Six Sigma Professionals Biggest First Team Meeting Mistake

Key Principles

What happens at the first project team meeting sets the stage for how the team performs throughout the entire DMAIC project ... and everyone on the team is responsible for getting the team off to a good start.

Taking time to solicit the “Voice of the Team” before you launch into the project tasks is a good way to avoid the Six Sigma professionals’ biggest first team meeting mistake (see page 18) and to achieve these important objectives:

• Identifying who on the team can (and would like to) handle different project tasks, which increases the likelihood that members will actually do those tasks.

• Aligning members’ personal and business goals with the goals of the team, which makes members more likely to commit to the work of the team and therefore to show up for meetings and complete assignments.

• Reducing members’ needs to restate and reestablish their credentials during subsequent team meetings, which saves meeting time.

• Giving members an opportunity to get to know each other, which builds trust, the key feature of effective teams.

Team Leader Checklist: Running the First Six Sigma Project Team Meeting

Tool 3-1.

Note: This follows the draft agenda in Chapter 1, Tool 1-3, page 6.

Team Member Checklist: Participating in the First Six Sigma Project Team Meeting

Tool 3-2.