The key to making your Lean Six Sigma training more effective is not dramatically different from those for any kind of training. The following are some of the essentials you should keep in mind if you are planning to do the training yourself, in-house, or having an outside consultant do the training:
- Employ a variety of learning styles. Visuals, games, exercises, etc. should be varied and should include some fun.
- Emphasize hands-on learning. Students learn best when they can put concepts and skills into immediate practice. Over the years I have found that one week of training followed by several weeks of doing a project, before additional training, work well. This gives the student the opportunity to utilize the skills they have learned. Coaching sessions can be set up to check their progress and facilitate correct use of the tools and techniques.
- Provide relevant examples. Make sure the examples used are relevant to students so they can understand how the tools and techniques can be used in their environment. Don’t use manufacturing examples, when instructing a group of service related students!
- Build knowledge. Students can easily become overwhelmed with jargon and math. Establish a foundation of key principles and ideas and state them in everyday common terms. Set the stage for more sophisticated methods and make sure you put the tools into a context (DMAIC or Lean Six Sigma Roadmap) so that their application and relevance is clear. Keep the math to a minimum! If you use statistical software, such as Minitab, stress the importance of correctly interpreting the software output rather than memorizing formulas. Let the software do the grunt work.
- Get more from your training than learning. You have an opportunity to show everyone in the organization how Lean Six Sigma can make their jobs easier and less frustrating and how they can contribute to the company’s profitability.