Six Sigma and Innovation
Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach for process improvement. It focuses on voice of customer (VOC) to deliver quality and offers a set of techniques and tools to improve the quality of processes by methodically identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and minimizing variability in processes.
To further elaborate its methodology, Six Sigma uses a set of quality management methods (most of which are empirical, statistical methods) to drive toward six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit in a process to ultimately eliminate defects. (For additional information and background of Six Sigma, refer to Wikipedia).
Sound complicated? Perhaps even a bit intimidating? Not everyone is an advocate of Six Sigma.Is it toodisciplined and overly process-oriented to be effective at driving innovation? Is it stifling creativity? Some think so, yet many others disagree. So before you jump on any bandwagon to dismiss such data-driven methodologies, consider how Six Sigma tools can be used to brainstorm and to promote innovative thinking.
John Mitchell, a principal at Applied Marketing Science, Inc., believes that those “who think VOC stifles innovation either do not understand the meaning and purpose of it, or don’t know how and when to use it.” In his article “Is VOC Killing Innovation?”, he examines three common “misses” with VOC and clarifies its role in Six Sigma and product innovation. He concludes that VOC done correctly does not kill innovation. Instead, it is “a vital and necessary component that can give birth to exciting new ideas.”
In his article “Six Sigma and Innovation - A Remarkable Duo”, Alex Orlov explains how Six Sigma compliments innovation. “Innovation is more of a skill-based process while Six Sigma is knowledge-based.” He asserts that “combining the two (i.e., combining skill with knowledge) can drive the best results.” Orlov also reveals how Six Sigma tools [such as the Cause and Effect diagram and the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)] can be used to facilitate team brainstorming and promote original thinking to deliver quality without sacrificing innovation.
Still not convinced? You might also want to consider the ways in which creative people are similar to data-driven people.
“The greatest scientists are artists as well.” -- Albert Einstein
As Anna Kegler states in “10 Things Creative People and Data-Driven People Have in Common”, “The characteristics of highly successful creative people and highly successful data-driven people are very similar.”Below are just a few of the similarities Kegler points out between creative people and data-driven people:
They make connections. “Both creative and data-driven people have brains that are extremely good at making rapid connections between ideas and existing knowledge.This allows them to be extremely adaptable, using the resources they have available to them in unusual ways to reach their goals.”
They are inquisitive and always asking questions. “The most creative people are always questioning the status quo. They want to know ‘why’, and even more often, ‘why not?’ Data-driven people do this too.”
They experience “flow state.” The article defines flow state “as a state of pure focus and enjoyment. It comes when you’re so absorbed in what you’re doing that you don’t feel time pass. Artists, musicians, and athletes describe being ‘in the zone’. Anyone can experience this, but creative and data-driven people are especially likely to intentionally seek it out because of the proliferation of ideas it brings.”
They take risks and are not afraid of failure.
They are non-conformists.
“I didn’t feel for Warhol the way Robert [Mapplethorpe] did. His work reflected a culture I wanted to avoid. I hated the soup and felt little for the can. I preferred an artist who transformed his time, not mirrored it.” Patti Smith Just Kids (New York: Ecco, 2010), 69.
Artists have experienced resistance to their works for ages. Why? People’s inherent fear of change makes it preferable to maintain the status quo. Artists seek to transform and change current state, not simply reflect it. Those who aren’t interested in merely drawing an apple are not always initially embraced. Many audiences are not readily receptive to transformative ideas.
Data-driven professionals also know similar “resistance that can arise when data supports making a counter-intuitive business decision.” What gives them the courage to “buck the crowd”? The existence of data, the “underlying evidence”, is exactly what ignites the confidence to push for change.
And the article explains that even in “those cases when they don’t have the data to back up a new idea, they can confidently fall back on the ability to test things out and pivot rapidly if necessary…It’s in this overlap between creativity and data-drivenness where great things happen.”
So what should PMOs do?
Don’t abandon quality and discipline. Don’t confuse process maturity with bureaucracy. Discipline provides a link between creativity and innovation. Without creativity, there is no innovation; yet without disciplined execution, creativity does not lead to innovation. “An organization’s capacity for innovation is creativity multiplied by execution,” writes Vijay Govindarajan in “Innovation is Not Creativity”. Thomas Edison put it well: “Innovation is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”
Know the value of quality and process improvement processes such as Six Sigma and how they can drive innovation. Be able to explain the value of Six Sigma tools and techniques to the organization. For example, the Cause and Effect diagram and the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) can be used to facilitate team brainstorming and promote original thinking to deliver quality without sacrificing innovation.
And finally, show the value. Use these techniques and tools, where they make sense, to demonstrate results. Once again, process maturity is not the same as bureaucracy. Process for the sake of process is waste. Don’t become checkbox checkers, but learn to use these techniques to provoke thought and original ideas.
Discipline and methodical execution can provide the missing link between creativity and innovation.
