DETERMINING YOUR MARKET WORTH

The unemployment rate continues to climb and although engineering jobs are cropping up here and there, many applicants are applying for one job.  Companies are cost cutting and in most cases trading experience for lower salaries.  It would be realistic to acknowledge that the salary you made previously or currently should be adjusted - the fair market value of your experience should be determined.  Several ways to determine your fair market value include: Networking with peers, Searching out subject matter articles, online income calculators for careers, talking with recruiters.

Marketing Your Operations Excellence Talent

Many company's these days are cutting back on many expenses.  Talented people are out of work and most do not have the means to start venturing down the road of individual consulting.  Others choose not to do it because perhaps they are not good communicators.  I have decided to take a parallel path approach - much like the strategy adopted by many project managers who have an important deadline to meet with an ongoing issue that could spell trouble for the outcome of the project.

How am I marketing myself?  The first step I've taken is to join networking groups and I've put myself in situations where I can start communicating with people.  I've joined a popular fitness club, strike up casual conversation with other parents at my two sons' sports events, and I've purchased a mini laptop so that I can get work on my website done away from home at the local coffee shop.  Internet social networking sites such as facebook, linked-in, and twitter are also great ways to get the word out - every time I update my status I provide a link to my websites.

Currently my new endeavor is to start giving presentations to people at my networking group meetings as often as I can.  The next step after that is to participate in internet advertising for the budding entrepreneur such as Google Adwords and Facebooks Ads component.

Welll that's just a taste of what I'm up to.  I'm off to my son's football game now.

Why are businesses shying away from six sigma?

In today's economy and the desire to turn things around quickly, corporations are cutting staff to make an immediate impact on the bottom line.  The crop of new six sigma projects has become stagnant - perhaps major cost savings have been realized in the manufacturing process.  Applying DFSS to your product development management cycle has stifled the bowl of fresh new "leap frog" type ideas.  Voice of the customer efforts along with QFD (quality function deployment) hav only provided a window to what the customer wants today or what has been desired in the past.  There is no true insight to blue ocean type innovations.  The stagma of six sigma implementation also lingers.  Let's face it - bad news stays in our mind longer than good news.  The negative labels towards six sigma may stem from the following:

• Poor execution
• Too arduous an endeavor
• Boring
• Requires too much data
• Belief that one size does not fit all
• Resistance to a structured methodology
• Too many meetings
• High cost to implement
• So many issues that a starting point is not known

What if we figured out a way to take both a blue ocean approach and a six sigma approach in order to improve our chances of successful implementation and buy-in from the masses?

Implementing Business Excellence and Fair Process

Once you have set out in the direction of a new business, it is important to discuss your idea with the influential people of the company.  Be sure to employ the "fair process" doctrine of including those who will have to live with the change in corporate direction daily.
When people have an emotional attachment to the change, its chances of long term success are increased.  Today, the emphasis is placed on cross-functional teams.  It is important however that the representatives on the cross-functional teams go back to their peers and discuss the change of direction.  It is important that the representative listen to their peers and provide feedback to the cross-functional team.
Frequent business announcements and a means to obtain feedback from employees is also helpful in ensuring that everyone has a sense of contribution and involvement.