What is a
Champion?
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by
Ray Mikulak |
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Champions play a pivotal role in a successful Lean Six Sigma
initiative. They serve as mentors to project teams and act
as a bridge between black belts and organization management.
Without champions, efforts can become entangled with
internal obstacles, become misaligned with core business
objectives, lose focus and track of time, and may not yield
expected benefits.
Champions are typically members of the executive or
leadership group who sponsor projects and mentor teams
working on those projects. To be effective, champions must
be trained in the essentials of the Six Sigma Methodology.
Champions do not need to be "expert" in Six Sigma tools and
techniques but they do need to have proficient skills in
facilitation, collaboration and conflict resolution.
- In a Lean Six Sigma environment, champions:
- Mentor, support and coach project teams.
- Remove obstacles for project teams.
- Verify that the direction of projects is aligned with the
objectives of the business.
- Keep projects focused on the Problem Statement.
- Ensure timely completion of projects.
- Drive quantifiable results of projects.
For more information on
Lean Six Sigma Champions, check out our
Lean Six Sigma Resource Center.
Ray Mikulak
is president of Resource Engineering, Inc. You can
contact him at 800-810-8326 or 802-496-5888 or by e-mail. |
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Product
Focus from Carolyn Burke
Upgrades! |
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 The
Role of a Champion training consists of three lessons and
a Challenge intended to allow learners to test their
comprehension of the body of knowledge covered in
the course. The three lessons are:
- What Does a Champion Do?
- System Systems for Champions
- Pitfalls to Avoid
The course is about
2 to 3 hours long and introduces Champions to their
role and responsibilities in a Lean Six Sigma
environment.
Carolyn
Burke is Sr. Customer Service Representative.
She can be reached toll free directly at
866-791-1003 or by e-mail. |
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Ask
Robin
What Support Do Champions
Need? |
 Without a supporting infrastructure, champions will find
themselves wasting time, energy and effort developing
systems to help project teams, rather than mentoring and
coaching them for success.
Champions build their own support systems. Working
subcommittees help the champions, as a group, divide
components of the system into manageable tasks so that
everyone does not have to be involved in every activity.
Champions should consider subcommittees for each of the
following six
areas:
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Communications
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Training
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Project Management
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Metrics
-
Best Practices
-
Roll-Out
For more
information on support systems for champions,
check out our
Lean Six Sigma
Resource Center.
Robin McDermott is director of
training for Resource Engineering, Inc. You can
contact her at 800-810-8326 or 802-496-5888 or by
e-mail. |
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Forms to Help
Champions
We feel that
forms and checklists are a great way to guide champions
through their various responsibilities as champions.
Please see our
Lean Six Sigma Champion Resource Center to access downloads of FREE
forms useful to champions. Forms include:
- Project Priority Index Worksheet
- Problem Statement Worksheet
- Team Start-Up Worksheet
- Meeting Minutes & Planner Worksheet
- Project Review Checklist
- Project Close-Out Report Contents
To access the Champion Resource Center, click
here. |
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