Commitment - The Chicken and the Pig

There is a story about commitment that I tell in my training classes. I'm not sure where it came from originally, but it is good.

A farmer decides to have breakfast. He decides he is going to have scrambled eggs and bacon. The chicken is involved in the process, but the pig is committed.

Developing commitment to your six sigma project or lean initiative is difficult. Too often everyone is with you until the real work starts. Then you find out they are involved rather than committed.

That is one of the big reasons we make sure to include the project champions and sponsors in our training. Six Sigma projects and Lean deployments have the biggest impact when everyone from the executives to the green belts at your company are committed, and it sure is easier to have committed green belts when the V.P. or Plant Manager is leading the way.