Is Six Sigma Worth the Investment For a Small or Medium Sized Business?

First let's define Six Sigma in terms we can all understand. It's a quality control process that is data driven What that means is the result is measured in numbers, in particular, numbers of defects . To achieve Six Sigma you should have less than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Opportunities for what? I guess a million opportunities to screw up.

The list of big companies that are utilizing Six Sigma is huge. But is it right for the small and medium business? GE and Motorola will find it hard to gain any more market share thany they already have. The best way for them to increase profits is to decrease costs. But is that really true for a small or medium sized manufacturer? Anything that strives to reduce the number of defects and increase customer satisfaction is a positive for your business. That's a no brainer. The issue is more how deeply do you immerse your business, and your employees in to a process that can take the focus off of what they enjoy doing.
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Let me state that in another way. Many of your employees are employees because that's what they want to do. They don't want the headache or the associated risk of running a business, or being a manager or director. Six Sigma is a very disciplined and detail oriented process. Because of this it can drastically alter the nature of an employees task. In some cases, this will be a positive. The employee may feel energized by the change and the challenge. Others will boost productivity simply due to the Hawthorne effect. A significant number will however see this as an unwelcome change to the job they want to do.THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS!
Tip! Leverage. Leverage, with regards to real estate investment, is the use of borrowed funds in order to purchase realty.

We simply must accept the fact that not everyone is dedicated to advancing his or her career and embracing all challenges and changes. Most people work because they have to. They work so that they can support their families and enjoy time away from work with other pursuits. This is not a character flaw or a sign of laziness. It's just the decision they've made, nothing more and nothing less. When we try to impose radical change on the work portion of thier lives they have the freedom to move on to another company. And that's the best case scenario. Generally what happens is the employee becomes disenfranchised and productivity suffers.

Obviously our goal isn't to decrease productivity so what's a small business to do? Like everything else you need to take it slow at first. The best advice is to decide what you want out of it before you even begin. Then you can make a better decision about using a Six Sigma consultant, and whether or not you need one. You should also set a realistic goal for what an acceptable defect rate should be and what the cost is for a given range of defects. Six Sigma has this process as part of it but many of the Black belt consultants seem to get caught up in reaching that magic number of zero defects. That's a nice goal but if the cost of reaching it is ten times the cost of the defects, who cares? Go with the defect rate you have and keep cashing the checks. In short, don't fix what isn't broken. Fine tuning to keep or gain market share is one thing, reorganzing your entire business in a risky pursuit of a 1.5% profit increase is quite another.
Tip! Determine the coherency of the program's investment strategy. See if the owners know what they are talking about and if they have a sound business plan.

Eric Gurr Senior Editor SMBresource http://www.smbresource.com To contact Mr. Gurr egurr@intralinkinc.com

Are You A Lone Ranger? Why Going It Alone as a Business Consultant is Not Always a Good Investment

I work with people who have left the corporate world and have established or want to establish themselves as Independent Business Consultants (IBC) in their area of expertise, whether that be HR, Marketing, IT or sales.

One of the most common assumptions many of them make is that they don't need any help and they become a "lone ranger". This is often based on a set of beliefs such as

* "I can do everything myself"

* "I can't trust anyone else to help me in my business"

* "I can't afford to pay anyone to help me"

* "I'll get someone when I'm more established.

However, leading and managing a successful consultancy is about more than just delivering the consultancy services. A consultancy business is an entity made up of systems, processes and infrastructure as well as what you actually deliver - your products and services. As the delivery person of your services you may be 100% capable. However, that is not all that's involved in running your consultancy and making it an ongoing success.
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There are many other functions and roles that have to be fulfilled in order for your consultancy to be successful. Functions such as finance, sales, marketing operations and administration to name a few; Roles such as bookkeeper, invoice writer, PR person, researcher, sales person and client manager etc. All of these important roles and functions need to be performed whether you are a global corporation or a 1 person consultancy. None of these functions can be ignored and you may not have the skills and knowledge necessary to perform each of the roles to a good enough standard. Equally if one of the main reasons you established your own business in the first place was to DO what you love doing, then in reality do you really want to be doing all the other "stuff" as well?

Some people just get busy doing a bit of sales a bit of marketing and a bit of admin, which usually just means answering emails. And for a short time that may work.
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However, over time you forget who you've sent which invoices to or if you've even sent them at all; your VAT and tax affairs get dumped in a shoebox "to be sorted out when I'm less busy" and you stop going to new events and arranging meetings because you are "busy" delivering for your biggest (read only) client. Very soon though that client project is complete, the pipeline of new prospects is empty and the taxman has knocked at your door.

If only you had got some help!

In establishing your consultancy you need to decide at the blueprint stage what you want to do and are skilled enough to do and what you're not. Then you need to decide what support you can get, from whom and to help you with what. Yes it may cost you but what will it cost you to not get help?
Tip! Education is the main goal of an investment club. An investment club made up of educated investors will be more successful and cohesive than an investment club which is solely focused on making a profit.

The issue of cost is often the reason (excuse!) for not hiring someone to help with those functions or tasks that you are good at or do not want to do.

But imagine for a moment you are a first time house buyer with 3 children both you and your partner work and the most DIY you have ever done is change a light bulb. After a few months in the house you decide that you would like to redecorate, convert the loft into a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and sauna, install a new kitchen and completely landscape the garden.

Do you consider doing it all your self? Well maybe but unless you are a bathroom fitter, landscape gardener, carpenter and farm out the children for a few weeks the answer is probably a sensible no. So what would you do?
Tip! Find the right people who share the same investment objectives and goals. It is easier to get along with right minded people and learn from each other.

You might

* Decide on your budget +/- 10%

* Prioritise the order you want to or need to get things done

* Research local companies who offer these services

* Get some quotes and references

* Draw up some blueprints

* Plan the timescales for completion and how everything needs to integrate

* Start

Now if having done all the research and planning your costs exceeded your budget what could you do well for example you could arrange a barter situation where,
Tip! My personal finances and my investment needs make me unsuitable as a buyer of Regulation S stocks (e.g.

* you baby sit for the gardener's children in exchange for hours on the garden

* you offer consultancy to the plumber's partner in exchange for the new bathroom to be installed

The point is there are many ways to achieve the goal of getting the right help for your business at the right time. But struggling with everything yourself is not a great solution. We all need help in certain areas and assuming we don't will catch us out at some point.

And as the saying goes if you don't invest time and money to get it right the first time when will you have time and money to rectify it second or third time.

So don't be a lone ranger ask yourself

What functions do I want to perform and are skilled enough to perform within my consultancy?

What support do I need to ensure that I have a successful consultancy from now on?

Who do I know that can help me?

©Beverley Hamilton 2005

Beverley Hamilton works with independent business consultants to help them grow a profitable consultancy and still have time for their life. You can get my Free Ecourse Discover the 5 Most Common Incorrect Assumptions Independent Business Consultants Make and a complimentary subscription to Quickstart, the newsletter specifically for consultants. Go to One Step Further for more instantly accessible resources. Your future Your choice