Superpowers for Superman (#79)

Superpowers for Superman

Almost daily we receive inquiries about our Public Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Courses. These courses are 5-day trainings that teach the foundation of Lean and Six Sigma. Anyone, even those with no Lean or Six Sigma background, can attend our Public Classes.

Because certain aspects of Lean and Six Sigma can be rather broad, we always ask one question. “What is your current infrastructure for process improvement?” Most of the time, they do not have one. They want an employee to be trained to head the Continuous Improvement Department to tackle projects almost always on their own.

With almost 50 host locations, we are constantly teaching Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt Courses across the country, and several internationally. At the beginning of class, we always ask one question. “Who was sent to this training with the expectation of returning to work as a superhero?” Our intention of this question is to gauge company expectations for our individual students. Every single class, the majority will raise their hand. They were sent to the class in an attempt to learn all of the tools a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt has and then use them to improve processes on their own.

They’re all pretty shocked when I tell them that they have been set up for failure. The tools we teach in our classes are excellent resources to use throughout their career but will ultimately have almost no effect on the organization’s success. When an organization expects a new Green Belt to be the lone Continuous Improvement lead, they are ultimately expecting them to tackle projects decided by leaders who aren’t trained as Continuous Improvement Champions. These leaders do not know how to select the right projects for a Continuous Improvement Leader to execute.

Here’s what happens:

Turf War

The phrase “stepping in someone else’s sand box” is pretty popular and one that fits what a Green Belt will experience when a Continuous Improvement project starts without department education or buy in. If a department is not properly educated about Continuous Improvement efforts and a Green Belt “steps in their sand box,” that belt will end up with a figurative “black eye.” The department leader is almost always higher on the ladder than the Belt and if he/she feels that their leadership is being challenged or squashed, they will not engage in the project. Leading to a unsuccessful project and a discouraged belt.

Sub Optimization

The first step to lasting change is building the foundation. Expecting a new Belt to be the sole Continuous Improvement person is unrealistic and does not give a solid foundation for lasting change. (See more about the foundation for a sustainable Lean Six Sigma effort at https://sixsigmadsi.com/how-to-build-the-infrastructure-for-lean-and-six-sigma/). Proper foundation relies on organizational education or “buy in.” Without this foundation, organizations will not know how to identify proper CI Projects. We have visited numerous organizations where new Belts have become the “new toy” for organizational leaders. Leaders will identify projects solely based on where their current “pain” is, and most of the time this “pain” has no effect on the system as a whole. A new Belt could potentially solve the “pain” however they wouldn’t be able to make improvements to the organization’s process.

Check out this example of sub-optimization:

Solving World Hunger

Organizational leaders will want to optimize their newly trained Belt; however, without a properly built foundation and department education the project will fail. Look at the following example:

       Optimize On-time Delivery

What they have failed to recognize is that all 2,500 products are included in the problem statement. This is an enormous task, but organizational leaders believe it is easily achievable. This leads to stalled or failed projects.

Recognizing these effects are essential to changing the organizational outlook for Continuous Improvement. When leadership isn’t properly educated, and the organization does not have the proper infrastructure for sustaining continuous improvement; projects will fail. This is not because the newly trained Belt doesn’t know what they’re doing, it is because the organizational leaders did not provide the proper foundation needed to make lasting change.

The result leads to organizations losing faith in Continuous Improvement Processes which will eventually lead to organizational failure.

Have you been sent to a Lean Six Sigma Belt training with the intention of returning as a superhero? Let us know in the comments!

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