Streamlining work and life with Six Sigma principle

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Streamlining work and life with Six Sigma principle

The hectic lifestyle nowadays can cause serious burnout amongst senior professionals. RMIT Alumni’s catch-up titled “Six Sigma principal applications in work and life” discussed how leaders can navigate themselves through turbulence at work and home.

This is the 22^ndsession of A2A (Alumni-to-Alumni) Circle monthly catch-up for RMIT and Australian alumni who are senior leaders in diverse industries, attracting a group of 40 participants.

From the fundamental concept of Six Sigma

Ms Nguyen Thi Ai Hien, former General Director of Linen Supply Services and Cosmo Laundry opened the event by sharing the definition of Six Sigma concept.

According to the RMIT Vietnam MBA alumnus: “It is a data-driven, systematic approach to continuous improvement, which focuses on the customers. Fundamentally, Six Sigma calls for a change of thinking.”

Six Sigma key principles consist of customer focus, data usage, continuous improvement approach, people involvement, and thoroughness.

Ms Hien emphasised the significance of customer focus as “customer satisfaction plays a vital role in our business”.

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The event was moderated by the Six Sigma Green Belt Ms Nguyen Thi Ai Hien.

She also introduced DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, and Control) as a Six Sigma key method. It represents the five phases that make up the process: define the problem, improvement activity, opportunity for improvement, the project goals, and customer requirements.

DMAIC, to Ms Hien, is an effective stress-reduce formula as it has helped her improve her business and tackle substantive issues either at work or in her personal life.

Ms Hien explained: “First of all, you define the issue and measure its importance. You collect as much data as possible by using 5-Whys, known as one of the most used tools in Six Sigma”.

To better understand the issue, Ms Hien shared that it is vital to collect data by asking as many questions as needed. “Some issues are so straightforward that asking one or two Whys is enough to realise the root cause. However, there are problems that require a chain of questions to dig deeper and provide a fuller picture.”

Another useful tool in Six Sigma concept is CTQ (critical to quality). “You need to know what is critical to your clients, then that will guide you on what you need to focus on to improve.

“Having specific, realistic goals helps you keep your eyes on the prize.”

To applications in work and life

Six Sigma is not a brand-new concept, as Ms Nguyen Thi Minh Giang, Co-Founder & Partner of Leaders and Culture at Newing company, shared: “I had no clue that I was applying Six Sigma until I realised it all starts from ‘mindset’ and ‘new behaviours’ to improve myself and my life every day”.

According to the prominent human resources consultant, the biggest challenges faced by business executives are often linked with people and coordination.

“For instance, initially, the company was established when founders had extraordinary ideas and talented team members. Staff seemed coordinative, supportive, and friendly.

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Ms Nguyen Thi Minh Giang, Co-Founder & Partner of Leaders and Culture at Newing company (pictured left) spoke at the RMIT Alumni’s catch-up.

“Next, when something happened, typically breakdown, they are likely to lose control over their emotions and not listen to each other. Instead of improving continuously [as part of Six Sigma concept], they tend to try to prove [that they are correct] continuously.”

Emotion was also a key word that the parent-child counsellor and psychoeducation practitioner Ms Tu-Anh Nguyen often mentioned in her story.

“Emotion is the root cause of most of parent-child relationship problems and children’s behavioural problems.

“Children are genuine in their emotions. Their behaviours are expressions of their emotions, which we do not often acknowledge.”

Ms Tu-Anh added: “Acknowledging emotions is applied to not only your children but any human beings.”

Newing Co-founder Ms Giang agreed: “By acknowledging emotions, we can send others the message that they are being heard.”

So, what is the effective way to find the root cause of a problem?

As mentioned by the Six Sigma Green Belt Ms Nguyen Thi Ai Hien, using data through 5-Whys is a powerful method.

The RMIT Vietnam Bachelor of Commerce graduate Ms Tu-Anh shared: “When I work with my clients who are parents talking about the problems with their children, the questions I always ask them are: “How was your childhood? How did you grow up? Tell me something about the relationship between you and your own parents?” They never thought I would ask them those.

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The parent-child counsellor and psychoeducation practitioner Ms Tu-Anh Nguyen mingled with other participants.

“I use data by asking parents to collect information. The 5-Whys are what I do to ask questions to identify what lies deep within every problem before I could produce suggestions”, Ms Tu-Anh said.

“Normally, there is nothing wrong with the child. It is just something that happened with the child or along the way that caused the issue.”

Ms Tu-Anh also suggested participants to enjoy the journey of parenting.

“Parenting is a process, not a result. We have the tendency to focus on the outcomes but what our children want to enjoy is the process of being with us”.

This is also Ms Giang’s career advice: “Value progress and celebrate small wins.”

For more event photos, click here.

Story: Dung Pham

Campus and community

07 April 2023

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