to specific steps in the process map where the process can be modified to prevent problems or add delighters. 
Once finalized, a process map serves as a learning tool to help train all stakeholders on the consistent approach that has been developed.   The process map provides a broad view of how specific actions, consistently applied, help create the type of overall experience needed to achieve Customer W.O.W.   And, if needed, the map can also serve as a basis for creating a Standard Operating Procedure or Job Aid that provides steps that will facilitate this consistent approach. 
Finding your way to the W.O.W. Side is not an easy task.  But once there, helping others consistently find the way is much easier if you build them a map.
 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
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			<pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2009 08:05:14 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: From OW to WOW]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/from_ow_to_wow.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The best way to create customer W.O.W. is to consistently provide customers with What’s Needed - On Time - With Value.  In a perfect world it is always W.O.W. time.  But in the real world sometimes things go wrong.  The clothes don’t fit, the food is cold, the hostess is rude, the cable goes out, the list goes on.  What next?   
Customer concerns and/or complaints are not a basic ingredient for W.O.W. but in themselves create an opportunity to turn OW into WOW.  All it takes is RAPID response.  RAPID response considers two elements in fixing a customer’s concern - the operational action and the emotional factor.   Maintaining a positive interaction while fixing a problem or concern can sometimes turn a customer OW to WOW.   But you need both parts - fixing the problem but snubbing the emotional side can leave your customer feeling bruised.   Being empathetic and caring but not getting the problem fixed doesn’t hit the mark either.  It is the right combination of what you do and how you do it that will establish your service level one notch above the rest.  
So next time your customer experiences an OW moment, put RAPID response to work and see if you can turn OW to WOW.
]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:35:08 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Managing the unmanageable]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/managing_the_unmanageable.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[As I was getting into the cab outside Sheraton Saigon, the concierge guy handed me a small square piece of paper. "What’s this for?", I asked, without really looking at what was handed to me. 
"In case you have trouble with the driver sir.", the concierge guy answered. It was a small feedback form allowing hotel guests to rate their cab drivers. Don’t think I would have the need for it though, I thought. The airport ride’s just a 7km-distance, 45-60 minutes. I took the form anyway. It was so tiny one wouldn’t call it a form. 
Well, I did hit a little cab trouble. Upon reaching the Tan Son Nhat International Airport the driver insisted that I pay for a ’parking ticket’ which I would not; translating into some unpleasantaries on his part. I finally got out of the cab, very upset, after paying the correct fare. The form came a little handy in facilitating my complain to the hotel as the concierge guy had written the cab ID on it earlier. 
A few weeks later I did have the opportunity to ask the Director of Rooms how on earth the hotel manages a process which are out of the hotel’s scope of processes. As I found out bad cab rides are one of the major reasons why people don’t return to Vietnam. No guessing whether this impacts on hotel guest experience in the check-out process or not. Well Andy related to me that his hotel works closely with the Tourism Board and cab company ensuring feedback is directed back to the cab company and to that particular cab driver. Apparently the hotel takes a serious stance against errant cab drivers trying to make a fast buck. 
On my next visit I don’t think I’ll ever run into the same guy again in cab 256.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Vincent Chin]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
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			<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:11:36 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: The Grapes of W.O.W.]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/the_grapes_of_wow.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In my December blog I touched on customer feedback and understanding how to translate this feedback into action.  It is important to analyze variation in customer feedback to fully understand how customers feel.  For example, if your customers rate you a "7" on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best), do your customer ratings range from 6 to 8 or do they range from 4 to 10? What would you do with this information?
First, segmentation of customer feedback is critical.   But before you can slice and dice all the data, you need to figure out what information needs to be gathered to allow for meaningful ’slicing and dicing’.   Age, demographic, location, product usage, the list can become quite unwieldy if no prework has been done.   In most cases, one size does not fit all.  Before you launch into a huge customer survey, defining  your ’slice and dice’ variables is critical or all you will end up with is a bunch of data.  Sort of like a bunch of grapes.  As we learned from Kaj Ahlmann at the iSixSigma Live Summit, you’ve got to have better sorting than "green" and "purple" to make a fine glass of Six Sigma wine.  
Once you’ve been able to appropriately segment your feedback, you can start looking at the satisfaction level of various groups and identify if ratings "within and between" various segments are the same or statistically different.  Once you have great segmentation and analysis, then the hard part begins - answering the following questions . . . 

