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| MoreNews about Lean Six Sigma April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coaching Yourself to a Better Understanding
"Regulating" Learning with Reflective Questions
 As self-paced e-Learning grows in popularity, we need to adjust our learning and, thus, our instructional models. Recent research led by Dr. Traci Sitzmann, Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Laboratory, demonstrates the value of incorporating a self-regulation component in the instructional design of online courses.Self-regulation is the process of interrupting the flow of learning to stimulate reflection on your level of concentration, your comprehension of the materials, and the effectiveness of the learning. In her research, Dr. Sitzmann created a Microsoft® Excel® course where one group of students received unannounced self-regulation questions throughout the training. These interruptions in the coursework drove students to consider how they were learning (self-reflection) rather than just what they were learning (quizzes). Questions included “Am I concentrating on learning the training material?” and “Am I setting goals to ensure I have a thorough understanding of the training material?” Students who engaged in these types of reflective questions: • Were 17% more likely to complete the course • Scored an average of 5% higher on knowledge assessments • Spent an average of 30% more time reviewing the course material If you’re using e-Learning to support your blended deployment, this study offers another example of the utility of intrusive coaching activities. Coaches can reinforce training progress by consistently reminding students to check and re-check for understanding. For e-Learning providers, data-based research like this suggests useful ways to improve our offerings. Dr. Sitzmann's research has been published in a number of professional journals. If you'd like to learn more, you can read a 1-page overview or read the detailed working paper.  How Many Wrongs Until We Get It Right?
Sharing Lessons Learned About Why Projects Fail
 A Wall Street Journal article appeared at the beginning of this year that highlighted the temporary conformance experienced by programs such as Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methodologies. The observations were based on a study conducted over a five-year period. The author, Satya S. Chakravorty, discussed what happened at one aerospace company that implemented more than 100
improvement projects. The company determined that less than two years after implementation, more than
half the projects had failed to generate lasting gains. Read "Where Process-Improvement Projects Go Wrong". While the article itself is interesting, it is not especially ground breaking. The attention getter is the reader response. Typically, the online WSJ articles receive few if any comments. This particular one on failed projects elicited 20 comments; the same article published in the MIT Sloan Management Review generated 31 responses. Likewise, a similar discussion thread on the Lean Six Sigma Group on LinkedIn produced over 25 pages of online dialogue. With so many people knowing what went wrong, hopefully we'll soon be reading a barrage of best practices as organizations apply the lessons learned.
RESOURCES
New! Master Black Belt Training and Certification
 The Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State
University (OSU) introduced a new Blended Learning Master Black Belt development
program featuring MoreSteam.com e-Learning. The program covers the Master Black Belt body of knowledge and topics
ranging from advanced DOE to Leading Change to Finance. The curriculum integrates: • Two one-week sessions of classroom instruction at OSU
• Two weeks of online learning on advanced topics
The on-campus classes start the week
of May 24-28. Learn more at http://www.moresteam.com/master-black-belt.cfm.
Recommended Viewing from TED2010
 Research done by Carnegie Mellon University found that today's average young person will have spent 10,000 hours playing online games by the age of 21. Interestingly, those 10,000 hours are equivalent to the 10,080 hours that U.S. students spend in school from fifth grade to high school assuming perfect attendance.So why are we better at conquering imposing enemy armies in virtual worlds than we are at solving real life problems? Jane McGonigal, who directs game R&D at the Institute for the Future, points out that games motivate you to aspire and overcome failure in a low risk environment. Games also match the challenges with your current capability. Watch "Gaming Can Make a Better World" from the TED2010 conference to get some tips on how to transfer gaming wins to an epic win in the real world. Sound Bytes of Success: Con-way Freight and Sea Ray Boats
 Having launched an enterprise-wide sustainability initiative in early 2008, Con-way Freight recently announced a network initiative that will reduce total operating miles by 16.6 million per year. The move will enable the company to conserve a projected 2.6 million gallons of diesel fuel annually, eliminating approximately 58.6 million pounds of carbon emissions from the environment, which is equal to removing more than 5,200 automobiles from America’s highways. Another initiative has reduced diesel fuel consumption by nearly 3.2 million gallons annually — reducing carbon emissions by the equivalent of taking 6,400 vehicles off the roads. Read the full article.
Sea Ray Boat Group appears to have gotten over some initial bumps when it deployed DMAIC in 2005 and Kaizen in 2007. Earlier this year, Zack Chehaitli, Director of Continuous Improvement, reported savings of $2.3 million in 2007 and almost $3 million in 2008. Savings for 2009 totaled $1.5 even though the organization had been downsized to approximately half of its previous size. (iSixSigma Magazine, Jan/Feb 2010)
Local Communities of Practice: Nashville News
 Last month, Dan Woodman, MBB for Freudenberg Filtration Technologies, shared his thoughts on Lean vs. Six Sigma. View the slide presentation.The Six Sigma Solutions Breakfast Series is conducted quarterly and open to all Nashville area Six Sigma practitioners. These events are co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management and MoreSteam.
We're interested in helping to grow and support new communities and associations. Our support can include a free Web portal and onsite sponsorship. Please contact us at marketing@moresteam.com for more information.  Congratulations to our grand prize winner, Sion Weaver, who won a free subscription to his selected online course, Design for Six Sigma. A consolation award of one complimentary copy of EngineRoom® data analysis software was granted to an additional 30 entrants. Our sincere thanks to all of you for your support and business. We look forward to serving you in the future! |
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