Taking a Stance on Lean Six Sigma Training Standards

Lean Six Sigma Training continues to evolve as the commercial aspects of the industry drive consultants and professional trainers to offer shorter duration and cheaper training. Is that a good thing? How is that hurting the business improvement industry?

Suppose I took you aside for one or two weeks and taught you how to use every single tool in a motor mechanic’s toolkit. I started my professional life as a tradesman and I have no doubt that I could show you how to use a torque wrench so you correctly tension bolts and nuts. I could also show you how to use ring spanners so that you don’t skin your knuckles or round off the heads of different bolts you might have to tighten or undo, how to properly use a hammer and steel chisel and even how to use a reaming tool to safely and effectively polish a steel brake cylinder. My question is this. Would you consider yourself a motor mechanic after that experience? Of course not, you and I both know it would be absurd to make such a claim.

What would it take before you would be considered competent enough to be able to use the qualification? In teaching the trade of Motor Mechanic, the qualification is given only after a person has learnt not only how to use each tool, but when they demonstrate the ability to:

• Make decisions about which tools to use when confronted with different mechanical problems in the context of different motor vehicles.
• Apply the tools and processes in the dynamics of an actual work environment.
• Achieve and maintain new levels of performance as a result of their work.

Would you consider yourself a doctor after learning how to use each of the tools used in surgery? Would you consider someone to be a dentist after they learn how to use the tools of dentistry? Of course we wouldn’t for the same reasons.

LEARNING THE TRADE

It seems to me that in the world of continual improvement (in particular Six Sigma), there has been a shift in some quarters away from this competency based thinking. There are so many providers of Lean Six Sigma Training these days that it is crazy. It seems like every body’s got on the band wagon. Correspondingly, the duration of training offered for project team leaders varies greatly. For example, advertised Black Belt training can range from as long as six weeks of face-to-face delivery to as short as five days to get a certificate as a qualified Black Belt. I still struggle to work out how the latter can be genuinely achieved!

Learning to become a competent Black Belt or Green Belt is like learning a trade. When we had our Lean Six Sigma Training programs accredited with the national training body in Australia that certifies all formal tertiary qualifications, I was not surprised that the Black Belt program met the requirements for an Advanced Diploma qualification. We all must recognise that competency in the tools is not what was intended with these qualifications. Someone who does a bit of online learning and few days of face-to-face training in the tools and key concepts may end up with an understanding of Lean Six Sigma and its tools. That does not set them up to be a qualified practitioner. Learning the tools does not make the Black Belt or Green Belt.

COMPETENT BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT PRACTITIONERS

Competent Black or Green Belts are people who can describe and use the tools relevant to their level of qualification in the context of the processes that are core to their business. They can also effectively facilitate an improvement project within the challenges of working with a project team, generate and analyse data using advanced statistical methods appropriate to the outcome they are seeking, facilitate the generation of creative solutions from those who work with the process, and manage the challenges of building sustainable commitment to change in a dynamic environment.

To be able to demonstrate this type of competency requires hands on training in an environment where they have to work with other people. It requires a good deal of coaching, mentoring and application of the tools and concepts under the constraints and limitations of day-to-day business.

COMPETENCY IS THE GOAL – NOT CERTIFICATION

The goal of any Lean Six Sigma Training must be genuine competency and the achievement of results. World-class providers of Lean Six Sigma Training do not issue certificates or qualifications without competency or results, so be cautious of anyone claiming to be able to accelerate the issuing of qualifications in Lean Six Sigma. They may be teaching people some tools, but if you are considering buying their product take the time to assess whether or not they are teaching people to become competent practitioners.

‘Just as a toolkit does not maketh the motor mechanic, the Six Sigma process and tools do not maketh a Six Sigma practitioner.’

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