Which process drives the customer satisfaction metric that you are evaluating?
What is the variation in the process?
Is the variation in the process correlated to the variation in customer satisfaction? 
If the process is stable but the customer feedback has lots of variation, there is most likely another variable that may be driving satisfaction or dissatisfaction.  If the process has a lot of variation, it is worth exploring to see if the process variation is indeed driving variation in customer satisfaction.  
Soon it may become clear that there are two types of  process issues that are reflected in the satisfaction levels.   Some may involve processes that have little variation but clearly need to move up a notch to improve satisfaction.  On the other hand, feedback may show a large process variation  (resulting in scores of 4 to 10).  This feedback is interesting because it identifies a small group of customers that are highly satisfied (those providing a 10 rating).  All else being equal, should you first focus on the process that requires reduction in variation  or take a good process (little variation) and try to move it up a couple of notches?   
In this particular example, I’d pick the process that has the most variation and set an objective to reduce the variation using best process performance as the target mean.  The reason I picked this approach is that the process has already proven its ability to satisfy at a ’10’ level so I already have data related to what a ’10’ performance looks (and feels) like to the customer.  If the process has little variation and customer ratings range from 6 to 8, trying to define what a ’10’ may feel like to the customer will require further research and customer feedback to determine the process improvement target (worth pursuing at a later time). 
Some of you out there may agree or disagree with this approach.  It would be interesting to hear your thoughts. 
The one thing that I think we can all agree on is that when faced with a ’bunch’ of stuff to improve, we should try to ’pick’ the types of things that can make the biggest difference to our customer and go for it.  The only bad choice is to not make a choice and do nothing.  And when you do nothing your Grapes of W.O.W. will surely turn into Sour Grapes.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2009 09:45:17 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: How W.O.W.?    Ask Now.]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/how_wow_ask_now.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[So you’ve decided that you are ready to embark on the journey to the W.O.W. Side.  Now what?  What does it look like - feel like?  Who’s got the directions?  And how do you know when you’ve arrived?   Simple . . .  Just Ask.
If you are providing your Customers with a W.O.W. experience, you will know it.  If you are not, you will know it as well.  Defining What’s needed, On time, With value goes beyond having great customer service.  It is using customer input to help you design and define products, services and channels to deliver them in a way that creates customer delight.  
Being right on the heels of the shopping season for many across the globe, now is a perfect time to ask customers about W.O.W.    Most have spent the last month either shopping in stores or on-line and many have already experienced the joy of returning or exchanging items.  Both of these transactions, either buying or returning are opportunities to W.O.W. your customer.  How do you know if you passed the W.O.W. test?   Ask them.  It is the most direct form of customer feedback that you can get.
Customer feedback, of all types, is the backbone of W.O.W.   It comes in many forms.  Market research is a form of feedback that helps define what customers want.  Analyzing buying patterns and market data and developing surveys that ask questions related to your product or service is key.  Once a product or service is developed or provided, again asking customers what they think is important.  And, when your customers have a question or problem that needs to be resolved, asking them if you are providing a delightful experience is again an opportunity to learn more.   Surveys, whether on the spot, or after a time-lapse can capture valuable insights as to how customers feel about the service or product and are a true gage of W.O.W.    
Here’s an example of how immediate feedback works.  Yesterday I had a lengthy transaction at a bank and next to each teller was a sign that said, "Ring the bell if you got exceptional service."  I was in the bank for at least twenty minutes and never heard the bell ring.  I was wondering if my teller was going to W.O.W. me and yes she did.  Awesome service.   I finished my transaction in the back and as I walked out went past her workspace, said thank you and rang the bell.  Everyone looked up and across the counter I saw a big smile.  It made me feel good - looks like my W.O.W. experience turned into hers.  (Double W.O.W)
I can’t leave the customer feedback discussion without touching on customer complaints.  Customer complaints provide valuable input as well.   Reviewing, categorizing and analyzing complaints to identify trends and any recurring issues is a great way to capture customer feedback (even if it is not the preferred method.)    All of this analysis begs for application of Six Sigma tools.
So you have feedback, analysis and some possible recommendations.  What next?   Translating this feedback into a business plan is the next step.  Without this, all you have is feedback.  This is the tough part but operationalizing customer feedback and using it to drive your Business Plan is not an option - it’s a requirement.  Linking your business plan to process improvements closes the loop (sounds like Hoshin to me). And after improvements are implemented, it is time to ask the customer for feedback to see if your improvements made a difference.  
As you can see,  the whole process of W.O.W. starts with the customer and ends with the customer.  And throughout the journey Six Sigma serves as an integral part of how to make it so.  Join me next time as we explore some of these Six Sigma linkages or better yet, join me at iSixSigma Live in January where I’ll be sharing some insights in person on how to Take a Walk on the W.O.W. SideTM  
 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:25:49 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Customer W.O.W. - The Basics]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/customer_wow_the_basics.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[What’s Needed . . . On Time . . . With Value . . .   That’s what you’ll find on the W.O.W. Side.  More simply put, it is about customer delight.   I like the words "customer delight".  Webster’s defines delight as ’extreme satisfaction’ . . .  It is what gets your customers to say WOW!   Professor Noriaki Kano described the look and feel of WOW with the Kano Model.  It’s going past satisfying customer basic needs and performance needs and finding those things that excite or delight the customer thus creating customer WOW.    Sounds simple but you will find that many companies, although striving for WOW, have not figured out how to consistently meet basic needs and therefore wallow in the halls of "can’t get there from here".   Basic needs are those things that if done correctly do not add to customer satisfaction but if done incorrectly will result in dissatisfaction.  For example, if you are checking out of a hotel and your bill is correct it’s a non-event.  No one is running around saying WOW, they got my bill right.  But having an error on the bill results in customer dissatisfaction.  
The first step in mapping your path to the W.O.W. Side is getting the basics right.  Sounds simple but it is not.  How many times in the past month have you experienced poor service or poor quality?  Maybe it was getting home and finding out that the drive-through restaurant left a sandwich out of your order or maybe you had to stand in line for 15 minutes to get through a checkout line.  The fact that basic needs are constantly changing makes this step even more complicated.  What was a delighter last week will, over time, work its way to a basic need.  For example, years ago having internet service in a hotel was a delighter.  Today, if a hotel doesn’t provide free wireless service they are teetering on the edge of creating customer dissatisfaction.  Customer basic needs and expectations are changing so fast that in the blink of an eye you can find yourself quickly moving from Customer WOW to  Customer OW proving once more that meeting basic needs is an ongoing journey -  not a one time accomplishment.
So where do you start?  Get the basics right.  Define your core business and products, review metrics that describe your performance level, identify any defects that keep you from getting the basics right and apply continuous improvement methods such as lean, six sigma, kaizen, etc. to eliminate dissatisfiers.  You will also need to constantly draw on customer input to gage your success and keep your ’basics’ up-to-date.  
Getting the basics right is a prerequisite to being able to "Take a Walk on the W.O.W. Side".  Bypass this step and you may find that the old saying "You can’t get there from here" may be old but still stands true.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:56:49 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: The Rest of the Story  . . .]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/the_rest_of_the_story___.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Customer Complaints, appropriately captured and analyzed, can provide useful insight about process defects.  Although complaints are not the preferred method of obtaining the Voice of the Customer (VOC), you should not miss the opportunity to learn from them.   But to do this, proper reporting and segmentation of customer complaints is needed.   This requires that good operational definitions be established.  Often times, this first step is where we fail to capture the granularity of information needed to provide future meaningful analysis.  For example, once a complaint is received and recorded, obtaining more specific information for further analysis will be difficult if not impossible. Categorizing complaints about a product or service as "doesn’t work" or "too hard to use" won’t be much help in identifying the root cause of the problem.
Identifying a good list of complaint "cause codes" for your particular business will take some work but will be worth while in providing information that drives a solution that not only fixes this customer’s complaint but can be used to prevent other customers from experiencing the same type of problem.  It is all too easy to put a band-aid on the customer’s boo-boo and walk away.  After all - this solves the immediate customer’s problem.  But without capturing detailed aspects about the customer complaint, even the best six sigma black belt will be hard pressed to help you understand the rest of the story.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:09:48 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Getting a Clue with Queuing Theory]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/getting_a_clue_with_queuing_theory.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I often find real world examples of process "improvements" staring me blatantly in the face.  For example, I stumbled upon queuing theory in action at the local movie theatre. 
Queuing theory is the study of how lines (or queues) are formed and dissipate over time.  Examples of queues are everywhere: traffic at an intersection, restaurant lines during the lunch hour rush, dialling into a call center, etc.  Queuing theory is a tool in the Lean Six Sigma toolkit. It aims reducing bottlenecks which contribute to time spent waiting in line (or in some cases, eliminating wait time completely).
Anyway, back to my experience at the move theatre…When I purchased tickets, I was asked if I wanted to sit in the front, middle, or back. I, like most of those attending the movie, chose the middle section. To my amazement, the ticket printed out an exact row and seat number (similar to what you would see on an airline ticket).As I took my seat, I saw how the rows in front of me and behind me suddenly filled up.
I can see where queuing theory could benefit the theatre from an efficiency and error proofing perspective.  The computer knows exactly how many seats have been allocated to what movie and where in the screening room; a process that can assist in reducing the chance people from sneaking in to see an additional movie.  In the movie I saw, occupied seating was concentrated to about 20% of the room, reducing clean up time for employees.
Although queuing might be efficient, is it always effective? In my case, the answer is no. Sure, I got to sit in the mid section as I requested. The saying “Be careful what you wish for” came to mind as I was surrounded in every imaginable direction by people. Given the option, I would have rather sat closer to (or even further away) from the screen if it meant I wasn’t breathing on top of the other movie goers. Further, if my husband and I had arrived a bit later and unknowingly requested middle seating, it is unlikely we would’ve been able to sit next to each other- a definite detractor of service. 
There are many applications where queuing has been successful such as automated computer screens which direct you to the next available bank clerk, checkout line, etc., however under these conditions most customers assume there won’t be a significant difference in their experience.  But when there are multiple factors critical to quality (or in this case customer satisfaction), foregoing the voice of the customer can actually decrease customer satisfaction.  The key here is being efficient and effective. A good Lean Six Sigma project will weigh voice of the customer or Kano analysis alongside forecasted cycle time improvements and determine what the net effect is prior to implementing a solution.  If customer dissatisfaction outweighs process improvements, then your customers, if given a choice, will be less likely to purchase your products or services. In my case, I think I’ll be selecting a different theatre next time. ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Holly Hawkins]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
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			<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:32:57 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: The Weakest Link]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/the_weakest_link.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
Last week I spent an evening at the local emergency center with my mom.  The experience reminded me of the old saying "You are only as good as your weakest link."  And here’s why. . . 
When I walked into the emergency center I was immediately accosted by a huge poster focused on customer service which promised that we would been seen in thirty minutes or less:)  Hmmm I thought, this may be interesting to watch.  After a brief check-in we waited about ten minutes before being screened and were immediately shown to a room in the back.   (Wow - I thought to myself.  I wonder if these folks are doing Six Sigma.)  Within the next hour, the doctor stopped by, a knee x-ray was taken and a very nice lady came by to officially "log us in."    Things slowed down a bit and we were advised that nothing was broken but that a steroid shot was needed and that it had been ordered from the pharmacy.  OK - bring it on. . .  OK - bring it on . . . Hello - is anyone out there?
Two hours later I stepped up to the front desk to inquire about the prescription.  The front desk was very quick to tell me that it was the pharmacy’s fault; "they were the hold up."   The pharmacy - in this case also known as the weakest link - had successfully turned this WOW experience into an OW experience.  After a total visit time of five hours and ten minutes, we were finally on our way home.  
The experience reminded me that the customer doesn’t really care whose ’fault’ it is.  Suck it up and take responsibility for your process.  If you are part of the process then you are part of the process.  No matter how good you think your piece of the process performs, the customer feels the whole process and in the end -  you are only as good as your weakest link.
Although great improvement in parts of the overall process had been made, it still needs more work.  My suggestion for immediate action would be to take down the customer service poster flaunting quick and excellent service.  You wouldn’t want any of your patients to die laughing on their way out.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:32:59 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Banking on Risk]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/banking_on_risk.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Reacting to the last several months of turmoil in the capital markets, I want to discuss an area where Lean Six Sigma professionals who work in banking and financial services should focus their attention, acquire new skills, and start having an impact – enterprise risk.
A couple of years ago, one of my former colleagues investigated the contribution of Lean Six Sigma to shareholder value at a small group of well-known banks.  He researched public statements by these companies to quantify their self-attributed savings.  He then developed a crude expected shareholder value multiplier based on price-to-earnings ratio.  Multiplying self-attributed savings, which he assumed flow to the bottom line, by the shareholder value multiplier led my former colleague to conclude that Lean and Six Sigma created at least $4-6 billion in shareholder value for these banks.
Conventional wisdom leads me to believe that recent turmoil in the credit markets wiped out these gains.  The stock prices of many investment banks, asset managers, commercial banks, mortgage finance companies, monolines, and other major participants in structured finance are trading new two-year lows.  While each firm and industry segment has its own unique issues, weak risk management is a common storyline.
Looking ahead to the trends for 2008 and 2009, strengthening risk management practices is an imperative and a mammoth challenge for banking and financial services companies and their executives.  The global interconnectedness, complexity and volatility of capital markets necessitate a holistic, innovative approach.  Conventional practices do not stand up to the challenges in 2008 and beyond.
Exogenous Pressure
Curing the current ills will depend on fortifying balance sheets, and regulatory intervention will increase the pressure on business and operating models.  Banking and financial services firms can look forward to:

