A lack of discretionary effort (i.e., workers putting in extra efforts over and above the normal requirement of the job) is a major deterrent. There is also a lack of optimal use of intellectual capital, which enables an organization to compete using knowledge and innovation. Discretionary efforts and intellectual capital are factors that drive innovation, service quality and customer satisfaction that leads to profitability.
Employee participation is the need of the hour to obtaining lasting results from Six Sigma initiatives.
Attention To Participation
For Six Sigma initiatives to succeed, personal commitment and team effort are primary. The leadership commitment to projects is necessary through their actions.
At the organizational level a corporate culture has to be developed which instigates long-term customer loyalty and shareholder value. The driving factor to improve employee engagement is to assist people fulfill their personal values and goals through a motivated and encouraging work environment.
Key factors that enable employee participation are respect and recognition of achievements, empowerment, personal development, economic security, family security, creativity, and cordial relationships with co-workers.
Businesses need to develop strategies to improve employee satisfaction and plan accordingly. The contribution and involvement of everyone is necessary, as this will enable easy shift over to the desired cultural change.
Employee empowerment is possible when they believe that their involvement will have a great effect on them as well.
A training session is not enough to encourage the involvement of employees - nor is their participation of any relevance if projects show no results for months on end.
Strategies For Ensuring Employee Participation
Organizations can take a few measures to increase employee participation and even the involvement of those on sidelines. A few simple strategies can facilitate this.
Simplify: Allow employees to put their ideas into actions with due support of managers.
Ensure that this gets done in not more than one meeting - and this will help boost employee belief in the system.
Confident Actions: Employees and managers should feel safe to offer ideas in contrast to the current status.
Innovation within limits from small teams with well-defined assignments and clear criteria allows employees to take confident steps towards improvement of processes.
Faster management decisions: Management has to ensure quick decision- making on simpler matters.
Employees will then feel assured of management's readiness to changes in the project. Taking strategic action and making regular progress reviews reflects leadership commitment.
Sharing knowledge and ideas from experience can motivate employees to move ahead positively.
Speed everything up: If the participants see personal gains from their involvement, they will be ready to participate and contribute.
With real results achieved faster, more people would stay engaged. Thus, it is necessary that both Six Sigma teams and management work toward ensuring speeding up and achieving results to ensure engagement.
All Six Sigma teams have to remember that project success requires employee participation. Unless there is employee engagement, no improvements will be lasting.
