Corporate officers must motivate the workforce around the sense of urgency and get commitment to their vision of change.

Four reasons commonly cause Lean Six Sigma deployments to fail, and all of them concern senior management conduct.

1. The first reason, cited in 87% of failures, is the failure to blend lean Six Sigma into "business as usual:" although General Management may buy into the vision, if it fails to manage its Lean-Six-Sigma project programme using annual corporate Operations Plans and procedures, it will fail.
2. The second reason given in 79% of failures results from lack of workforce buy-in to the need for change: this happens when General Management has failed to communicate the reason for change and its urgency.
3. The third reason is the impression within the workforce of a lack of commitment of key members of the CEO’s team to Lean Six Sigma during the critical early stages of deployment.
4. The fourth reason is allowing the opposition to win; resistance is always very strong when deploying change: 80% of employees perceive it as a threat and not as an opportunity: management must identify the poles of resistance and convince these actors that they endanger the future, and possibly, the survival, of the organisation.

General Management training tests the top team's motivation; ensures a common vision; develops a shared sense of urgency; gets agreement on a common message; helps to identify and to remove poles of resistance, and to plan communications designed to arouse workforce enthusiasm. The seminar lasts two days and is generally held as a residential weekend for the General Management team with the CEO.