Economic uncertainty: Recent economic data and interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve Bank in the U.S. indicate an economic slowdown has begun.  Its severity and duration cannot be predicted, but banks will feel the effects of a lingering mortgage-market crisis, rising consumer credit defaults, and disruptions affecting commercial lending, structured finance products, and securitization.  Some forecasters predict future shocks, such as a decline in commodity prices or downturn in commercial lending, that further threaten banks. 
Capital boosting and cost cutting: In response to economic pressures, banking and financial services executives will continue to seek capital to fortify their balance sheets, increase their safety and soundness, and weather the economic downturn.  Many banks will pursue cost savings as part of restructuring operations, becoming more efficient, or both.  Cost cutting may be mild or severe, if a bank is facing adverse circumstances like insolvency. 
Increasing regulatory scrutiny: Regulatory are reacting to the turn of events in the capital markets in 2007.  Scrutiny of capital adequacy, liquidity, credit risk, and management practices will pick up.  Supervisory actions and matters requiring board attention will grow in number.  Contingency planning and quality assurance for safety and soundness will receive new attention, as regulators push banks to find and adopt industry best practices that safeguard against future crises. 
Questions about information and systems for risk management: Over the last decade, many firms began initiatives to implement systems that address credit, financial, and operational risk, as well as compliance with laws and regulations.  Broadly speaking, these systems are designed to ensure compliance failures are prevented or detected and managed.  The capability of these systems – looking at risk through an integrative lens – may be called into question.  Banks may be required to rethink their information systems strategies and redesign their applications for managing risk.  Likewise, information asymmetries in the capital markets may receive new attention, leading firms to question what they thought they know about collateral underlying securities, concentration risk, economic and valuation models, and accounting practices. 
Investigations, lawsuits and jawboning in the town square: The effects of mortgage defaults, credit-card delinquencies, public outcries about banking practices, stock-price volatility, and growing losses foretell banks facing a new wave of investigations by state attorneys general, shareholder lawsuits, and pressure from consumer advocates.  Stories in the press bear this out.  The open question is how loud and deafening the trends will be over the next two years.
My own background has convinced me of the need to extend the disciplines of Lean Six Sigma to processes for creating governance structures, compliance monitoring, and managing operational risk.  Perhaps banks will benefit from a higher degree of knowledge integration (e.g., transplanting gauge methods to credit risk management). 
Endogenous Defense Starts with Dialogue and Knowledge
In many respects, the current state of banking and financial services is the product of thousands of decisions about risk taking.  Clearly, reward seeking won out, and we now face a period of living through the consequences of risks not being properly managed.  Lean and Six Sigma are proven tools for optimizing reward by eliminating waste, creating capacity, and reducing variation.  Resilience and reliability are a new frontier for Lean and Six Sigma, and the focus is squarely on transforming how risk is managed.
How Lean and Six Sigma contribute to the field of risk management is a story waiting to be told.  For starters, I encourage Lean Six Sigma professionals to build the relationships, internal networks, and critical mass necessary to transplant their best practices to the risk management and compliance functions at banks and financial services firms.  In conjunction, I recommend seeking new knowledge about relevant aspects of credit, financial and operational risk, as well as regulatory trends that will weigh heavily on operating models and expenses.
Lean and Six Sigma is a knowledge-based profession, and its value comes from connecting best practices to problems, so performance can be improved.  Clearly, for banks and financial services firms, enterprise risk is a huge problem to be solved in 2008.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Charles McKinney]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Change Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;History&nbsp;,&nbsp;Innovation&nbsp;,&nbsp;Leadership&nbsp;,&nbsp;Lean&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
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			<pubDate>Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:45:47 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Customer Satisfaction: Is it overrated?]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/customer_satisfaction_is_it_overrated.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Think about this: when was the last time you told someone about an experience that met your expectations. Perhaps it was an adequate dinner while on the road, or a satisfactory hotel stay. Now think about the last time your expectations either weren’t met at all, or were wildly exceeded. How many people did you tell then? One, ten, twenty?
 
Why is it then that organizations spend time, money and focus on something no one apparently cares about: Customer Satisfaction?
 
Consider this model:
 
 

 
 
Based on this model then, merely satisfying our customers buys us very little; perhaps we can keep them until another firm comes along to delight them. Then we’re left to wonder what happened - Weren’t our customers satisfied? Where’s the loyalty?
 
 
Naturally, this doesn’t always apply. If you’re fortunate enough to be a monopoly, or the government, mere appeasement of the customer may suffice. But for the rest of us, working in highly competitive industries, moving beyond satisfying customers may be what keeps the company in business.
 
A few parting lessons from this concept: 
 
- Customers are not monolithic - what delights one may not matter to another. Finding out is a difficult, but necessary effort. (Your customer often doesn’t even know what it would take to delight - a focus group probably didn’t come up with the iPod.)
- Net Promoter Score is a useful measure, but only if the survey can shed light on why the customer would or would not recommend your firm
- Exceptional value can mitigate price sensitivity; failing to meet expectations leaves customers feeling cheated and much more price sensitive
- If your firm can’t yet delight customers, start by not disappointing them
 
So let me ask you, dear readers, how do your firms address Customer Satisfaction especially for your transactional projects? Please post your experiences, suggestions and/or horror stories in the comments section.
 
