Why Lean and Six Sigma are Helpful Skills for HR, Talent Acquisition Professionals

Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma have become fixtures in the business world because they offer tangible methods for analyzing an operation and correcting problems. While the theories behind the methodologies may seem abstract, application involves precise measurement, statistical analysis and detailed guides to putting improvements in place.

Most business leaders know that works well on the manufacturing floor – Toyota alone has proved the advantages of employing Lean-style methods for decades. What organizations have started to understand in growing numbers is that Lean and Six Sigma can apply to any process, no matter the industry or the department involved.

One of the latest areas of focus for Lean and Six Sigma practitioners has been human resources. Peter Peterka, founder and CEO of training organization Global Six Sigma, told the Society for Human Resource Management: “The potential of HR’s effectiveness through Six Sigma and Lean is unlimited.”

As more HR managers adapt to this way of thinking, the need grows for employees who have earned certifications in Lean and Six Sigma and understand the value of continuous process improvement.

Applying Lean and Six Sigma to HR

Organizations employ the tools and techniques of Lean and Six Sigma to find and eliminate inefficiencies in an operation. At the same time, they also seek to create products and services that better meet consumer needs.

At its core, Lean focuses on eliminating waste, which is defined as anything in a process that does not add value to the consumer. Six Sigma focuses on eliminating mistakes (the hoped for result is 3.4 mistakes per one million opportunities). Both can apply to how managers run an HR department.

For example, an HR manager could create a qualification template to identify the ideal traits of job candidates for certain types of jobs. Once created, this template can be used repeatedly without having to waste time creating new ones.

HR might also decide to analyze why they are not retaining talented employees, because retention makes an organization more efficient and success more sustainable. They then could make improvements to increase retention in areas such as better training, corporate culture or compensation packages.

Another area that can benefit from Lean and Six Sigma is talent acquisition.

Lean Six Sigma For Talent Acquisition

The HR recruiting, onboarding and training processes tend to become complex and lengthy. That can lead to problems in attracting the most talented employees who always have other options. Six Sigma can offer help in this area through one of its most popular techniques, DMAIC.

DMAIC is an acronym for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. When applied to talent acquisition, an overview of the process could look like the following.

• Define: An HR project team defines both the problem facing the company (not hiring enough talented employees) and the Critical to Quality (CTQ) aspect of the project (in this case, improving efficiency and success of the HR talent acquisition function).
• Measure: In this scenario, the measure phase would involve defining the business impact of inefficient hiring processes, such as a process that is too long and complicated and requires approval from too many managers.
• Analyze: In this phase, the HR project team can look at the root causes for problems in the process. A flowchart of the process can help identify where issues such as duplicate work or unnecessary waiting time have hampered the process.
• Improve: A more streamlined system is put into place. This could include making one person responsible for signing off on the new hire or putting a faster system in place to respond to resumes from talented applicants.
• Control: The control phase is about developing ways to measure success and ensuring that process changes that lead to improvement remain in place.

In addition to talent acquisition, the International Society of Six Sigma Professionals writes that HR can benefit from Lean and Six Sigma in areas that range from compensation, benefits and labor relations to HR legal issues and workplace health and safety.

Using Data-Driven Strategy in HR

One reason Lean Six Sigma appeals to modern managers is because it is data driven. By analyzing data from an operation, project teams can clearly find bottlenecks in a process and devise solutions to overcome them. 

Companies such as AIHR Analytics already have put this approach into action. The company recently detailed how it used a data-driven approach to help an international technology headhunting firm improve the success of its recruitment processes. 

They defined the CTQ and ran a wealth of data-driven tests to determine flaws and potential improvements for the system. The project not only increased efficiency of the current system but also discovered new areas where HR can collect data and make improvements such as optimizing recruiter time investment.

The Need for Lean and Six Sigma Experts

Writing for HR Executive, Ben Brooks, founder and CEO of career development platform PILOT, wrote that another useful Six Sigma concept for HR is Gemba. In Gemba – which loosely translates from the Japanese for ‘actual place” – managers go to the factory floor to see firsthand how a process works. This includes learning, in detail, the exact functions of the equipment and people involved in a process.

“When is the last time you were on HR’s proverbial factory floor?” Brooks wrote. “The higher up you are in your organization, or the longer you’ve been there, the more out of touch you might be with today’s employee experience and unmet needs.”

He suggested that with the many complexities that HR managers now face, they should look outside of the usual problem-solving tools they’ve used in the past. It’s an idea that proponents of Lean and Six Sigma all support, and one from which HR managers can benefit.