Human-Centered Lean Six Sigma

Grace L. Duffy provides services in organizational and process improvement, leadership, quality, customer service, and teamwork. She designs and implements effective systems for business and management success. She is the author of The Quality Improvement Handbook, 1st and 2nd editions and Mandarin translation, The Executive Guide to Improvement and Change, Executive Focus: Your Life and Career, The Public Health Quality Improvement Handbook, QFD, and Lean Six Sigma for Public Health, Modular kaizen: Dealing with Disruption, Tools, and Applications for Starting and Sustaining Healthy Teams, The Encyclopedia of Quality Tools, The Quality Improvement Pocket Guide, Modular Kaizen: Continuous and Breakthrough Improvement, The Certified Quality Improvement Associate Handbook editions 3 and 4, The ASQ Quality Improvement Pocket Guide, the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Yellow Belt Study Guide 1st and 2nd editions, Validating a Best Practice A Tool for Improvement and Benchmarking, and the American National Standards Institute Technical Report on the ASQ U. S. Healthcare Quality Management System.Ms. Duffy has over 45 years of experience in successful business and process management in corporate, government, education, healthcare, not-for-profit, and small business. She is a recognized specialist in leadership and executive performance. Grace uses her experience as President, CEO, and senior manager to assist organizations and individuals in performance excellence. She is a frequently requested keynote and conference speaker on organizational and professional performance. She is an active coach and mentor to senior leaders in large corporations as well as entrepreneurs, focusing on the strategic alignment of individual skills to organizational outcomes.Grace holds an MBA from Georgia State University and a Bachelor’s in Archaeology and Anthropology from Brigham Young University. She is an American Society for Quality (ASQ) Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence, Certified Quality Improvement Associate, and Certified Quality Auditor. Grace is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Manager of Process Improvement. She is a member of the ISO TC 304 WG 5 Hospital Quality Management Systems and Chair of the ASQ Healthcare Quality and Improvement Committee which published the U. S. Healthcare Quality Management System model and subsequent 4 monograph series. Grace is a member of the Association of Talent Development, the International Society for Performance Improvement, and the American Society for Quality. She is an ASQ Fellow and Past Vice President within the ASQ Office of the President, 2014 recipient of the ASQ Distinguished Service Medal, Quality Magazine’s 2014 Quality Person of the Year, and the Milflora M. Gatchalian Medal for International Women of Quality from the Asia Pacific Quality Organization in 2016.Dr. Hung Le enjoys solving complex organizational problems with the ultimate goal of improving enterprise efficiency and effectiveness. He joined legacy Northrop Grumman Mission Systems (NGMS) in 2002 as a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, where he helped stand up the Six Sigma Program and provided Master Black Belt support, and deployed Six Sigma at 2 major Divisions. Over the years, Dr. Le has facilitated numerous Affordability/Lean Workshops and Kaizen Events for new captures and programs to create and deliver more value for customers, as well as directing and mentoring Black Belts on process improvement projects, resulting in improved program performance and internal efficiencies for the various functional areas, including Contracts & Sub-Contracts, HR, Business Development, and Business Management.Most recently, Dr. Le served as the Mission Assurance Lead for the Civil & Health Business Unit in the Defense Systems Sector, where he directed and provided mission assurance support to the Business Unit. This includes all quality management-related activities to drive program performance and business acquisition awards. Before his retirement from Northrop Grumman, he ran the Program Management Office and led the Digital Transformation Initiative for the Corporate Functions and other Services Lines within the Enterprise Services Sector. Prior to joining Northrop Grumman, Dr. Le held leadership positions with Deloitte & Touche, GE, KPMG Consulting, Fannie Mae, and IBM, and has consulted for Fortune 100 companies in a wide range of industries, including high-tech, banking, and healthcare.Hung Le holds a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia and the University of Maryland, respectively, a Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics from George Mason University, and a Wharton MBA in Finance and Management. Dr. Le has served as Adjunct Professor in Operations Research and Statistics at George Mason University and has authored and/or presented over 35 technical papers, primarily in the areas of statistical signal processing, modeling and simulation, and quality and change management.

• 1 People & Culture 2 Organizational Alignment 3 Assessment: How do you know where you are? 4 Prioritization 5 Lean Six Sigma Problem Solving Framework 6 Extreme Customer Focus: VoC (=Y) 7 Process Thinking 8 Understanding Data 9 Understanding Variation 10 The Basic Quality Toolbox 11 Human-Centered Organization - A Mindful Culture of Excellence 12 Sustainability Conclusion Index

Clear, straightforward, lucid, helpful. Highly recommended. You and your organization will be better off for it. Authors Hung Le and Grace Duffy present a practical approach for achieving operational excellence based on culture first, process and tools second. The authors outline how tools support processes that work systematically to accomplish the organization's strategic goals, but everything begins with a healthy culture and mindset.-- Christopher Welker, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Northrop Grumman Space SystemsFinally, an outstanding book that introduces Lean Six Sigma in a manner that will be appealing to everyone from front-line supervisors to CEO. Additionally, this will be an excellent textbook for college business students. The authors skillfully focus on the people side of Lean Six Sigma, introducing tools in the book’s later chapters. Very well organized with easy-to-understand discussion and captivating stories, it covers fundamentals that everyone needs to know before they get immersed in the details, acronyms, and jargon of Lean Six Sigma.-- Colonel Robert R. (Bob) Sarratt, U.S. Army, Retired; President, Sarratt Acquisition Management Inc.If you interact with people at all, this book is a must to help you develop your personal plan of intentional design and approach with people. I found clear and articulate examples laid out that anyone can use to apply these techniques in any venue and at any level of an organization. Grace Duffy’s and Hung Le’s outtakes throughout the book were enlightening and provided relevant examples of our current workplace. The bottom line is that I learned a LOT! I wrote a lot of notes and already have ideas and plans as to how I will adapt and incorporate these learnings into my current work and life processes. I hope you will get equal enjoyment and reap the same benefits!-- Jd Marhevko, Vice President, Quality ZF Group ADAS & ElectronicsThis book provides powerful and practical advice on taking an organization to the next level. It explains how shifting behaviors of the entire team, including management, will unlock the potential of the organization while establishing a positive culture. A must-read for anyone wanting to improve performance.-- Patricia Gillis, Vice President Quality, Aerospace & Defense Industry