Rating: 
Summary: Continuing the Success
Review: George Eckes has followed his Six Sigma Revolution with a clear, insightful look at how to take the successes from Six Sigma training into the entire company. The culture of the company and the attitudes of the managers are what ultimately cause any performance initiative to falter, no matter how invested the participants are in the process. Resistance to change is inevitable, Making Six Sigma Last accepts that fact and shows the reader how to overcome the resistance and win over the resisters. The method of addressing objections on a point-by-point basis with responses was particularly helpful. Most members of Six Sigma teams will recognize these objections from coworkers or supervisors. Humorous and full of interesting examples drawn from his experiences as a consultant and lecturer, his book is the next best thing to hearing him speak!
Rating:
Summary: Continuing the Success
Review: George Eckes has followed his Six Sigma Revolution with a clear, insightful look at how to take the successes from Six Sigma training into the entire company. The culture of the company and the attitudes of the managers are what ultimately cause any performance initiative to falter, no matter how invested the participants are in the process. Resistance to change is inevitable, Making Six Sigma Last accepts that fact and shows the reader how to overcome the resistance and win over the resisters. The method of addressing objections on a point-by-point basis with responses was particularly helpful. Most members of Six Sigma teams will recognize these objections from coworkers or supervisors. Humorous and full of interesting examples drawn from his experiences as a consultant and lecturer, his book is the next best thing to hearing him speak!
Rating: 
Summary: Tools and Teams are Not Enough
Review: In this companion text to The Six Sigma Revolution, Eckes provides a convincing (and data-driven) argument that Six Sigma success as a management philosophy that will embed itself within an organization can be described by the simple function Q x A = E. While short-term cost savings and temporary process modifications can be achieved by the imposition of the strategic and tactical elements of Six Sigma ("Q"), these successes cannot be sustained with significant attention to the cultural acceptance ("A") of these elements within a company. In Making Six Sigma Last, Eckes draws on his 20+ years of consulting experience to provide a handbook of tools and strategies to define, measure, analyze, and implement the changes needed to create a corporate culture that supports its Six Sigma efforts. Topics addressed include a.) how to identify and to deal with the types of resistance commonly found in organizations undergoing change; b.) how company leaders can create the vision, mold Six Sigma sustaining behaviors, and must be held accountable for the success of their efforts; c.) what it takes to create cultural acceptance of Six Sigma in terms of people, training, and attention; and d.) how to measure cultural acceptance. Eckes provides numerous anecdotes about companies, and their leaders, that exhibit both pluses and deltas in the implementation of a Six Sigma management philosophy. Well-written, well-organized, with helpful summaries and key learnings, and enough stories and measurement tools to keep both your "people" and "technical" managers intrigued, I strongly recommend Making Six Sigma Last for any company that is considering adopting Six Sigma or that wants to sustain the short-term successes it has achieved thus far. Eugene J. Nuccio, Ph.D. S4-Six Sigma Strategic Solutions
Rating:
Summary: If you like the psychology of business, read this book
Review: Mr. Eckes has done us all a great service by applying his background as a psychologist to Six Sigma implementation, both from a tactical and strategic perspective. It's easy to get caught in the technical trap of Six Sigma and overlook the people impact. In this book, George bypasses the technical side, assuming we are familiar with it, and gets into the people issues from every perspective I can think of. There isn't another book out there that deals with this issue as clearly and in as much depth as MAKING SIX SIGMA LAST. Great Book!!! Five Stars. Thanks, George!
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: No one knows Six Sigma, which seeks near perfect customer satisfaction, like George Eckes, the consultant who literally wrote the book on it (The Six Sigma Revolution: How General Electric and Others Turned Process into Profits). In his second book, Eckes emphasizes the importance of molding organizational culture to generate broad acceptance of a Six Sigma initiative, using illustrative examples from his workshops. He describes ways to overcome internal resistance to change, to sell the program's benefits and to get key people as well as the masses on board. If you are launching a Six Sigma program, Eckes provides many specific suggestions of strategies you can employ. But because much of Eckes' wisdom can be applied more generally to organizational change efforts, we [...] recommend this insightful book to any executive, whether or not Six Sigma is your strategy of choice.
