My Story: Part Three
Steve Maloney

Parts one and two of my story focused on the personal situations that have helped shape who I am today. I hope sharing my own challenges has encouraged you to keep moving forward despite any setbacks that you may face.

Over time, I’ve come to realize that my capacity to help others is founded on who I once was and what I’ve gone through. Those experiences allow me to connect on a deeper level, especially with those navigating similar challenges. If you’re going through a difficult time — whether it’s family, health, job, or financial please know that you don’t have to go through it alone. I would welcome the opportunity to connect and support you, and if I’m not the right fit, I may be able to point you toward someone who is.

That realization didn’t just influence how I show up for others, but it also shaped the direction of my career. When I started reflecting on the professional experiences that have helped define my “why,” one word kept coming to mind: change.

I remember it like it was yesterday — sitting across the desk from my GM, Jim Tooley, someone who was a mentor of mine early in my career. He shared that I’d been selected to participate in the Bombardier Six Sigma program and would receive Six Sigma Black Belt training. It was a pivotal moment. This opportunity would move me out of my Environmental Engineering and Compliance role and into a Six Sigma project leadership and management position — setting the foundation for my career in continuous improvement.

As I stepped into this opportunity, I could see how my prior experience had prepared me — but I also knew this would push me in new ways.

I supported our facility’s pursuit of ISO 14001 certification and gained valuable exposure to the management team as the representative for our environmental management system. That experience helped build their confidence in my ability to achieve Black Belt certification. While I was incredibly grateful for their belief in me, I wasn’t entirely confident in myself at the time.

I had the technical foundation from my environmental engineering degree, but this opportunity would challenge me at a new level in terms of project leadership and team building. I was comfortable in my role, and stepping into something new without knowing the outcome felt like a real stretch. There was a lot of uncertainty, from whether I would achieve certification to what role might follow.

For those of you who don’t know, Dave Freund and I are facilitators for the Maxwell DISC program. The four primary behavioral styles are Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Compliance. Well, I score high on Steadiness, which means I naturally value consistency and stability. It also means that change doesn’t always come easily to me!

I’m glad I was able to overcome this tendency. Instead of staying where I was comfortable, I chose to move forward. Six Sigma was a relatively new program to the industry at the time, and it paved an incredible path for career growth. A big lesson for me throughout all of this was to embrace change and go for it!

I went through the Black Belt program over 5 months and received training and coaching from Master Black Belts from General Electric who oversaw implementation at Bombardier. I had the chance to travel to Montreal for the training, expand my network, and learn from experienced leaders. Their guidance was invaluable, and I completed my inventory management project to earn my certification.

The decision to embrace the change, rather than avoid it, quickly began to pay off.

That experience became the foundation for a promotion to Continuous Improvement Manager, along with future opportunities in similar roles at other organizations. It also laid the groundwork for my training career, where I learned how to effectively teach and guide others in continuous improvement practices.

I still have a passion for delivering CI training for our members. I place a large emphasis on being a “change agent” and being willing to shift. Because of that journey, I developed our Lean-Six Sigma Yellow Belt class over 15 years ago and continue to deliver it today.

Wow, what if I had resisted the change?

Please reach out at [email protected] if you have any comments or can relate to this part of my story. Stay tuned for part four of my story as we dive deeper into the changes helping me to develop as a leader.