Lean & Six Sigma Talent Trends

Lean Talent Demand Finally Edges Out Six Sigma

Fourth annual study by Lean & Six Sigma executive recruiting and search firm The Avery Point Group finds Lean talent demand surpassing Six Sigma while companies continue to leverage both methodologies in a down economy.

After years of steady gains, Lean has finally achieved a slight edge over Six Sigma as the more desired skill set. According to an annual study by The Avery Point Group, a leading national executive recruiting firm, the accelerating demand for Lean talent is an indicator that companies are increasingly looking to Lean as a means to help them combat the current economic headwinds they are facing.

"As an executive recruiting firm, we have a unique vantage point from which to observe the latest trends taking place in industry," says Tim Noble, managing principal of The Avery Point Group. "Trends in industry are often telegraphed into candidate requirements in job postings, and they can serve as a window into the latest corporate initiatives. Our annual study continues to offer useful insight into the latest trends taking place in the area of corporate continuous improvement."

Based on its fourth annual study of Internet job postings, The Avery Point Group found that Six Sigma may no longer hold its once dominant position in the world of corporate continuous improvement initiatives, as was found in its three previous annual studies. For the first time, the study showed that demand for Lean talent has grown to eclipse and slightly exceed that of Six Sigma. The growth in interest in Lean talent has not, however, come at the expense of Six Sigma; rather, this year’s study continues to confirm an overall increasing demand for continuous improvement talent, with Lean driving most of the recent talent demand growth.

The study also found, for those companies seeking Six Sigma or Lean talent, fully 50 percent are looking for practitioners to have both skill sets. Further, the study indicated that job postings are making increasing demands on candidates, requiring them to possess a much deeper knowledge and experience skill set with regard to their Lean backgrounds versus prior years.

"No longer is it acceptable for candidates to claim to have a Lean Sigma or Lean Six Sigma background," says Noble. "Companies want to see candidates that have the hardcore Lean experience gained in a true Lean transformation setting, and that can’t be gained from an environment where Lean is an afterthought or a lesser appendage to an existing Six Sigma program.”

Despite the rising prominence of Lean as the potentially new dominant continuous improvement methodology, Six Sigma is by no means past its prime, as evidenced by its continued talent demand resilience. It, however, means that companies, in the face of strong economic headwinds, are seriously rethinking the balance these two methodologies have with one another in their overall continuous improvement initiatives.

“This is certainly a major center of gravity shift from our first study in 2005 where Six Sigma talent demand outpaced Lean by more than 50 percent,” concludes Noble. “However, in the end, the real winner is any company that successfully engages in some form of continuous improvement, regardless of whether it is Lean, Six Sigma, or some other well-executed combination of both.”

Avery Point Group:  Retained & Contingent Executive Search for Lean & Six Sigma Talent

The Avery Point Group is a global executive recruiting and search firm that assists companies in identifying, assessing and recruiting mid-level management to senior executive Lean & Six Sigma talent. Our firm leverages its principals’ decades of executive Lean & Six Sigma operations and staffing experience to provide the highest quality executive search services.

Visit our main website:  AveryPointGroup.com 

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Executive Search Brochure (PDF)

Learn more about our process:     LeanSigmaSearch.com

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How is Our Lean & Six Sigma Executive Search and Recruiting Firm Different?

With our team’s significant Six Sigma and Lean executive experience, we are uniquely qualified to help our clients find, assess and recruit the right continuous improvement and operational excellence talent. Our key principals are Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Lean trained by globally recognized industry leading Fortune 500 companies and have real-world executive experience leading their application in manufacturing, distribution and service-based industries. Our key principals have managed global operations and led key Lean & Six Sigma initiatives in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America and throughout Asia.

Our principals, with their global perspective, understand what it takes to find, assess and recruit talent for companies to succeed in today’s global economy. Unlike other Lean & Six Sigma executive recruiters and search firms, we truly speak the language of our clients and candidates.

How Critical is the Right Continuous Improvement Talent?   

According to a leading business magazine study, only 2% of plants have reached world-class manufacturing performance, with an additional 23% making significant progress toward this enviable status. The common theme found among these superior operations was a fully implemented and effective continuous improvement methodology.

Of the plants that have made little or no progress toward world-class performance, 53% reported having some level of continuous improvement effort already in place. The study very pointedly suggests that these improvement efforts might be suffering from half-hearted and unfocused efforts or worse yet, disinterested or incompetent leadership.

The overall findings of this study point to the fact that most operations could dramatically improve their performance by having the right leadership talent in place. Our focus is to help our clients find the right talent to maximize their continuous improvement / operational excellence efforts and help them achieve world-class performance.