Special thanks to Bill Bellows of UTC Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne for the above model.
 
 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[James Considine]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
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			<pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:28:30 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: A quality bubble?]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/a_quality_bubble.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Gianna Clark notes that several hundred companies began their Six Sigma journeys about seven years ago. 
Is Six Sigma the quality equivalent of a stock market bubble? Are we cheerleaders of an irrational exuberance where performance economics do not match the hype we create? Is Six Sigma on the verge of becoming the next TQM - run over by advances in technology and easier approaches to improving performance? ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Charles McKinney]]></author>
			
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			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Change Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences&nbsp;,&nbsp;Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Government&nbsp;,&nbsp;Guest Blog&nbsp;,&nbsp;History&nbsp;,&nbsp;Innovation&nbsp;,&nbsp;Leadership&nbsp;,&nbsp;Lean&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Methodology&nbsp;,&nbsp;Podcasts&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
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			<pubDate>Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:32:57 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Voice of the Customer- Is it Heard in Retail?]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/voice_of_the_customer_is_it_heard_in_retail.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Black Friday came and went and I avoided shopping for a number of reasons, mainly because I couldn’t be stuffed getting up early enough to get a great deal. Besides, knowing my luck, anything on my list would’ve sold out long before I arrived.
Unfortunately Christmas has not been the only time I’ve shopped only to find empty shelves or a product on backorder (when shopping online). What surprises me is that a large number of these retailers tout themselves as using Six Sigma. When you combine this with sophisticated inventory reordering systems (Lean supermarket pull systems), I sometimes question if the voice of the customer is heard or is just being ignored.
For example, there is a particular chain I try to purchase laundry detergent from. I say try because 80% of the time the shelves are empty. Sure, one could attribute the deficiency to lack of employees, shipment delay, etc.- all of which could be improved using Lean Six Sigma methodologies.  But if the product is out of stock, the retailer knows I’m likely to continue with the rest of my purchases and will likely return (and increasing the likelihood I’ll continue to purchase more).
It seems to me problems such as the example above could be easily solved. So why do some retailers continually have unavailable items (even when not on sale)? Is there a conspiracy theory in retail to sucker the customer into coming back (and spending more than planned)? If you work in retail, I’d love to know your thoughts on this. ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Holly Hawkins]]></author>
			
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			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
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			<pubDate>Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:24:00 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Elevating strategic relevance: Understand and inform strategy implementation]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/elevating_strategic_relevance_understand_and_inform_strategy_implementation.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[My last blog discussed elevating the strategic relevance of Lean, Six Sigma and process excellence.  My view is that mature Process Excellence Organizations enjoy or achieve credibility and success by executing a flexible performance-improvement process—attacking the top priorities, employing the best tools, selecting the right projects and leveraging organizational momentum.  The first thing mature Process Excellence Organizations do well is informing strategy setting and implementation (beginning with their own understanding of their enterprise’s strategy).
The most successful process improvement professionals are proactive rather than reactive about understanding and discussing strategy.  Executive level process excellence leaders share in common an understanding of the competitive position of their companies, options to shape competitiveness, and critical factors for success.  Further, these individuals understand the mechanics of a strategic management process and dynamics of organizational behavior that affect managerial commitment to change, execution against a plan, and responsiveness to opportunities and threats.
Positioning of the Process Excellence Organization determines its access to inform strategy setting and implementation.  Commitment from the COO to deploy best practices, for example, is more likely to result in Lean and Six Sigma becoming strategic levers, embedded in an organization’s culture and practice, than localized, bottom-up advocacy by a business unit executive, shared services leader or plant manager.  Yet unless market pressure, a crisis or some other impetus motivates a senior executive team to broadly rely on Lean and Six Sigma, Process Excellence Organizations must demonstrate credibility through their recommendations to improve performance and their track record of delivering returns to their companies.
Lean and Six Sigma professionals may ask how they are to shape strategy setting and implementation, if they lack access to regularly advise and influence senior leaders at their companies—the CEO, COO, CFO and especially the senior vice presidents in charge of business units, operations and technology.  Starting from their current base of deployment, Process Excellence Organizations should position themselves to identify and focus on strategically aligned opportunities for Lean and Six Sigma.
My assertion may not be fruitful in bureaucratic organizations—such as government institutions where the pace of change is slow, and status quo prevails.  At other companies the Process Excellence Organization can influence strategy. There is the annual planning cycle, where Lean and Six Sigma can inform the definition of change initiatives and funding of these projects, as well as progressive reduction of sales, general and administrative expenses.  Second, Process Excellence Organizations can bring a unique perspective to dialogue about longer-term strategies and programs.
Process Excellence Organizations can influence strategy because the strategic decision-making is ambiguous, dynamic and often chaotic.  Academics frame strategic planning as a formal process of answering three questions: (1) What does the business do?  (2) Form whom does it do these things?  (3) How does the business excel?  And the process has stages: evaluating the current situation, defining goals, mapping a route to achieve these goals, and monitoring implementation.  In a formal sense, the stages of strategic planning are not unlike the Deming lifecycle of planning, doing, studying and acting.  In practice, though, strategic planning is a communicative process, and strategies emerge from the habits and behaviors of organizations and their managers.  Executive dialogue, shareholder concerns, customer interactions, supplier dynamics, labor relations, information technologies, managerial fads all interact to form the content of strategy and direction of execution.
As an aside, I encourage anyone interested in sociological and behavioral approaches to strategy to look into research focusing on strategy as practice.  Over the last three decades, strategy research has tended to focus increasingly on organizational strategies as opposed to the activities of people in organizations as they define, elaborate, and implement strategies.  In contrast, strategy as practice is concerned with issues of practice within organizational contexts.  Lancaster University’s Management School is a good source of information about strategy as practice.
Start with the basics
Much is written about Lean and Six Sigma as tools for cost reduction.  More recently, the exploits of Starwood, Procter and Gamble, Capital One, and others highlight their relevance to innovation.  In terms of basic strategies, companies have three options, according to Michael Porter and others: low-cost production, differentiation, or some combination of the two.
Low cost production is a familiar paradigm among Lean and Six Sigma professionals in manufacturing, consumer products, healthcare, retail and service, and financial services industries.  Every industry has its favorite measures of efficiency: funding costs as a percentage of portfolio size for a mutual fund, percent of seats sold per airline flight, gross margin for product categories, etc.  Lean and Six Sigma professionals are familiar with the notion that reducing defects or eliminating cycle time can improve operating metrics, and these metrics contribute to the enablers of low cost production (e.g., economies of scale).
Differentiation is less familiar, especially for those of us who have focused on reducing variance of a distribution instead of shifting a mean.  Innovation is one way to differentiate.  Apple Computer is the most interesting, popular case study of innovation in the business literature today.  Another example is Proctor and Gamble’s shared services business unit.  After four years of successful cost cutting, Proctor and Gamble is now focused on managing its shared services as a business—figuring that exploiting core competencies in brand management and aligning delivery with marketing strategies can create sources of differentiation.  Whereas efficient production and processes are appropriable, strategies of differentiation are hard to craft and implement.
Corporate strategies are never as simple as low cost production or differentiation.  Rather, they emerge from the structures, habits and power in industries and at companies.  A few companies do well at managing strategy.  Most other are stuck in the middle—including companies with a significant investment in Lean and Six Sigma training and deployment.
A process excellence paradox highlights why understanding strategy is important—starting with the basics to develop a perspective on an enterprise’s current competitive position and future outlook.  The paradox goes something like this: Lean and Six Sigma have potential to raise any company to industry leader status, but too often returns on investing in process excellence are measured in six and seven figures instead of payback multiples greater than 20:1.  Pulling process excellence out of a rut and companies ahead in their industry has to be an exercise in strategic execution.
Institute disciplines to understand strategy
Efforts to understand strategy need to be disciplined, more than informal or one-off conversations.  Depending on the potential of the process excellence organization, many tools are available to understand strategies and their implementation at companies.  If formalizing disciplines to understand strategy is new, my advice is to start with a brown-bag discussion of your company within the process excellence organization or among its professionals and key business partners.  Things to cover include the economics of your firm’s industry, the external environment in which your company operates, and the internal capabilities of your firm.
The discussion should focus on understanding current state and future direction of the company at three levels of strategy: enterprise, business units and functions.  Leverage of Lean and Six Sigma tools is most often part of functional strategies, such as a multiyear plan to transform the operations and technology of a company or expand plant infrastructure in an overseas location.  Finding opportunities to have strategic impact depends on plans for the company and its business units.
These discussions do not need to produce a specific deliverable, but should factor into deployment planning and performance measurement for process excellence.  A number of frameworks can assist strategy discussions and create segues to efforts to evangelize, measure and govern process excellence.  One of my favorites is McKinsey’s “Star” or “7S” framework because it offers a holistic context in which to examine strategy implementation.
Accumulate knowledge from staff and line functions
By signaling its interest in understanding strategy, process excellence organizations may accumulate sufficient knowledge of strategy from their own professionals, colleagues in business areas and executive sponsors.  In my experience, Lean and Six Sigma advocates are willing to share knowledge and generous with information.  Though it never hurts to cast a wide net for knowledge and reach out to unlikely sources.
 Here are a few places to look:

