Principle of war #2 – Offensive

Offensive: Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative.

This is the principle of courage – willingness to move forward under conditions of uncertainty or danger with no guarantee of success. All great successes you’ve ever heard about were the result of offensive action. In Lean Six Sigma we live under the umbrella of continuous improvement, meaning we never stop improving.

Offensive principle naturally follows “Objective”, knowing the objective is required, but so is taking action to accomplish it. In business this can be the organization’s threshold for taking action and forcing change. This principle drives a proactive approach to problem solving and process improvement. You as the process person in the organization should be constantly driving more improvements, more Kaizen events, and more training. Be relentless in your pursuit of TIM WOODS – he doesn’t rest and neither can we.

A couple of common proactive tools we use are the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis (SWOT). Remember, as a Green or Black Belt you are the organization’s engine pushing it toward excellence.

Once you get going, keep going.