More on bureaucracies, fixing things without Six Sigma, and what’s with this Green Belt/Black Belt stuff? A conclusion to a three-part interview series…

Parts I and II of this interview may be read by linking to the following: PNN Exclusive! Part I: An Interview with My Daughter, the Six Sigma Black Belt and PNN Exclusive! Part II: An Interview with My Daughter, the Six Sigma Black Belt.

One reader commented that Six Sigma is a great collection of tools that any good engineer could use if they had the time and resources to fully investigate a problem — but, the time and resources weren’t available before or during Six Sigma, so how can anything change for the better?

The problem with a lot of organizations is that they have people doing more than they can handle. With Six Sigma, you have to have an organization that will embrace it and actually allow people the time to look at problems. If they speed through it, they’re not going to get the results that they want. [And they could blame it on Six Sigma when it's actually a matter of their resource allocation.] Yes.

Bureaucracy is generally seen as the worst offender in compromising product quality. Is this true or false? If true, can Six Sigma cut through the bureaucracy, or does it become just another layer of the bureaucracy? When you follow Six Sigma, there should be representation by each group as part of a team. All groups should be involved, so that decisions don’t come from above.

One tool that you use in Define is gathering what the voice of the customer is. Your aim is to please the customer, regardless of whether that customer is internal or external to the organization — or both. You also involve stakeholders in a process called SIPOC: Suppliers to the process, Inputs to the process, the Process that that team is trying to improve, the Outputs of the process, and the Customers that get the process outputs. Even if you’re not part of the Six Sigma group, you should still be briefed on Six Sigma-related activities. So, on one hand, at the top level, you don’t want people out of the loop making decisions that could compromise a process. On the other, you don’t want people at the lower levels to be surprised with a change that they had no idea was coming. If you wait to inform someone or a group that a change has been made, they’re simply not going to want to implement it. So, bureaucracy can be a problem, but so can people at any level if they feel that they weren’t involved, or that there suggestions were dismissed.

A bureaucracy really has no place in Six Sigma, as all groups, from production to executive, have an important role as part of the Six Sigma philosophy. If executives are making process-related decisions outside of Six Sigma, that’s a problem.

OK. What’s the deal with this Green Belt/Black Belt thing?

Green Belts within the organization are typically project-level staff though, sometimes, Green Belts are managers. It’s when the Green Belt show aptitude for Six Sigma — and for teaching it, making it work — that they’re nominated to be a Black Belt. Most organizations have some type of nomination process when it comes to Black Belts.

Black Belts, generally, facilitate change and will likely in the future be managers, even if they weren’t previously. Black Belts are basically ‘mini project managers.’ Black Belts have other responsibilities beyond Six Sigma. So, for example, if a Black belt is having trouble at Measure or Analyze, for example, they can go to the Master Black Belt for guidance. If a Master Black belt isn’t available, we can always go to another Black belt or hit the books again.

A Master Black belt is typically hired by the organization to be dedicated to Six Sigma on a full-time basis. They could also be internal staff who’s been shifted to Six Sigma full-time. They are responsible for being the statistics wizards.

There seems to be a perception of a huge disconnect between ‘this is how it should be done’ and ‘this is how it’s actually being done.’ How does Six Sigma address this?

That’s where Six Sigma is so valuable. If you believe that the process should be something that it’s not, Six Sigma is a way to figure out how to solve the problem as a team. It puts everyone on the same page. As trite as that might sound, it’s actually true since, before Six Sigma, people in an organization are often on much different pages. Sometimes, not even pages of the same book.

Did I do OK?

You did beautifully, and now I understand a bit more about what my daughter does for a living!

[ laughter]