Strategic planning: Many large companies have a strategic planning function, and a Chief Strategy Officer is becoming fashionable.  Often staffed by ex-management consultants, strategic planning departments provide analysis and advice to senior management about competitive positioning of the company.  While these departments may guard their work, they can facilitate building mind share with senior executives.
Corporate development: If your company relies on mergers and acquisitions to grow and compete, the team in charge of corporate development may provide a forward-looking perspective on the company, and assist tactical positioning of the process excellence organization.  Post-acquisition integration is a driver of strategic risk, and this is an area where Lean and Six Sigma can add value.
Corporate planning, budgeting and finance: These functions manage the multiyear and annual process of budgeting for programs, initiatives and operations.  Corporate planning functions can provide information about the efficiency of the company and performance of internal firm capabilities (e.g., operating metrics and ratios).  Information from the corporate planning department can be instrumental and is often necessary to sell a deployment strategy and benefits tracking process to senior management.
Financial engineering and modeling: Not all companies employ financial engineers or utilize financial modeling outside the strategic planning department.  At banks, insurance companies and firms with complex balance sheets, financial engineering disciplines can provide knowledge about the esoteric aspects of corporate finance that impact financial health and shareholder value.  Expertise in corporate finance is a weakness for most process excellence organizations that plan to market Lean and Six Sigma to finance departments.
Market research: Market research departments review secondary data, conduct original studies, and use qualitative methods to understand market and customer requirements.  Their work is a sophisticated voice of customer process, so market research managers can provide unique information about how markets and customers perceive a company.  Obtaining input from the market research department can assist with framing your understanding of market-facing strategies and opportunities to improve customer-facing processes.
Information technology: In companies that rely on information (most organizations today), the information technology architecture, program management office and database administration functions can provide useful information about problems with technology that limit internal firm capabilities.  In my experience with Six Sigma, data quality is an overlooked area that holds real potential for having strategic impact on cost and customer satisfaction.
Internal audit: Internal audit departments have a deep understanding of internal capabilities gained from rotational audits of all parts of a company.  Reaching out to an internal audit director requires sensitivity to matters of professional independence.  An internal auditor’s perspective on planning and control systems can provide useful information about governance, risk and compliance constraints that will impact opportunity identification and project selection.
Human resources: Many human resources departments cover organizational development and performance management.  Human resources managers who specialize in these areas can provide useful information about how raising employee satisfaction, reducing turnover and generally improving human capital will boost company performance.
These are a few areas where conversations about strategy may yield unexpected insight.  When reaching out, it’s important to frame discussions with these areas.  Asking focused questions, gathering perspectives, and testing impressions of a company’s strategy are the right level for these discussions.  If opportunities for Lean and Six Sigma come up, capture them in a pipeline of future projects and carry forward the discussion to deployment when the time is right.
Inform strategy through ideas for process excellence
The most successful process excellence organizations guide themselves with a deployment plan and through a governance process.  Some companies charter a management committee to decide where to apply Lean and Six Sigma and monitor realization of benefits.  In addition to promoting rigorous project selection, formal governance offers a forum in which to discuss strategies and influence big decisions.  Process excellence organizations with a bottom-up or less formal structure may want to pitch senior executives on possibilities for the company – pilot projects that may lead to strategic initiatives or higher impact participation of Lean and Six Sigma in ongoing initiatives.
To prepare for these discussions, the process excellence organization needs to synthesize its understanding of the company’s strategy.  One approach is to prepare an aide memoir that documents the following:

Industry and company facts
Key financial and operating metrics
Industry facts and analysis
Assessment of internal firm capabilities
Overviews of key company strategies and initiatives
Opportunities for process excellence
Key success factors for deployment
An aide memoir can take on many forms, and it should guide marketing and governance of Lean and Six Sigma deployment within a company.  To prepare an aide memoir, opportunities for process excellence need to be defined and mapped to company strategies and initiatives.  In this respect, one purpose of an aide memoir is to serve as the foundation of a marketing plan.
Ideation of opportunities is perhaps the most critical and actionable part of understanding and informing strategy.  In my experience, the most successful process excellence organizations use tacit or explicit methods to define opportunities to further implementation of strategy through Lean, Six Sigma and other best practices.  One approach is to set aside time for brainstorming at key points after conversations about strategy with business partners in a company.  The purpose of these sessions is to creatively tackle problems facing the company where Lean and Six Sigma can add value.  Another is to use nominal group techniques to structure similar discussions and to conduct a concurrent review of project opportunities in the pipeline.
Informing strategy depends on ideas from the process excellence organization.  In fact, informing strategy is continuous, subconscious and played out through the marketing, selling, execution and measurement of Lean and Six Sigma projects.  Bringing opportunities to the project selection process that are informed by an understanding of corporate strategy will help the process excellence organization create mindshare with senior management and build credibility through its focus on solving the most relevant problems through Lean and Six Sigma.
The deployment plan is a cornerstone of execution by the process excellence organization.  My next blog will cover deployment, starting with the early activities of marketing and selling process excellence.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Charles McKinney]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Change Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Government&nbsp;,&nbsp;Innovation&nbsp;,&nbsp;Leadership&nbsp;,&nbsp;Lean&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Methodology]]>
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			<pubDate>Sun, 25 Nov 2007 18:18:21 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Voice of the Customer in Government]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/voice_of_the_customer_in_government.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Voice of the Customer (VOC) is a driving value that determines the amount of waste and what adjustments need to be made to the service or manufacturing process to achieve more efficiency and thus more value to the customer. To the extent that a service satisfies the customer the service is valued. A satisfied customer is a happy customer.  
In Government VOC is not easily identified.  The pluralistic environment in our democratic society and government brings many masters all of which might be identified as the customer.  Which perspective is the true voice of the customer?  Is there one?  Certainly tax payers are a customer however, one could argue that the tax payer is not the customer at all.  Do we pay taxes to get services? No. We pay taxes to have the privilege of living in a safe free land.  Are the vendors the customers?  The vast number of small and large businesses that provide the various products and services to government could be customers since they may depend on government contracts for their business.  Citizens who receive services such as drivers using highways, motor vehicle owners getting licensing and registration documentation, students and parents who participate in local education, Medicare recipients, social security recipients, and other social service.  Are they the customer?  If they paid for the service they would clearly be the customer, since they do not they should not be the only party government wishes to satisfy.
Who is the voice of the customer in the lean operations of government?
This is not a simple answer.  The key is that when a Value Stream is mapped that the customer for that particular process be identified.  A value stream conducted for vendors of government as customer might be vastly different from a value stream for students in a school.  The customer must clearly be identified in the charter, by the VSM manager, prior to facilitating the process analysis.   The sponsor should be the main source for defining who the customer is and the champion must support and help define the customer in terms that are clear.  The metric results will then be very useful in determining value, reducing waste and making the process more efficient.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Stephen C. Crate]]></author>
			
