During Six Sigma deployments, plans need to be in place to provide every employee in the organization with a basic understanding of Six Sigma and how it will affect them (Figure 11.1). Why do we feel so strongly that organizations deploying Six Sigma initiatives should conduct awareness training for all employees, even those not assigned to a project team? Studies show that 68 percent of customers who quit using a business's products and services did so because of poor "employee attitudes." It seems logical that every organization should have multiple programs, with measurements, to ensure that "employee attitudes and behaviors" are as good as they can be. The employee attitudes in an organization can often be the one thing that dominates the success or failure of the business results. When employee attitudes are good, they become a foundation for appropriate employee behaviors, goal accomplishments, process improvement, and desired business results. Typically, a good attitude starts at the top of the organization and is reflected all the way down to the newest or lowest employee job function. It is difficult to build a successful organization on a poor foundation.

Figure 11.1: Awareness.

Good attitudes that are modeled and demonstrated at the top management levels are one of the critical parts of a good organizational foundation. When an employee's attitude is bad, it tends to conflict with and blot out everything else. Desired behaviors can often become obscured, goal achievement is likely to be forgotten, process improvement is ignored, and good results...