The infamous Six Sigma Black Belt. Six Sigma has been proven that it works by lots of different people; therefore, I am not going to write about the credibility of Six Sigma, but I am going to write about the lack of credibility in the process and answer a few questions... such as, what's with the belt ranking? who should go to training???
Unlike the Certified Public Accountants exam, Six Sigma has no state-backed test to verify the effectiveness of the Six Sigma training. Universities, companies, and consultants everywhere all offer Six Sigma training, but how do you know if these entities are worthy of teaching you Six Sigma??? We don't.
The American Society of Quality is a National Organization focused around manufacturing quality and current quality practices in the manufacturing world. ASQ has what they call, the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Body of Knowledge, which industry wide, is the most credible measure of Six Sigma aptitude. But is ASQ accredited? Not quite! As I said before, there is no accrediting body. When it comes to business schools, there is the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business or AACSB to accredit schools. But not for a Black Belt.
Six Sigma is all about the bottom line, the tools you can use to get there, and the best practices; not about accreditation. As with any aptitude test (ACT, SAT, GMAT, etc.) an aptitude test is just a measure of how you can take tests.
The importance of Six Sigma training is the bottom line -did you learn how to use Six Sigma tools? Can yous save money? There are lots of people who never took the "ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Exam" but have saved a ton of money for their companies. Likewise, there are lots of people who can pass the ASQ test and know how to use the tools on paper, but can't apply or implement them in the real world. Which is more valuable to you?
Training is all about training, and that's it. Training is not certificates or degrees. If you can apply your training, great. If you can't, then maybe you need more training.
White Belt, Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt -Do I have to do them in order?
No, No, No!!! Six Sigma is given a belt system because a couple of the founders were martial arts enthusiasts (and it acts as a gauge for the level of difficulty), not because you need to start at a white belt and work your way up.
What the belt system has evolved into, is different belts for different types of workers. Operators, Supervisors, Managers, Facilitators, and Senior Management go through White Belt, Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt and Sponsorship training; respectively.
Six Sigma is very statistics heavy and not all people will "get-it." But, a successful company does want everyone to be exposed and know what Six Sigma consists of. Therefore, the belt system is used... so to be able to differentiate scales of training (and because instructors realized they can make more money doing this).
If you're not very math oriented, but your position requires a black belt - or you want to go toward a position that needs a black belt- perhaps it would be best to start with a green belt. A green belt is not as heavy on the math, but it will expose you to the concepts and theories that lead up to the math. If you get the green belt stuff well, you'll do fine in Black Belt. If you're struggling in Green Belt, you'll have to work extra hard in Black Belt (not impossible).
Six Sigma training will help ANYONE who is sent to the training (given they actually put work in to learn it). You do not need to be at a certain level, but you do need to put in work. Of course, there's going to be those few that will prove me wrong because they're soooo smart that they didn't need to study, but for the most of us, put in work.