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			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
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			<pubDate>Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:59:12 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Elevating the Strategic Relevance of Process Excellence]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/elevating_the_strategic_relevance_of_process_excellence.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Like many companies in the Fortune 1000, we are planning 2008. At leadership meetings, around conference room tables and in hallway conversations, we are asking big questions: What will our industry look like? How will external trends affect us? How should our business model change? What capabilities do we need? Do we have them? What level of cost savings will boost our stock price?
These conversations can create organizational angst: senior executives worrying about tenure, middle managers fearing loss of their jobs or attrition of star performers, and analysts feeling the effects of declining morale. Alternatively, they can create optimism: drive to succeed at all levels, commitment to company success and drive for big bonuses. Reality is often somewhere in between—a mix of pessimism, optimism and indifference. We fall into the “somewhere in between” crowd.
Deploying Lean or Six Sigma in an organization with strategic ambiguity is no easy task, especially if the Process Excellence Organization has not cemented leadership advocacy (a key success factor for adoption), demonstrated value, and achieved the cultural stickiness that Lean and Six Sigma enjoy at mature, self-optimizing companies. Self-defeating Six Sigma organizations wait for the next round of strategic priorities to be dictated, so they can update their deployment plans and complete new waves of projects. Self-directing Process Excellence Organizations inform strategic debate and shape their utilization—positioning their sponsors (or executives who will become their sponsors) and companies to achieve payback multiples (benefits of Lean and Six Sigma divided by the costs of deployment) greater than 10:1.
Having worked on transformation initiatives and in a champion role, my views of what differentiates effective from run-of-the-mill Process Excellence Organizations are evolving. Analytical rigor, methodological purity and quantitative exactness differentiate process improvement professionals, but critical thinking about strategy, marketing prowess inside a company and a pipeline to talent will set up Process Excellence Organizations to succeed. 
With strategic planning in full force, here is the first part of a series to help Process Excellence Organizations think about improving their value and odds of success.  Excellence is a process.  Executives might think Lean and Six Sigma professionals manage their own activities as a process-centric enterprise within an enterprise. My own experience suggests that we spend so much time improving company processes that management of our own process—deploying Lean and Six Sigma to improve performance (i.e., quality, efficiency, service innovation, customer satisfaction, shareholder value)—does not achieve the right level of maturity. And so a vicious cycle emerges: we work on the wrong projects; deployment does not produce big bangs; executives lose patience; we redeploy, reorient or disappear; companies embark on new quality journeys after forgetting pains of the past.
The hallmark of mature Process Excellence Organizations is their flexibility. A few years ago, a colleague at a well-known consultancy highlighted how Six Sigma can be inflexible. A client engaged his firm to recommend cost reductions. The engagement team identified redundant computer software. Wanting to achieve a quick win, a procurement executive announced retirement of the software in 45 days, unless business lines could justify the cost of redundant licenses and products. A few users complained, but the executive canceled the licenses. My colleague overheard a skeptical Black Belt comment that the executive made a quick decision and should have completed a DMAIC project to understand the true benefits and ensure canceling the licenses would not disrupt business processes. DMAIC projects at the client took 3-6 months. The analysis to identify the redundant software took 2-3 days. The procurement executive determined in a meeting that canceling the software would not have significant effects (besides whining by people who would have to begin using another, comparable product). The savings from the decision were over $1 million per year. The Black Belt showed a lack of flexibility. 
If my comments about flexibility seem insensitive to the rigor of Lean and Six Sigma, ask a personal question: Would you rather save enough money to retire over 10 years or 30?  CEOs are motivated by returns, and organizations that can grow the top line, shrink expenses and improve the bottom line the fastest enjoy the most credibility.  
Methodological and analytical rigor is a prerequisite for any Lean or Six Sigma effort to succeed. Taking a broader perspective, mature Process Excellence Organizations enjoy or achieve credibility and success by executing a flexible performance-improvement process—attacking the top priorities, employing the best tools, selecting the right projects and leveraging organizational momentum.  
Mature process excellence organizations address five things.  Over the next several weeks, I will discuss characteristics of mature Process Excellence organizations. They are:
1. Understand and inform strategy setting and implementation2. Create relationships and governance through sales and marketing3. Facilitate identification of the right mix of quick wins and big bangs4. Pull people into process excellence and push knowledge to the business5. Manage the process excellence organization like a consulting business
The five-part series will draw on research, case studies, personal experience and opinions to communicate ideas that Lean and Six Sigma practitioners can evaluate, adopt, reject or deride as whimsy. After a long-term absence from iSixSigma, my goal is to encourage the blog community to raise the strategic relevance of Lean and Six Sigma at their companies.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Charles McKinney]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Change Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Government&nbsp;,&nbsp;History&nbsp;,&nbsp;Innovation]]>
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			<pubDate>Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:00:00 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Hands of the Customer]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/hands_of_the_customer.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[We're used to seeking the Voice of the Customer in the Define phase of our projects.  Typically (at least at our organization) we haven't asked, "How much of this process can we pass on to you?"
This topic usually comes up when we teach a lean exercise in which the Voice of the Customer is supposed to rule.  We use a scenario where we prepare trays of beverages in cups for our customer.  The cups must be placed into the trays, a lid attached, and an unwrapped straw inserted.  The longest step (which we use to teach takt time and level loading) is always the straws - unwrapping them and placing them into the lids takes the greatest effort.  Someone usually says, "Why can't we make the customer do it - just like [insert favorite fast-food restaurant name here]?"
We have a great conversation about this - how pass-on-to-the customer has worked for beverages, because usually it's a win for us as customers.  We can mix-n-match our drinks, add just the right amount of ice, and even get a refill before going out the door.  And, it gives us something to do while we're waiting.  When wouldn't it work?  With a mobility-limited customer, maybe.  In any case, the question prompts a good discussion.
In healthcare, we're trying out some of these scenarios in a variety of ways - self-registration over the internet, for example.  We can also envision asking patients to select their dietary needs on a computer, self-schedule inpatient X-rays, or (given a medication schedule) check with their care-givers if they think they're missing a dose of their meds.
We haven't asked the specific question, "How much of the process do you want to do yourself?" - yet - but maybe we should add this to our usual VOC questionnaire.
What do you think?]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Sue Kozlowski]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;Leadership]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:08:32 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Net Promoter Score - Call for Speakers]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/net_promoter_score_call_for_speakers.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[If your company is like iSixSigma, you’ve probably read about Net Promoter Score (NPS) and thought it was a very cool topic. (For those of you who haven’t, you can read our iSixSigma Magazine cover story "Are Your Customers Promoting You...Or Do You Have to Do It Yourself?" in the Nov/Dec 2006 issue.) Net Promoter is a customer loyalty metric and methodology that organizations like GE, Intuit, Charles Schwab and Experian are using to gather Voice of the Customer and drive profitable growth by focusing on the customer.
For the better part of two decades, the mantra of "customer satisfaction" has been driven into the minds of Six Sigma practitioners around the globe. Make sure you improve customer satisfaction, they’ve been told, and you’ll reap the rewards in terms of profits and growth. Now a new breed of customer metrics is winning plaudits, and NPS is at the forefront.
If you have implemented NPS -- with or without Six Sigma -- and want to network with other business leaders on the topic, there’s a call for papers for the Net Promoter Conference in Miami in January 2008. If you are selected to present, you'll receive a complimentary conference registration as part of your speaker package.
Good luck. I hope to attend and hear your story!]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:33:38 -0800</pubDate>
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		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Are You a Good Customer?]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/are_you_a_good_customer.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Being in the business of customer satisfaction keeps us focused on making sure that our customers get the best value and service possible.  When a customer tells us we did a great job, it is the ultimate measure of success.   Try changing hats for a minute and think about how you rate as a customer?
Living in an age where we are frequently provided excellent products and services, we sometimes forget the time and effort required to make it so.   Last week, for some unforgiving reason, I found myself in an incredibly long line for window service at a fast food chain.  To my delight, the line moved very quickly.  As I drove up to the food pick-up window, I glanced into the area where the service team was running in circles - looking a bit frazzled as they jumped to fill the next order.  When they handed me my food I said, "Your service was really great today.  Thanks (smile)."  There was about a 2 second pause as the three folks at the window gave me a blank look and then they all three broke out in the biggest smiles I had seen all day.  As I drove off I realized that as a customer, I should be just as quick to give praise as I sometimes am to complain about things that aren’t quite right.  I vowed to become a better customer.
So next time the drive-through line moves fast, the sales clerk does all the right things or the department next door meets your tight deadline, let them know how much you appreciate their good work.  You might find that it feels just as good to give a compliment as is does to get one :)]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:18:37 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Variation and special cause: Discovering the facts]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/variation_and_special_cause_discovering_the_facts.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Conformance is how well a process performs within its CTQs and specification limits. Variation is the opposite of it- the difference in the process output over time. Variation is often caused by elements which are part of the process itself (common cause), or elements which are external to the process (special cause). 
Common Cause variation is effected by elements within the process. They are mostly random and independent of each other; conforming to the normal distribution curve ie stable. However, a stable process does not mean good or satisfactory output- it merely means the process is consistent within specification limits and the variations are contained within these limits. In the formula y=f(x), there are many x’s but low impact x’s (described in iSix Sigma’s dictionary). Tweak the process to get improvements in output. 
Special Causes of variation are arising from unusual circumstances. They are not random, do not reflect historical trends and is not normally distributed. If Special Cause variation is detected in a process this process is considered not stable. In the formula y=f(x), there are few x’s but high impact x’s (described in iSix Sigma’s dictionary). It’s probably not a good idea to change the process first, but dig deeper into the root cause of this kind of variation. Tweaking the process won’t make the special cause variation disappear because these variations may have nothing to do with the process. Introducing a process change may result in worse variation than before -the normal ‘ups and downs’ of the process may turn into irregular spikes. 
Hotels sell ‘moods’ and ‘senses’- it’s inevitable these elements influence comment forms or process output but what’s the connection between variation cause and customer experience? This brings us back to that particular set of dots outside specification limits in that project run chart that had the food &amp; beverage team bewildered. If the Five Whys and Cause-And-Effect can’t provide a direction, it’s time to look at the ‘history’ of the guest who contributed to the data point. Were there any complaints logged on this particular guest prior to this project’s process? In the hotel industry, the guest goes through processes back-to-back. Any ‘unhappiness’ or ‘joy’ from the previous process is retained and brought forward to the next process, the degree which depends on how the guest interacts with hotel employees, hotel products and the customer recovery process. For instance, the guest ‘suffers’ a ‘bad’ check-in (room not ready &amp; guest waits unreasonably; assigned a smoking instead of a non-smoking room, failed elevator, etc.) and is still unhappy at dinner time gives a poor rating to the food &amp; beverage service. Properly identifying data points like this tells a clearer picture of project performance- what to change and what not to change.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Vincent Chin]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Methodology]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:17:46 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Six Sigma Basics: CTQs &amp; VOC translation]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/six_sigma_basics_ctqs_amp_voc_translation.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[CTQs, short for Critical-To-Quality, are key quantifiable requirements of a service or product which are critical to meet customer expectations and often defined by customer expectations. It’s what the customer expects of our product or service. Customer expectations and comments which are gathered from surveys or comment forms for a particular area of service are translated (Diagram 1) into meaning groupings using affinity diagramming. The critical requirement (CTQs) for the issues is identified thereon from the translation table.
 
