Six Sigma is a powerful tool for effecting change within an organization. Since its development in the late 1980s, it’s helped companies dramatically improve business processes, increase customer satisfaction to new levels and save hundreds of millions of dollars. To say it has the ability to transform a company is certainly not an exaggeration.

Yet, for some companies, Six Sigma hasn’t lived up to its reputation. This appears to be a source of wonderment to those who fail to realize that embarking on Six Sigma implementation is more than signing on to a good idea. Six Sigma success takes realistic goals, a strong leadership team and, above all, an empowered workforce.

Recently, while visiting a client site, I was involved in a round table discussion with Six Sigma Master Black Belts. As I listened to the group discussing their frustrations with the early stages of their Six Sigma launch, one common complaint became apparent. They weren’t working together on project improvement. Regardless of if they were senior management, a lean champion or an hourly worker, there seemed to be no sense of team.

A consultant in the group said something that shocked me and has stuck with me ever since. He said, “People are expected to get along with each other. They are expected to act profession ally. If they resist, then you need to eliminate them and find new participants.”

When I review the reasons client companies aren’t experiencing improvement quickly enough, one of the top hurdles is people not being fully engaged and committed. The fundamental message here is simple, yet not univers ally understood. No technique, tool or methodology alone can improve a process or system. It takes people—empowered people—to drive Six Sigma changes.

The first step in empowering people is to realize that Six Sigma implementation and the resulting changes in a company’s infrastructure will affect the way people perform their jobs. Very often, companies don’t realize the impact this change has on its workforce. As a result, minimal success is achieved and employers hear excuses such as, “Not invented here,” and, “We already tried that.” There is a resistance to change because the key issue of “What’s in it for me?” isn’t being addressed.

There’s a lot of talk about competition, job security and the old “If we don’t do this we will close,” scare tactic. But to ensure Six Sigma success, people need to feel involved and know they are key contributors to the big picture. They must feel as if they have ownership in the goal—accountability and satisfaction of improving their own world in order to help the company succeed. “If I do that I will be rewarded both in job satisfaction as well as money” isn’t a bad expectation, and it’s one that needs to be addressed.

Companies also need to improve and focus on their enabling processes, such as information technology, finance, marketing and human resources, as well as other core processes. Doing so will accelerate the over all improvement effort.

Human resources plays a huge role in how companies manage change. Companies may claim that their employees are their most valuable assets, yet when they ask employees to change in order to improve systems and processes, they often forget that they have to help and develop them. Employees must have the opportunity to “unchange before they change.” To make this happen, companies must focus their attention on training and on rewards. This is where the HR involvement is critical to the success of any Six Sigma initiative.

To ensure success with Six Sigma, more and more companies are integrating lean systems thinking and launching Six Sigma methodologies to get results in cycle time, quality and cost. The more I’m involved with the integration of both methodologies, the more I’m convinced that any company can get employee commitment more readily and achieve results faster when it properly engages and empowers the workforce in achieving both short- and long-term success. After all, people are key in the improvement process. They—and only they—will drive success.