Rating:
Summary: The Vital Six Sigma Link
Review: Organizations that are serious about being world-class will discover a vital component to their quality initiative in Making Six Sigma Last. George Eckes expertly and courageously tackles the difficult task of getting into the heads of those whose cooperation is essential to a successful quality effort. As he so aptly discussed in The Six Sigma Revolution, any change effort is sure to be met with resistance because of the "cultural" mind-set of those affected. In his simple but powerful formula, Q x A = E, George pinpoints the "A", or the cultural Acceptance of the tactical & strategic elements of Six Sigma as the oft neglected link between the Quality of these elements and the Excellence of the overall results. In Making Six Sigma Last, Eckes provides tools to help create an awareness of the need for a Six Sigma culture (based on threats and opportunities), identifies the four types of resistance and specific steps that can be taken to overcome them, explains how to mold the vision of a Six Sigma culture, and provides specific tools that can be used to measure the culture of your organization. George also offers experienced guidance in how to change job structures in your organization in ways that can compound your Six Sigma success. Your time will be well-invested reading Making Six Sigma Last. It is benchmark work. You will be challenged, informed, encouraged, entertained, and very possibly taken to the next level in your pursuit of never-ending improvement.
Rating:
Summary: The Vital Six Sigma Link
Review: Organizations that are serious about being world-class will discover a vital component to their quality initiative in Making Six Sigma Last. George Eckes expertly and courageously tackles the difficult task of getting into the heads of those whose cooperation is essential to a successful quality effort. As he so aptly discussed in The Six Sigma Revolution, any change effort is sure to be met with resistance because of the "cultural" mind-set of those affected. In his simple but powerful formula, Q x A = E, George pinpoints the "A", or the cultural Acceptance of the tactical & strategic elements of Six Sigma as the oft neglected link between the Quality of these elements and the Excellence of the overall results. In Making Six Sigma Last, Eckes provides tools to help create an awareness of the need for a Six Sigma culture (based on threats and opportunities), identifies the four types of resistance and specific steps that can be taken to overcome them, explains how to mold the vision of a Six Sigma culture, and provides specific tools that can be used to measure the culture of your organization. George also offers experienced guidance in how to change job structures in your organization in ways that can compound your Six Sigma success. Your time will be well-invested reading Making Six Sigma Last. It is benchmark work. You will be challenged, informed, encouraged, entertained, and very possibly taken to the next level in your pursuit of never-ending improvement.
Rating:
Summary: Making Six Sigma Last Is The Best Of Strategic Excellence!
Review: The new book: Making Six Sigma Last, by Mr. George Eckes, is the the most comprehensive and excellent road map to reach corporate cultural excellence. The previous book by Mr. Eckes: The Six Sigma Revolution, successfully teaches us the way to implement the tactical component of Six Sigma: process management excellence.
The current book is the only book to date that offers a complete process to achieve the key strategic component of Six Sigma: corporate cultural excellence. Mr. Eckes has again produced an enjoyable, very enlightening and important Six Sigma book that is easy to read and comprehend. It is perfect for corporate executives, managers, employees, consultants, quality practitioners, and students of best business practice. Thank you for the opportunity to express my high regard for the outstanding book: Making Six Sigma Last. Regards,
Marc St.James
November 24, 2001
Rating:
Summary: Starting is Much Easier Than Staying the Course: Here's How
Review: There are several outstanding books on the general subject of Six Sigma and Eckes has written two of the best. Previously in The Six Sigma Revolution, he examined major corporations such as Motorola and GE in which Six Sigma programs really did create revolutions which continue as I compose this review. These are properly acclaimed successes. Of course, little (if any) attention has as yet been devoted to those organizations which initiated and then later abandoned Six Sigma programs. The reasons for doing so vary, of course, but most can be classified within two categories of resistance to change: cultural and technical. As O'Toole brilliantly explains in Leading Change, it is a formidable task to overcome what he characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." In this volume, Eckes suggests all manner of strategies and tactics by which to overcome resistance and then sustain Six Sigma programs, once launched. Correctly, he stresses the importance to an organization of achieving a "balance" between its culture and its technology. Moreover, at a time when change is (literally) the only constant and occurring at an ever-increasing velocity, its is also a formidable challenge to maintain the proper balance of the two. For many years, I believed that most people fear change. I no longer believe that. Rather, I have become convinced that most people fear the unfamiliar. Hence the importance of constant and effective communication between and among everyone involved. Eckes