Diagram 1
 
VOC translation
 




Customer Comment

Issue

Critical requirement


 
Slow room service
 

Responsiveness
Attentiveness
Shift scheduling
 

Deliver food to room in 20 minutes.

 
Subsequently, use the SIPOC (Diagram 2) to scope the project and identify the main key measures in the inputs &amp; outputs; and the process itself. The key measures should relate to CTQs and able to quantify CTQs
 
Diagram 2
 
SIPOC
 




Supplier

Input

Process

Output

Customer


Hotel employee
 
 
 

Food order

Pick up order
Send order to kitchen
Prepare food
Deliver food

Food

Hotel guest
 
 
Key measures
 




Input

Process

Output


Number of errors

Number of minutes

Number of minutes
 
In the hotel industry, expect changing expectations even from the same guest. Customer expectations may vary through the day and through different moods. Imagine this scenario related to the example above- if I am having a hectic day ahead, I’ll want my room service breakfast to be delivered to the room within 10 minutes; but in the evening, I wouldn’t care if dinner is delivered in 25 minutes because it’s the time I’d take for a hot dip in the jacuzzi. ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Vincent Chin]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:22:15 -0800</pubDate>
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		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: To Top 2 Box or Not...That is the Question...]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/to_top_2_box_or_notthat_is_the_question.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Recently, I had the fortunate or unfortunate pleasure of pulling my head out of the sand, and becoming more versed in another one of our internal surveys - It comes in the form of a link, appended to an automated case response sent to end users when a service request case (think CRM) is resolved / closed. It is intended to provide voice of the business metrics since most users are from the business that submit the types of tickets in which I refer. 
On the front end, I was more than shocked to here the current satisfaction score: 92%! And I was thrilled...Until, I had a need to open a ticket, and upon it's resolution, was shocked to click through the link to what I can scarcely call a survey. It did not offer 5 response options to customers, as inspected, since the reports of satisfaction stated 'Top 2 Box Score'. By definition, Top 2 Box infers the total number of respondents who gave a 4 or a 5 on a given question / (divided by) total number of responses. If you offer only 4 options, where 4 if Excellent, 3 is Good, 2 is Poor and 1 is Bad, you are force fitting users into 1 of the 2 swings of this pendulum, without offering those "on the fence" an avenue by which to answer. Typically, 3 would be comme ce, comme ca (so-so) or neutral, which yields even greater accuracy by those taking a survey specifically because it deals with those "on-the-fencers" who don't swing either way. 5 options is always best, and necessary to calculate Top 2 Box standard satisfaction %. 
Top 2 Box is the standard survey score you hear about - Whether ASCI or Malcolm Baldridge award...Check your surveys before you quote the statistic - i.e. walk the process before you drink the Kool-aid!
]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Laura Gibbons]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 29 Jul 2007 19:41:38 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: NPS * Six Sigma]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/nps__six_sigma.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Recently I had the opportunity to attend the IQPC Australasia Six Sigma summit.  For me, the highlight of the event was a presentation given by GE. The presentation focused around how the company was taking the voice of the customer to the next level by aligning NPS (Net Promoter Score) methodology with Six Sigma.
NPS is generally incorporated into a satisfaction survey and revolves around one question.  End users (customers) are asked how likely they are to refer something, such as a product or service, to a friend or colleague. Generally the question is asked using a 0-10 scale, with 0 meaning very unlikely to recommend and 10 meaning highly likely to recommend, Ratings are classified into three categories:

