Will I Be a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt When the Class is Over? (#12)

Technically, no. To become an effective, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt there are so many more milestones you must reach outside of the classroom to gain your certificate. Why do surgeons have to go through their residency? Why do teachers go through their internship? Because there is so much more to learn on the field versus off. I do not want a someone who has only had five days of training to perform surgery on me or teach foundational lessons to my children. That is also how an 
organization should feel about a Lean Six Sigma trainee.

When people call us interested in a Green Belt or Black Belt course, one of the most frequent questions we get is “Will we get our certification on the last day of class?” No, you won’t. After questions like this, we like to discuss with our clients what it really means to become an effective Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, and the path you must take to gain your certification.

So, what do you have to do? Get educated and get experienced!

Let’s backtrack a little bit to education. You’re not going to be able to walk out of the classroom that Friday and be able to tackle Green Belt projects on your own the following Monday. However, the Lean Six Sigma body of knowledge can be effectively taught in five days. I can read a blog or watch a video about how to bake a cake, but that does not make me a professional baker. A Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, just like any other professional, requires experience for them to use their training effectively within their organization.

Once the LSSGB has received their training, they should practice what they have learned on small projects. Expecting a fresh LSSGB to tackle huge projects when they come back to work will be detrimental to the GB’s self-esteem, as well as the success of the company’s project process. Think back to learning how to rollerblade when you were a kid. Did you pick up on it right away? No! How many times did you fall? I know I fell countless times. I went to the skate rink every weekend for two months before I got the hang of skating away from the wall. Practice should allow for the GB’s to make mistakes; they’re going to make mistakes anyways and it is best that those mistakes are made on smaller projects versus large ones.

One trait that sets Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc. apart from other Six Sigma professional organizations would be our mentorship program. During the training, students are so excited to learn this new methodology; but when they get back to their organization, they typically only remember 10-20% of the tools and processes that were taught. It is easy for them to slide back to their reactive modes without a mentor to guide their path. We assign a Master Black Belt from our organization to each student to guide and mentor their process until their project is complete.

Now that we have discussed education, lets move on to experience. As previously mentioned, SSDSI offers a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt program that includes access to a Master Black Belt mentor before and after the week-long class. We offer this because most of our students do not have access in their own company to a Six Sigma Black Belt or Master Black Belt to help them with their project selection or completion. We ask that each student selects a project idea to bring with them to class; which is a daunting task for someone without any experience to pick a project with the proper scope. 

When the GB doesn’t have someone to help them choose a proper project, the student will often select a project that is too complex and does not include the statistical data required to help them understand the tools we teach in our Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Body of Knowledge. Choosing a project alone will also potentially lead the student to a project that doesn’t allow for them to practice the core tools they learned in class. Our mentors are available to help the student complete the project successfully, from start to finish.

Sounds like a lot of time spent with each individual student, right? Well our mentors average about three hours to each student, from start to finish. Our mentors are not there to DO the project for the student, they are there to GUIDE the student’s process. Our rule to our students at the end of the class is that their mentor is their last resort. Green Belt’s are critical thinkers and problem solvers. We want you to think outside of the box when completing your project. We offer several resources at the end of the training that students can use to build on the founding principles that were taught in the course. If they have searched through all their available resources and still have questions, we encourage them to then come to us.

The following list includes the key to create an effective Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
  • ·         Project Selection Mentoring
  • ·         Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Methodology Course Training
  • ·         Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Resource Infrastructure
  • ·         Project Completion Mentorship
  • ·         DMAIC Tollgate Review
  • ·         Project Completion Deadline



We run into Green Belt and Black Belt students who received their certification just by taking a short, online course. 9 times out of 10, these Green Belts and Black Belts will begin a key process project in their organization and the project turns out to be a bust. That is because they did not take the time to practice what they learned. Do you think that a successful Lean Six Sigma Green Belt can be created in just 5 days? Let us know in the comments below!


About Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc.
We are Certified as an Accredited Training Organization with the International Association of Six Sigma Certification (IASSC)
“The IASSC Accredited Training Organization (ATO) designation validates Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc. has demonstrated adequate management systems, courseware with a high degree of correlation to the subject matter contained in the IASSC Bodies of Knowledge, delivery schema consistent with such content and highly qualified instructors.”
We Provide Public Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Training Courses in 34 Cities across the globe.

Our Training Centers are located in: Albuquerque, New Mexico | Anchorage, Alaska | Atlanta, Georgia | Austin, Texas | Boston, Massachusetts | Calgary, Canada | Charlotte, North Carolina | Chicago, Illinois | Cincinnati, Ohio | Cleveland, Ohio | Columbus, Ohio | Dallas, Texas | Denver, Colorado | Detroit, Michigan | Dubai, UAE | El Paso, Texas | Fort Smith, Arkansas | Honolulu, Hawaii | Houston, Texas | Indianapolis, Indiana | Jacksonville, Florida | Kansas City, Missouri | Las Vegas, Nevada | London, England | Los Angeles, California | Louisville, Kentucky | Memphis, Tennessee | Mexico City, Mexico | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Montreal, Canada | Nashville, Tennessee | New Orleans, Louisiana | New York City, New York | Northwest Arkansas | Orlando, Florida | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Phoenix, Arizona | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Portland, Oregon | Raleigh, North Carolina | Salt Lake City, Utah | San Diego, California | Seattle, Washington | St. Louis, Missouri | Tampa, Florida | Toronto, Canada | Vancouver, Canada | Washington, DC

We Provide Onsite Lean Six Sigma Certification Training. Some of the training's we provide are: Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, Lean Six Sigma Champions Training and Lean Certifications for Healthcare, Finance, I.T, Manufacturing, Processing, Logistics, Retail Sales and Government.
SSDSI will come to your site to train for your choice of the Lean Six Sigma Certification Levels.
Onsite training is more cost effective than open enrollment training when training larger groups of team members.
Benefits of Onsite Training:
The Training is focused on Your Opportunities
SSDSI uses your opportunities in class (vs. generic examples)
You will get the experience of a seasoned Lean and Six Sigma Master Black Belt who will help mentor you while completing your Lean and Six Sigma Project
You can train up to 20 employees for one fixed cost (this cost includes course ware and the instructors travel & lodging)
Our courses are full of games, simulations, and active learning to help the adult learner
SSDSI can customize the training to meet your company’s particular training needs
Call Kevin Clay at 214-731-3176 or email at kclay@sixsigmadsi.com for more information

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