How to Choose a Six Sigma Black Belt Project

Selecting the most appropriate Six Sigma Black Belt project is the most common problem faced by students who enroll themselves in a Six Sigma training course. The project is necessary as it helps students learn the practical aspects of Six Sigma implementation programs. The project is conducted either before the commencement of the training program or during the first week.

Identifying A Problem

Before starting a project, students first need to identify a problem, similar to real life implementation problems faced by business organizations. The problem that is identified and its possible solutions form the base of the project. For ensuring the successful completion of the project, students need to select a problem about which they have a basic level of understanding. Selecting a complex problem based on a case study published in a management journal is not recommended, as the project requires students to practically solve a given problem.

The information given in the management journal will only help students in preparing the project report and not in evolving practical solutions to the problem, which students will have to do on their own. The main reason why use of case studies are not recommended is that the resources that might have been used in solving the real life problem may not be the same as provided by the organization where students are receiving their training. Training instructors also encourage students to opt for a project that is relevant to their domain or qualifications.

Select Manageable Projects

Every Six Sigma Black Belt project needs to have a defined objective. Many students make the mistake of opting for a project having multiple objectives, which is often not achievable within the stipulated timeframe. Even after giving it their best shot, most of these students are often unable to make progress in their quality improvement projects. The only option left for these students is to either reduce the scope of their project objectives or opt for a completely new project, which will mean more hard work and time. In most cases, these students opt for the first alternative in order to allot adequate time to theoretical training as well.

No doubt, there are students who have completed even the most complex projects, but going by statistics, the number of failed attempts is a lot higher than the number of successful attempts. Students who are not sure of their abilities should not try to achieve everything at the first go. Instead, they should try to concentrate more on learning the basics involved in Six Sigma programs. There will be plenty of time in their professional career for solving the most complex of Six Sigma implementation problems in an organization.

During the course of the project, the primary objective of students should be to develop insights, which will help them a lot when they become true professional after the completion of the training program. Concentrating their efforts just on achieving the objectives may not help them, as by doing so, they are most likely to miss the basics of Six Sigma. The scope of objectives in a Six Sigma Black Belt project does not matter as long as students are able to develop a thorough understanding of their individual projects and are able to assess the impact it will have on the quality of the outcome.

By Tony Jacowski
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/how-to-choose-a-six-sigma-black-belt-project-71313.html

Selecting The Right Black Belt

If businesses ignore this and select a Black Belt without evaluating their skills, experience, and aptitude, it's highly unlike that they will be able to do proper justice to the implementations, let alone derive any real-time benefits from the implementations.

So, what exactly can businesses do to select the right Black Belt? Well, they just need to follow the standard evaluation and selection process as described in the following paragraphs.

Evaluating Behavioral Traits

Since Six Sigma implementations are quite complex and require a lot more than just the knowledge of Six Sigma concepts, tools, techniques and methodologies, businesses need to concentrate more on evaluating the behavioral traits of Black Belt candidates. While doing so, businesses need to consider all the various behavioral issues such as problem solving abilities, ability to generate new ideas, self-motivation, and ability to overcome barriers.

These are some of the special qualities that define the basic characteristics of the right Black Belt. Only those candidates, who prove their mettle in these areas, should be hired to carry out the Six Sigma implementations.

Evaluating Leadership and Communication Skills

Since Black Belts are required to provide continuous support and guidance to implementation team members and since they are also required to act as the main communication link between the team and top management, businesses need to select only those candidates who are proficient in these matters.

However, since making assessments of such complex skills cannot be done properly in a single session, candidates should be put through multiple evaluation sessions and judged accordingly. This will help in eliminating candidates who might just be having a lucky day and selecting the really deserving candidates whose overall performance is almost always better than the rest.

Evaluating Domain Experience

Since no two Six Sigma implementation projects are exactly the same, businesses need to be quite specific while evaluating domain experience of the Black Belt candidates. Preference should be given to candidates who might have implementation experience in the same domain as the business might currently be in.

If businesses really want to reduce implementation risks, they should never make the mistake of choosing candidates who might only have years of experience to brag about.

Evaluating Past Performance

Although not mandatory, businesses need to give preference to Black Belts who have successfully completed Six Sigma implementations in their careers. However, since there are often just too many variables that determine the success of Six Sigma implementation projects, businesses should not make this the sole criterion for selection. In effect, past performance should be given the same treatment as other factors described above.

Businesses that sincerely follow the evaluation and selection process described above, will have no problems whatsoever in selecting the right Black Belt. This would help because ensuring the success of Six Sigma implementation projects will then no longer be an issue for these businesses.

Power By Tony Jacowski

Certified Six Sigma Black Belt

A new job has emerged in recent years, the title of which more resembles a karate instructor than a business professional. It is called the Six Sigma Black Belt.

After years of use by major corporations, six sigma is being utilized by small and mid-size corporations. This has led to the proliferation of six sigma training of many types and depths.

There is training for six sigma green belts, yellow belts, black belts, and master black belts. Throw in the word lean and you have four more titles, such as Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

The karate lingo signifies the depth of training and skill. The green belt has some understanding of statistical tools and does a lot of the measurement and data collection for six sigma projects. The black belt is a mentor and coach to the green belt, utilizing their time for higher level and more complex analysis and working on the soft side such as influencing and driving change in the workplace.

The Master Black Belt coaches and trains other black belts. The Master Black Belt often helps guide the organization to develop the correct human resources and provides training for Six Sigma Black Belts.

The most common belt is the Six Sigma Black Belt, which has become known as the credentials necessary to lead six sigma projects.

Six sigma has been utilized as a business improvement tool for over two decades. However, it was primarily utilized at very few major corporations company wide, such as Motorola and GE.

As with most new business methods and approaches, six sigma has had growing pains. Some companies report huge successes, while others have abandoned the initiative entirely.

There are many reasons both for the successes and failures. The reason for either almost always boils down to management. If management has little commitment and only a vague understanding of six sigma, then chances are it will fail.

Another major problem is that six sigma training varies widely by training organization. Six sigma black belt training is conducted by hundreds of training companies, individual corporations, universities and colleges, and a few organizations such as ASQ and IQF.

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) has developed a “body of knowledge” and certification test for black belts. Corporations training their own black belts make up their own curriculum. Training organizations often determine what they believe is the best use of a shorter training time. Colleges and Universities also vary considerably in their training.

Many Six Sigma Black Belt courses are conducted over four weeks. While this may be sufficient time for an industrial engineer to grasp the tools, many students struggle to learn the material and ultimately have trouble applying six sigma.

Online six sigma training courses also vary. The advantages to an online course it there is no time constraint. The material is often more detailed and presented in depth. The student can continue to review the material until it is learned. The disadvantage is the same as all online courses, which is the personal commitment to self motivation.

It is best to determine the material that will be covered in the course. Any type of course format can work. Make sure it is consistent with the needs of the company and that it is presented in enough detail to learn six sigma well enough to apply in the field.

Beyond obtaining certification, it is important to have a variety of reference material. There are many good books written about six sigma. Most Six Sigma Black Belts have both technical and implementation books. There are simply too many six sigma and lean manufacturing tools to remember the proper application of each from memory.

Once certification is obtained, it is critical to keep in mind the reason corporations are utilizing six sigma. They are doing it for “impact”. They want business improvement, either through financial savings with cost reductions, additional output, better quality, more capacity, quicker throughput, or other metric.

Six Sigma Black Belt certification can be rewarding, gratifying, and worth the effort. Investing the time to thoroughly grasp the subject will ensure it.

Power By Carl Wright