suggests that this book will show his reader how to "Create the need for Six Sigma" but, in fact, the need probably exists already so there is a need to help everyone recognize that need and appreciate the importance of responding to it. Therefore, Eckes also shows his reader how to "Shape a vision of Six Sigma so that employees understand the desired results and new behaviors of a Six Sigma organization." Also, he shows the reader how to "Mobilize commitment to Six Sigma and overcome resistance" which is inevitable. Only then can any organization change its systems and structures "to support the new Six Sigma culture." Next: "Measure Six Sigma cultural acceptance" and "Develop Six Sigma leadership." All of these components are absolutely essential, difficult to integrate, and even more difficult to sustain in appropriate balance. In this volume, Eckes explains how and he does so with precision and eloquence. In recent years, I have become more involved in Six Sigma or process improvement programs which vary somewhat in terms of their design and scope but all of which encountered several of the "pitfalls" which Eckes discusses in Chapter 8: 1. Feeling obligated to achieve quick success 2. Clogging up agendas with competing distractions 3. Having unrealistic time frames 4. Ignoring previous quality efforts 5. Conducting poor Six Sigma cultural planning and follow-through 6. Delegating (i.e. dumping) cultural development or seeing it as a one-time event 7. Not having appropriate cultural goals or objectives 8. Not allowing for unexpected interruptions 9. Allowing false or cosmetic positive readings to suggest authentic cultural transformation has been achieved 10. Underestimating resource allocation Of course, whether or not involved with Six Sigma initiatives, any organization can experience some or even all of these "pitfalls." In this book, Eckes offers sound, street-smart advice on how to avoid them. Time and again, he places great emphasis on the importance of cultural values by which everyone involved in a Six Sigma can be guided and, when under duress, sustained. Herb Kelleher has this in mind whenever he explains what Southwest Airlines competitive advantage is: "Maintaining excellent customer service involves a process of getting people to understand the importance of it to them in their daily lives as well as in others'. We were a little concerned as we go bigger that maybe some of our early culture might be lost so we set up a culture committee whose only purpose is to keep the Southwest Airlines culture alive. Before people knew how to make fire, there was a fire watcher. Cave dwellers may have found a tree hit by lightning and brought fire back to the cave. Somebody had to make sure it kept going because if it went out, there would be serious problems. That cave dweller was the most important person in the tribe. I said to our culture committee, 'You are our fire watchers, who make sure the fire does not go out. I think you are the most important committee at Southwest Airlines.' I really do believe that to be the case." This is precisely what Eckes means by "culture" in this book. For everyone in any organization already embarked on a Six Sigma program or now considering one, this is a "must read."
Rating:
Summary: Best Book On How To: Create & Sustain a Six Sigma Culture
Review: Think about it. Seriously think about it. What was the downfall of your quality endeavor? Your performance improvement plan? Your Six Sigma initiative? Was the wrong strategy used or was it the wrong tactical approach? Mostly likely it was neither your strategy nor your tactical approach. The failure was most likely do to people. Most likely your people hadn't really bought in. Buy-in from your people is necessary for an initiative such as Six Sigma to be successful. The people in your organization create your organizations' culture. How do you get cultural buy-in? How can you sustain that buy-in? In the book Making Six Sigma Last, the author, George Eckes shows us how. Through heart-felt stories, humorous personal examples, and real business illustrations the author takes us through the process needed to create and sustain a culture that supports Six Sigma. First we learn about Q x A = E. This powerful formula shows us that: "Q" Quality, the technical and strategic elements of a Six Sigma initiative, times "A" Cultural Acceptance, of the technical and strategic elements of Six Sigma, determines "E" the success of the Six Sigma process. Then, the author addresses resistance. We are reminded that it's a natural process for people to resist change. Eckes describes four types of resistance and offers specific strategies for overcoming each. The next chapters show how to sell it and then manage it. Now it's time to ask did it work? Did you get the cultural buy-in you were attempting? How do you know? In Making Six Sigma Last, Eckes offers a model that is used to measure the cultural acceptance within the organization or as Eckes says, "how well Six Sigma has been baked into the organization". Five case studies are used to illustrate these concepts. Then through profiles of leadership, the author shares real business examples of what worked, what didn't and why. Finally we learn how to sustain the culture that will support Six Sigma initiatives with the chapter on pitfalls: 10 things to avoid. Making Six Sigma Last is an informative and easy read. It's effective and efficient, hallmarks of Six Sigma. The book leaves you inspired and hopeful that this stuff really can work. Don't start without it!
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