Eight Key Roles for Six Sigma Success
Six Sigma sure uses some strange language to describe the roles of personnel involved in its implementation and development. So what are they and what do they do:
- Sponsor: Senior executive who sponsors the overall Six Sigma Initiative.
- Leader: Senior-level executive who is responsible for implementing Six Sigma within the business.
- Champion: Middle- or senior-level executive who sponsors a specific Six Sigma project, ensuring that resources are available and cross-functional issues are resolved.
- Black Belt: Full-time professional who acts as a team leader on Six Sigma projects. Typically has four to five weeks of classroom training in methods, statistical tools, and (sometimes) team skills.
- Master Black Belt: Highly experienced and successful Black Belt who has managed several projects and is an expert in Six Sigma methods/tools. Responsible for coaching/mentoring/training Black Belts and for helping the Six Sigma leader and Champions keep the initiative on track.
- Green Belt: Part-time professional who participates on a Black Belt project team or leads smaller projects. Typically has two weeks of classroom training in methods and basic statistical tools.
- Team Member: Professional who has general awareness of Six Sigma (through no formal training) and who brings relevant experience or expertise to a particular project.
- Process Owner: Professional responsible for the business process that is the target of a Six Sigma project.
Does your company use all of these roles? If not why and has there been any affect on the outcome or selection of projects?
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
Top 10 Six Sigma Black Belt qualities that get you hired
Perhaps you want to hire a Six Sigma Black Belt, or you may currently be a Six Sigma Black Belt and want to know what skills, responsibilities, and competencies are commonly asked for by employers when they are recruiting. Well wonder no more! A trawl through various job advertisements revealed the following top ten most commonly requested items:
- Act as a change agent to deploy enterprise-wide six-sigma, in other words, change organisational culture. This may also, in some instances, involve the external supply chain as well
- Proven delivery of significant operational improvement and financial benefits, partnering with Process Owners and Champions: objective examples are required. This links to point six below. Be willing to provide an overview of the projects you’ve led or been involved in.
- Align Six Sigma and project objectives to business strategy. Obviously, this calls for excellent communication skills with top management. Also mentioned with some frequency is the ability to create and implement a dashboard to monitor performance and improvements in key metrics
- Develop and implement a Six Sigma training curriculum, and deliver tuition to all levels within the organization, for example, Process Owners, Champions, Black Belts, Green Belts and project teams. This links strongly into point 8 below.
- At least five years of experience in Six Sigma, with a minimum of two years of experience as a Master Black Belt to get the big bucks.
- Completion of at least three manufacturing-related and transactional projects with demonstrated success and financial results. This is a minimum requirement, the more projects successfully completed to the better.
- Strong leadership skills with proven ability to facilitate cross-functional teams
- Excellent written and verbal communication, presentation and facilitation skills.
- Proficiency in Windows, Minitab, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and simulation software. Minitab appears to be statistical software of choice in almost all of the advertisements I reviewed.
- Formal Master Black Belt training and ASQ certification seems to be generally preferred.
How does this list compare to your current skills or needs? Do you want more than just the ten qualities listed here? Here’s a comprehensive list of 101 points.
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
About
Blog objectives
This blog is about quality assurance, six sigma and the Toyota Production System. Hopefully you’ll gain a deeper understanding of this subject by reading the articles, conversations, images, links, thoughts and video clips I post regularly?
About me
I sometimes post comments on other blogs:
You can view my LinkedIn profile and online resume by clicking here:
I’m an engineer and manager by education; quality, safety and environmental professional by experience and statistical enthusiast out of necessity. I believe that although it is easy to lie with statistics it is hard to tell the truth without them. I hold a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) degree from the University of Northumbria, a Master of Science degree in Total Quality Safety & Environmental Management from the Open University & a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Durham along with several other qualifications.
After completing a mechanical and production engineering apprenticeship with a turbine-generator manufacturer, I moved into planning for the offshore industry, followed by a move into quality for a consulting firm which specialised in the turnkey construction of combined cycle gas turbine power stations across Europe. Next I helped to establish a high-volume electronics company as a manager responsible for all aspects of quality, safety and environmental issues and then finally to a filter manufacturing company in NE England.
I am a European Foundation For Quality Management Business Excellence Assessor, Six Sigma Black Belt, Member of the Chartered Institute of Quality Assurance, Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Senior Member of the American Society for Quality, Lead Environmental and Quality Systems Assessor and also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management.
My favourite work related quote comes from Sir Henry Royce (1863-1933) :
“Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists & make it better. If it doesn’t exist create it. Accept nothing as nearly right or good enough”.
Disclaimer
Come on guys …. please take everything I say in the spirit it’s intended. I’m not offering professional advice just my personal opinions – you can take them or leave them! The quality profession is a journey and as such my thoughts and opinions change from time to time as I come to learn more and develop my understanding about the things and issues that I am blogging about. This blog just provides a snapshot of the knowledge, views, and opinions that I hold at a particular point of time and these might most probably change over a period of time.
I reserve the right to evolve my knowledge, thoughts, and viewpoints over time and to change them without assigning any reason. My blog includes links to other sites/blogs operated by third parties. These are provided as a means of convenient access to you to the information/opinion contained therein. I am in no way responsible for the content of any other sites or any products or services that may be offered through other sites. The information in this weblog is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.
This weblog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my employer. Feel free to challenge me, disagree with me, or tell me I’m completely nuts in the comments section of each blog entry, but I reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason whatsoever (abusive, profane, rude, or anonymous comments) – so keep it polite, please!
Remember: Taking Ex-Lax and sleeping tablets on the same night is rarely a good idea.
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