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eNewsletter, June 2006 |
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Using eLearning to Drive Culture Change Historically, Six Sigma has enjoyed more success inside the manufacturing arena than any other industry. But despite its pervasiveness, many manufacturers still struggle to get employees to embrace the changes Six Sigma can bring. Fear, caused by a lack of understanding, inhibits culture change, which thereby impedes results. So how does one break this cycle? Here is how one company addressed this issue by building a companywide awareness program that incorporated a message from the CEO with basic awareness training and delivered it worldwide in eight different languages. The result? A dramatically greater interest from employees wanting to be more involved in the company's Six Sigma initiative. The Challenge In early 2004, an international high-tech materials manufacturing company approached BMG with a conundrum. The company had launched its Six Sigma program in 2003, but as the deployment progressed, the company began to see that far too many employees remained unclear about Six Sigma and its purpose. Executives knew this lack of understanding could hinder a successful global rollout, so the executive team began to look for creative ways to expose more of the workforce to the initiatives in motion. As one of their Master Black Belts (MBBs) explained, "People are naturally afraid of what they don't understand. We determined that if we could take away the mystery of Six Sigma, employees would be more likely to embrace it." But with 250,000 employees working in 100+ countries, executives knew that sending Black Belts to train at each location was neither practical nor feasible. They needed a time and cost efficient means of educating employees in Six Sigma basics, without compromising quality. The Solution Steps eLearning quickly emerged as the most viable option for training the company's global employees, as it provided both the flexibility and cost savings the executive team sought. After a comprehensive market evaluation, the company found that Breakthrough Management Group (BMG) could provide the best value for its needs. According to the selection committee, the high quality and interactive delivery style of BMG's content was the key reason for their selection. The company also valued BMG's ability to customize the eLearning with company-specific information, a feature most other providers lacked. To get started, the company first defined what it wanted employees to know. The most pressing questions seemed to be: What is Six Sigma and how does it relate to my job? What is DMAIC? Who in the company is involved in Six Sigma training? Why are we doing it? The answers to these questions became the foundation for a three course "Six Sigma Awareness" program. BMG developed 90 minutes of training to introduce employees to the concepts of Six Sigma and provide a broad understanding of what the company hoped to accomplish with its efforts. Here is what it looked like: Course #1: "Six Sigma, Lean and Our Company"explained the history of Six Sigma and the concepts of DMAIC, DFSS and Lean. It illustrated the connection between Six Sigma and the company's global objectives, and included video messages from the CEO and top Operational Excellence executive. In his address, the CEO expressed his belief that employees trained in Six Sigma are seen as more valuable and promotable than those who aren't. This message helped employees see the level of significance the CEO placed on Six Sigma training. Course #2: "Six Sigma Overview"delved into the fundamental principles of Six Sigma, using BMG's signature interactive exercises to drive home key principles. Activities demonstrated the concepts of data-driven decision making, the y=f(x) formula and the importance of customer focus. Interactivity was key to keeping employees engaged along the way. "Employees have fun practicing concepts by trying to 'win a car' or 'run a movie theater,'" reported one of the company's MBBs. "They see the concepts explained in theory and then actually have a chance to apply what they've learned." Course #3: "Six Sigma Roles and Phases" offered a step-by-step explanation of the DMAIC problem-solving methodology and identified key Six Sigma players for each phase. Training concluded with examples and details of actual Six Sigma projects that the company had already completed. BMG first developed the training in English, then translated it into seven additional languages (Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean) to fully address the needs of the global employee base. The company then made the courses available to employees through a corporate learning management system (LMS), so that divisions around the world could access it online. A CD-ROM version provided access to those without internet and to augment classroom training. The company's communications strategy promoted the trainings' availability via an employee newsletter, internal e-mail announcements, links on intranet sites and even through a contest to recognize the first business segment to reach 1,000 employees trained. Each business segment also developed its own plan to launch the eLearning courses within their division. The Results
After only six months, more than 2,600 employees had completed the training. Initial feedback was positive and according to the deployment leader, this success came down to the quality, interactivity and flexibility of the courses. "BMG's high-quality content helped spread a consistent and positive message about the value of Six Sigma across our organization. It's very important that employees have a positive initial exposure to Six Sigma and this eLearning helped us set a high standard for our Six Sigma training." Many students commented that the program had surpassed their expectations and was superior to and much more dynamic than what they had previously encountered. But were the courses creating a buzz about Six Sigma throughout the company? According to the company, absolutely. The courses helped people get comfortable with Six Sigma and they began to see it as a chance to further their careers. As a result, the company saw a surge in interest for Green Belt training. Similarly, project leaders found the training provided a great pre-work for Green Belt trainees. But the biggest benefit for the company was having the training available on demand. The company reveled in the fact that if 10,000 employees were interested in learning more about this initiative, they could all be trained simultaneously. This could not have been achieved if physical instructors had to teach Six Sigma Awareness in a classroom setting. For more information about BMG's eLearning, join our monthly online webinar that covers the specifics of this product. You can sign up online here. Or for more information or follow up questions, contact www.BMGi.com, or call 1-800-4-6-Sigma. |
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Weekly Webinars: Boost Results with Powerful Technology Products. Topic: Building Infrastructure with the eHandbook Read the article in this issue, "Why Build Infrastructure?" to learn why building Infrastructure for your deployment is key. Then, join BMG for a Free Webinar and insiders look at the eHandbook, a powerful tool for designing and managing your performance excellence initiative. Date: 7/12/2006 or 8/9/2006 Time: 9:00 a.m. MST |
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Topic: eLearning to Drive Culture Change Is eLearning the solution for your company? Find out how eLearning provides both flexibility and cost savings as mentioned in this issue's case study, "eLearning to Drive Culture Change". View BMG's FREE live demos. Date: 6/21/2006, 7/19/2006 or 8/16/2006 Time: 9:00 a.m. MST |
