Give wings to your career with Lean Six Sigma certification

Posted by tedmark on August 6th, 2015

It does sound great when someone mentions that they are Six Sigma Black Belt certified. Many people are not even aware of what Six Sigma belts are all about. It is important that one is able to find out about Six Sigma belt certification and the roles associated with these belts. Once one has obtained one of the belts, they should also be looking to get their Lean Six Sigma certification.

Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma are largely associated with each other. Six Sigma is the original concept and Lean came later. Six Sigma, as most of us know, is a methodology that looks to eliminate errors in a process to make it near perfect. A Six Sigma process is one where a million opportunities only has 3.4 defects – the number is simply mindboggling. Lean Six Sigma is a slightly different take on Six Sigma where wastes are eliminated to improve processes. There are eight defects that can be eliminated using Lean and together they form the acronym DOWNTIME.

Now, one cannot start working on a Lean Six Sigma project just like that. They need to go through a Lean Six Sigma certification process before they can even get into one of these projects. This certification process is more or less similar to Six Sigma certification where one needs to identify a project and work on it using DMAIC. A master black belt then evaluates the projects and decides whether to award a belt to the project team or not.

As far as Six Sigma belt certification is concerned, one needs to approach it in a gradual manner. There are five belts that one can get certified on.

-       The first in Six Sigma belt certification is the white belt. A white belt performs more of a support role without actually being part of a Six Sigma project.

-       A yellow belt forms part of the project team and works on reviewing process improvements.

-       A green belt collects data for the black belt and is also given the task of leading green belt teams or projects.

-       A black belt leads projects that aim to solve problems. A black belt also trains and coaches project teams.

-       A master black belt trains not only green belts but black belts too. This perform offers strategic direction to the project teams and works as an internal consultant for their organization.

To attain any of these belts, an individual has to go through Lean Six Sigma certification. The certification is an entire process of education, training and tests. Moreover, each aspirant has to work on Six Sigma projects and the success of the projects decides whether the belt would be awarded or not.

You can either opt for Lean Six Sigma certification or the standard Six Sigma belt certification. In fact, you can opt for both. It depends on your organization and you to go about the process of certification. Once you are certified, your career will see a growth trajectory that you cannot even imagine.

Both Lean Six Sigma certification and Six Sigma belt certification require a lot of effort and dedication. But once certified, your career will simply zoom.