[A2A #22] Applying Principle of Six sigma to work and life
Alumni to Alumni Circle (A2A Circle) is a monthly catchup for RMIT and Australian alumni who are senior leaders in diverse industries. This is a high-profile networking night that is exclusive for entrepreneurs and talents from the managerial level. The A2A series has been hosted since 2020 and received a great deal of positive feedback from the participants. Joining A2A Circle brings them opportunities to take away new knowledge, build their network with top leaders and learn from each other’s business models and projects.
This week, we welcomed a group of 40 leaders discussing the topic of “𝘼𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙎𝙞𝙭 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙢𝙖 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚”, with the content recap as below:
“We are now living in a Society tha t is now more connected than ever, and it is common to feel like you are always “on the clock,” even when you are not. While many assumes that those who “have it all” are in complete control of every facet of their lives & careers; in fact, business leaders are amongst the top groups of people who are most prone to depressions or extreme stress levels, due in part to cultural factors as well as the unique pressures and challenges of leadership roles. In many cases, difficulties and challenges are brought to a new height when you are a working mom/dad with competing priorities.
Understanding that common ground, the A2A of March by host Ai Hien (Founder of Vbox Self-Storage) has brought to us the concept of “Six sigma approach” that is widely known amongst C-suites, yet now approached in various angles. The panel discussion welcomed the business leader’s perspective of Ms. Minh Giang, formerly a Committee Board member of Mekong Capital – a C-suite leader who has been inspiring many industries elites, while we also hear from Ms. Tu Anh, a Parent-Child Counselor, also a Psychoeducation practitioner, who relentlessly aspires to contribute her silent impacts to bring to the world a happier & healthier place for children to grow up, starting first from their parents.
Customer Focus – Use data – Improve continuously – Involve People – Be Thorough
Those are a few key principles of Six-Sigma that can be found easily in textbooks or just a quick search on Internet, that come along with multiple tools/frameworks & methods to business problem solving; focusing on the constant improvements by reducing defects of business aspects.
Coming to the discussion, we not only listened to Ms. Hien’s stories of her business consulting experience, applying her Six-Sigma Green Belt knowledge & practice into constantly improving her service qualities to clients; but also hearing from Ms. Minh Giang, a “subconscious practitioner” of 6-sigma, where we get to know more about the real stories of local giants/medium enterprises as her past company’s investees, living the highlighted principle of “Improve Continuously” via the notable case of the well-known Pizza4Ps – who consistently perfect their customer experience under the name of “Omotenashi” – Unconditional love to their customers, while persistently on-the-go to transform themselves to adapt with business turbulence.
While many of us found commonalities thinking back about those/our successful business stories and realized how most of us are “subconscious practitioner” of 6-sigma, we were all taken away by the perspective of 6-sigma in Parenting that was brought to the discussion by Ms Tu Anh – wherein “Using data” was an idea that everyone barely thought of before in observing their relationships with their children, analyzing the situations and how from that she partners and navigates parents to better and more fruitful parenting, thus, coming half way closer to the idea of “work-life balance”.
Though having said that, takeaways from the panel discussion might be translated into different angles to each of us coming to the event. Yet we as the Organizing team hope that we had brought to the community a cozy forum, where Alumni coming to us felt enriched by talking and hearing from each other, to feel embraced and connected, knowing that we are not alone in the battles of being a working mom/dad that with ever-competing priorities, though living in the world that sometimes might be overwhelmed with full of turbulence and uncertainties.