Lean Six Sigma (LSS) can be incredibly powerful, but many companies stumble during implementation. As the senior consultant at Lean Six Sigma Experts (LSSE), I’ve probably seen all their mistakes and made a few myself. Here’s my top ten mistakes organizations make when adopting Lean Six Sigma:
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🚫 1. Lack of Leadership Support
Lean Six Sigma is not a side project or something to try out. It is a core business strategy, so without executive buy-in and prioritization, LSS will fizzle out and leave the “we’ve tried that before” skeleton in the organization’s closet.
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🧭 2. No Clear Vision or Strategy
LSS tools are powerful, but jumping into tools and projects without a clear roadmap or alignment to business goals is a mistake. Often, I see solo leaders with good intentions attempt to implement LSS in their department, only to fail if the rest of the organization doesn’t or can’t support the effort. Their team is constrained to focus on solving low-impact problems, wasting time and resources.
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👥 3. Poor Change Management
Regardless of the improvement methodology, there is a risk of underestimating resistance to change. Failing to prepare teams for new ways of working is like building your house on sand. The foundation is not strong and will likely slide down the hill with the first strong breeze.
Process change is easy. Transition is the psychological process of adapting to that change, such as emotionally adjusting to a new job, getting used to a new environment, or learning to navigate a new way of working. It’s about how we mentally and emotionally process the change, and if not managed, can foster an ugly end to a great idea.
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🎯 4. Focusing Too Much on Tools, Not Results
LSS tools are sexy. It’s easy to get caught up in DMAIC steps and statistical analysis instead of solving real problems that translate into meaningful business outcomes. And there are a lot of tools, and because the tools are so sexy, Greenbelts and Blackbelts struggle to use as many as they can. My experience is that successful projects use significantly fewer technical tools to facilitate project success. Start with the end result in mind and use only what is needed.
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📉 5. Inadequate Training or Overtraining
Skipping proper and timely training or overloading staff with unnecessary certifications wastes time and disrespects staff. Organizations often conduct company-wide training on LSS concepts and certification, e.g., LSS Yellow Belt or Green Belt certification. While this approach provides theoretical knowledge, without context, it falls short of preparing them for real-world challenges in the workplace. Without context, employees struggle to apply their training effectively, leading to gaps in performance and engagement. Employees either feel unprepared or see it as “training theater” with no value.
The spray-and-pray approach to training LSS methods often results in knowledge retention rates as low as 10% after a few weeks. Contextual training, however, boosts retention by engaging employees with relatable scenarios and hands-on practice. When employees see how a concept applies to their job, they are more likely to remember and use it.
At LSSE, we try to embed training into the events and programs we facilitate by providing just-in-time training on LSS concepts and tools when they are about to be used by employees. For example, we will train 5S when it is being implemented and SQDC tracking as the information radiators are being designed. By incorporating real-world activity, experiential learning, and tailored content, we help organizations bridge the gap between theory and practice, which leads to more competent and confident employees and better outcomes.
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🔄 6. Neglecting Continuous Improvement
As I mentioned, treating LSS as a one-time project is a mistake. LSS is undoubtedly a core business strategy, but it must become part of the organization’s culture to be sustainable. Improvements fade over time without a sustained focus on Kaizen and standardization. Rather than focusing on massive overhauls, this strategy emphasizes making incremental, data-driven changes that lead to significant, long-term improvements.
Implementing systems to keep LSS going is critical for long-term success. Leaders’ Standard Work and SQDC Tier Structures are systems designed to sustain the continuous part of continuous improvement.
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📊 7. Poor Project Selection
This happens when organizations choose poorly scoped projects or projects that are not aligned with the strategy. Early failures and unprofitable projects discourage adoption and buy-in across the company. This alignment ensures that the projects contribute significantly to the company’s goals and priorities. It allows leadership to focus on areas that offer the most substantial benefit to the organization.
LSSE ‘s approach is always data-driven, and we spend a fair amount of time helping our clients choose the right project. First, we want to ensure the project aligns with the organization’s strategic objectives. This allows us to gain support from leadership and ensures the project contributes to the overall business goals.
Next, we identify the appropriate project for the objectives, as not all projects are equal. I find that there are generally five types of improvement processes:
Quick Win: Also referred to as “Just-Do-It” or Fast Track projects, Quick Wins involve implementing a simple, low-cost solution for a specific problem. These projects are quick to plan and deploy because the root cause is identified, and the fix is straightforward.
Process Improvement: In these projects, the presenting problem has an unknown root cause and unclear solutions. We use the DMAIC Improvement Cycle to tackle the problem and improve the process.
Process Design: The focus is on developing a new process or service rather than improving an existing one. This approach is also known as DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) or DMADV (Define-Measure-Analyze-Design-Validate).
Process Redesign: Occasionally, entire processes become unfit for their intended purpose, indicating that time is critical and incremental improvements will not suffice. In such cases, process redesign projects are necessary. Here, the LSSE team focuses on revamping the entire process.
Infrastructure Implementation: These projects focus on process management, which entails carefully monitoring established processes.
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🧱 8. Siloed Implementation
• Mistake: Running LSS in isolated departments instead of integrating it cross-functionally.
• Impact: Improvements get stuck in silos and don’t scale.
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⏱ 9. Expecting Immediate Results
• Mistake: Impatience with the process, expecting ROI in weeks.
• Impact: Leadership pulls the plug too early or moves focus elsewhere.
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🔍 10. Lack of Follow-Through
• Mistake: Not tracking results, not measuring long-term impact, or failing to standardize gains.
• Impact: Regression back to old ways of working.
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