Revisiting the “Six Roles” Model … five years on
The Six Roles of an Internal Continuous Improvement Organization
The Six Roles of a(n) … model has always been a tricky one to position, at least when it comes to what group or function to append to the ellipsis.
When I first wrote about this framework in 2017 I titled it The Six Roles of an Internal Continuous Improvement Organization. It spoke to a challenge many of my clients were experiencing at the time as they built their capabilities to define, design and deliver change programs that leveraged structured problem solving techniques (e.g., Lean Six Sigma, Toyota’s A3 Problem Solving method, Total Quality Management, etc.) and internal resources.
Very quickly, however, the Six Roles framework started to extend beyond continuous improvement to describe organizations in adjacent fields such as engineering services, innovation, and business transformation. This is in large part due to these types of organizations sharing the characteristic of being knowledge-based services delivered by “symbolic analysts” on a project-by-project (or “problem-by-problem”) basis.
Most recently, my Every Little Model podcast co-host, Tricia, and I explored the six roles in the context of a change agency.
While the roles will certainly be customized and fine tuned to apply to many knowledge-based service organizations, the core messages of the model, by and large, remain the same:
- Find the role(s) that will create the most value with (and for) the organization as a whole
- Make sure the roles align with customer(s) expectations
- Design and “stand up” the services organization to deliver via those roles
Let’s have a quick refresher of the Six Roles model.
Knowledge-based service organizations perform roles based primarily around their access to intellectual capital or their ability to provide talented resources who can apply it (typically in person and “on the ground” with relevant stakeholders) — or some combination of the two. This is represented by the horizontal knowing-doing axis.
Additionally, there are also roles that might be considered more passive (i.e., being ready to respond to requests for their support) as well as ones that are more (pro)active, seeking to engage customers in anticipating, defining and addressing their needs. This is represented by the vertical axis.
Within this framework are the six roles, each of which completes the following phrase:
“As a provider of this knowledge-based service, we offer our customers …”:
Tools, Frameworks & Knowledge Sharing
Value Proposition:
“We offer a common and consistent approach to (continuous improvement, innovation, change, transformation, etc.), one that is scalable and repeatable across the organization. We facilitate the sharing of knowledge and practices amongst change agents in the business in order to promote a culture of continuous improvement.”
Oversight & Intelligence
Value Proposition:
“We provide organization-wide visibility of the current portfolio of (continuous improvement, innovation, change, transformation, etc.) efforts. We help track progress and value from these efforts in order to help decision makers allocate resources and recognize success.”
Training, Coaching & Facilitation
Value Proposition:
“We provide training, coaching and facilitation support to individuals and teams so that they are better equipped to drive their (continuous improvement, innovation, change, transformation, etc.) efforts for themselves.”
Subject Matter Expertise
Value Proposition:
“We can facilitate access to talented individuals and teams for customers who require specific content knowledge and/or capabilities relevant to their (continuous improvement, innovation, change, transformation, etc.) programs.”
Advisory & Brokerage Services
Value Proposition:
“We partner with business leaders to understand their organization’s vision, objectives and improvement needs in order to help them define a course of action. We work with leaders to identify and access the best resources (internal or external) with which to work.”
Implementation Resources
Value Proposition:
“We will not only help provide ‘boots on the ground’ support for our customers’ (continuous improvement, innovation, change, transformation, etc.) efforts, but we’ll also stay there until the work can be sustained by the operation.”
We like things to work the way we expect them to.
Service organizations always run the risk of being seen as a “Norman Door” — something that, when a user reaches for it, doesn’t work as expected and causes confusion. When a customer is looking for implementation resources but all that is on offer is training, coaching and facilitation, there is a mismatch.
The Six Roles framework helps organizational leaders determine the most impactful role(s) that their internal services group can perform and to ensure that those roles are aligned to the needs and expectations of the customers of those services.