9-10 (promoters)
7-8 (neutral)
0-6 (detractors)
According to the presentation, promoters are likely to promote your product or service, neutrals will not say anything, and detracts are likely to speak negatively at a rate of three times more than what the promoters will say.
I’m currently incorporating NPS technique into a Six Sigma survey for Black and Green Belts within my organization. I’m doing this because I believe that a successful Six Sigma program is not only about improvements and value added to the company but also sustainability. Ideally, a team of promoters would be great, however, if the current team is primarily made up of neutrals or detractors, then the recruitment and retention of future belts may be in jeopardy. I would encourage all Master Black Belts and deployment leaders to use NPS when determining satisfaction with your Six Sigma program. 
 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Holly Hawkins]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:10:47 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: A Short Trip from WOW to OW]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/a_short_trip_from_wow_to_ow.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
A couple of weeks ago I ordered a pair of red stiletto shoes on the web.  I received them the next day (free delivery of course).  They didn’t fit quite right so I decided to send them back.  The return instructions were in the box.  I got on-line, printed a pre-paid return label &amp; dropped them off at a UPS outlet.  Two days later, I got an e-mail confirming receipt of the return and crediting my charge card.  During this same period of time, I had ordered another pair.  Again, they were delivered the next day.  They were a perfect fit. The whole shopping experience was W.O.W.  I will use this web store again and will also recommend it to my friends.
On the other hand, last night I stopped by a store to pick up a few things.  Seems like everything was lined up for a W.O.W. experience.  I promptly found the products I needed, they were priced appropriately and there was no one in the checkout line.  But as I approached the cashier, the scowl on her face was enough to trigger the music from JAWS to start playing in the back of my mind (dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun).  She provided a fast efficient transaction but her unpleasant disposition turned a possible WOW into an OW.  I don’t think I’ll stop by there again.
So what does all this have to do with Six Sigma?  Everything.  Improving processes and bringing value to the bottom line is really good stuff.   But let’s not forget that being Six Sigma also means figuring out how to make your customers feel like it is all about them.  Only then will your Six Sigma GPS help you find a way to "Walk on the W.O.W. Side."  ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:23:05 -0800</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Walk On The W.O.W. Side &quot;With Value&quot;]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/walk_on_the_wow_side_with_value.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Over the past two weeks we talked about how Six Sigma can help organizations accomplish "What’s Needed" and the significance of being "On Time".  But none of this matters much if it is not done "With Value".  
Value - wartosc - der Wert - valor . . . Whether said in English, Polish, German or Spanish, there is one thing that these words have in common and that is all customers want it.  What is value?  It is "that quality of anything which renders it desirable or useful".
The "With Value" component of W.O.W. is sometimes the hardest to quantify because it is made up of both cost and a somewhat more intangible component - customer satisfaction (or as I like to call it customer delight).  This intangible component is all about how the customer ’feels’ about your product or service.  Identifying and perfecting the aspects of your product or process that makes customers ’feel good’ doesn’t just happen.  It requires a methodical approach; one that can be shaped by applying Six Sigma to all aspects of the "With Value" component of W.O.W.  By finding new and innovative ways to eliminate defects, variance and waste, Six Sigma can help keep cost low.  By always focusing on the Voice of the Customer, customer delight is kept at the forefront.  
The "With Value" component completes the formula for W.O.W. as follows:
W.O.W. = (What’s Needed) x (On Time) x (With Value)
Rate each component from 0 to 1 and you can find out where you stand on your Customer’s "Wow-o-meter".   Sounds simple but scoring a 1 in any of the three categories is tough.  What does it take to score a 1?

What’s Needed:  Consistently providing what the customer wants AND anticipating their future needs. 
On Time:  Consistently providing your product or service when promised, where promised and at the best-in-class cycle time. 
With Value:  Consistently assuring that cost to the customer reflects relative worth AND intangible characteristics are continuously honed to delight the customer (i.e. providing an unexpected satisfaction booster).

By effectively applying Six Sigma tools and methods, companies can optimize the three elements of W.O.W.  And once they do, they can take their customers for a "Walk on the W.O.W. Side".
Had any W.O.W. experiences lately?  Share them here and let the world know how it feels to be a customer who has recently experienced a walk on the W.O.W. side!
 
 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 15 Jul 2007 08:46:54 -0800</pubDate>
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		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: &quot;On Time&quot; for Your Walk on the W.O.W. Side]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/on_time_for_your_walk_on_the_wow_side.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Last week we talked about how Six Sigma can help organizations accomplish "What’s Needed".  Without this element, nothing else really matters because being "On Time" with the wrong thing won’t "wow" anyone.  
This week we are exploring the significance of being "On Time".  Whether it is the delivery of a product or service or keeping inventory at the right level, "On Time" is a critical element of W.O.W.
Six Sigma can help deliver "On Time" in two basic ways.  First, by applying the methodology and tools to understand and analyze the process, non-value steps, bottlenecks and rework can be identified and eliminated (or at least minimized).  This will result in a reduced cycle time to deliver.  But that’s not enough to "wow" the customer if it cannot be done consistently.  Once an expectation for delivery of a product or service has been set, it must be consistently met or else you might find yourself with the fastest delivery to no-one.  So how can Six Sigma help?  Use the methodology and tools to analyze and reduce the variation in cycle time so that now you can consistently deliver "On Time".   Master the combination of both of these elements and you’ve earned your company part 2 of a ticket to walk on the W.O.W side.  
Join me again next week as we continue our walk "With Value."]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jul 2007 14:55:05 -0800</pubDate>
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		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: &quot;What's Needed&quot; to Walk on the W.O.W. Side]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/whats_needed_to_walk_on_the_wow_side.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In today’s world, new technology, changing customer expectations and the competitive market are constantly redefining "What’s Needed".  Any company with hopes of competing must constantly reshape their processes and products to meet these changing needs.  Fortunately, Six Sigma is there to help accomplish this by:

Providing a systematic approach to continuously improve and redesign processes and products 
Keeping the Voice of the Customer at the forefront of everything that is done 
Developing measurement systems to proactively identify needed changes and improvements 
Creating opportunities for employees to learn new skills and tools and to have a say in the Voice of the Process 
Shaping a culture that applies data, teamwork and creativity to find new and innovative ways to bring value to the customer and to the business 
Bringing the benefits of all these things to the bottom line
So take a close look at how your company has deployed Six Sigma.  If it is integrated and synchronized with key aspects of running the business, chances are good that it is helping your organization to accomplish "What’s Needed".  If not, don’t be surprised if your  W.O.W. turns into OW!
Join me again next week and we’ll explore how being "On Time" can help you "Take a Walk on the W.O.W. Side."

 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:30:18 -0800</pubDate>
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		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Take a Walk on the W.O.W. Side!]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/take_a_walk_on_the_wow_side.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Everyone is focused on What’s Needed.
Done On Time is part of what must be heeded.
Use Six Sigma to make it slick.
Delivered With Value will seal the trick.
She said hey babe, take a walk on the W.O.W. side.
Said hey honey, take a walk on the W.O.W. side.
And the Belts say Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doooooooo!
Join me over the next few weeks as we explore how Six Sigma can help your organization "Take a Walk on the W.O.W. Side."  ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Gianna Clark]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jun 2007 03:00:00 -0800</pubDate>
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