Six Sigma Team

"In recognition of their extraordinary efforts, Kalandra, Lorenzo and Jennifer were presented with the Outstanding Service Award at Macy's Logistics and Operation's annual conference. In order to be considered for the annual award, they had to win a quarterly Outstanding Service Award, which they did. For the quarterly award, they each received $1,000 and recognition through the Intranet and internal magazine. For the annual award, they shared in $5,000 and received a framed certificate and letter from the Chairman."

Honored as a team with the Outstanding Service Award for their contribution to the Macy's Logistics and Operations support division, Kalandra, Lorenzo and Jennifer were given a challenge - and rose to the occasion. Here's their story (as told by Beth - VP, Executive Recruitment, Development and Diversity).

"It was sometime in August when our Chairman decided that he wanted every executive in our division to be trained in Six Sigma (a statistical methodology for looking at how we manage our processes). That totaled to over 400 "trainees," and he wanted them trained by the end of the year.

"At the time, we had been working with a consultant on the Six Sigma program. So we asked Kalandra, Lorenzo and Jennifer (three training managers) to attend one four-day training session. The next time the course was given, they started to facilitate sections of the material. And in a very short period of time, they became familiar enough to facilitate the training on their own, letting us be independent of the expense of consultants.

"Learning Six Sigma in a matter of days was a huge task. After all, we're not talking the standard four days worth of training. This is statistical and technical material that they really needed to dig into and learn. And these Macy's Logistics and Operations managers did so in such short order. In fact, they became so good at facilitating the material that within a couple weeks they were getting scores at the end of the session that were in line with the consultants.

"They learned and trained Six Sigma so well and so professionally that not only did we not miss a beat, but Kalandra, Lorenzo and Jennifer got great marks from the participants in the class - and we were able to meet the goal of training every executive in Macy's Logistics and Operations. We also trained approximately 50 executives from other Macy's, Inc. divisions and from some of our vendors and suppliers.

"I think they are very proud of having accomplished what they did. When I initially told them what they were going to do, they all just looked at me basically like I was crazy. So I told them, we'll do this project and we'll do it as quickly as we can. But you'll get the support you need from us, and if you don't feel that we're ready to let the consultants go - then we won't. Just understand our goal is to do this as quickly as possible. And they just really embraced it and ran with it. They are so highly regarded in the organization that it was kind of a natural for them to the win the Outstanding Service Award.

"I think the people in the Six Sigma organization were also very impressed with how well they did. These three Macy's Logistics and Operations trainers quickly took the role of experts on Six Sigma in a company that was very new to this. So they had to learn the material in order to teach it. People would ask them very specific questions about Six Sigma, and they really became the experts on it. I think for them that should be very flattering.

"Kalandra, Lorenzo and Jennifer are three very different people, but I think the one common thread between the three of them is they all have a passion for learning and for education. Teaching people things, making sure it's understood, and making an organization better by growing the people is a passion that they all share. Outside of the special Six Sigma assignment, they primarily do leadership development training. And while I'm sure they were very concerned about their ability to learn all of the Six Sigma information and to teach it at a level where the trainees wouldn't suffer, I think their common enthusiasm for learning is what made this team so effective at this particular task."

In recognition of their extraordinary efforts, Kalandra, Lorenzo and Jennifer were presented with the Outstanding Service Award at Macy's Logistics and Operation's annual conference. In order to be considered for the annual award, they had to win a quarterly Outstanding Service Award, which they did. For the quarterly award, they each received $1,000 and recognition through the Intranet and internal magazine. For the annual award, they shared in $5,000 and received a framed certificate and letter from the Chairman.