Rigor, Not Rigor Mortis

A lot of people in real estate cast a suspicious eye on six sigma discipline. They either think it is the flavor of the month and will soon be displaced with some newer, flashier substitute, or they think you need to be some kind of math wizard to understand and use it. They also associate it with factory floors and the production of widgets, not something you can use in the workplace. They’re missing a great opportunity.

Six sigma is just this: common sense, rigorously applied. You can use these techniques to dramatically lower your costs and improve the quality of your services.
In six sigma you use a common sense framework for defining the problem, gathering information to help you understand it, analyzing that information, coming up with a solution, then tracking to make sure that solution actually worked. There are off-the-shelf six sigma tools to help you in each of those phases.

Like all management disciplines, it should be deployed with balance and care. You don’t need to deploy a green belt team for six months to invent a new process for changing the paper in the copier, you just need to whip out a fresh pack and drop it in the drawer. On the other hand, if it takes you too long to move a team from point A to point B then this discipline might help you.

I’ve seen six sigma discipline used to discover some amazing things and to debunk a lot of pre-conceived notions. I’ve personally been involved in leading or supporting initiatives which saved millions of dollars and turned conventional thinking on its head. Here are some tips I often suggest for those who are new to the discipline:
• Read the thinnest, shortest book on six sigma you can find. There’s a dandy one called What is Six Sigma that clocks in at five ounces and about 85 pages and tells you everything you need to know if you r a newbie.
• Go to websites. There’s a great one at www.isixsigma.com which lets you read articles, surf around to find answers to questions and provides some free off-the-shelf tools and templates.
• Ask someone who knows. There are lots of smart, passionate people out there who are dedicated to using these tools to make people’s lives easier.
Some of the best six sigma tools are qualitative in nature so don’t be intimidated by the numbers or jargon. Just dive in and have fun!