Critical Skills for Six Sigma Yellow Belts and Green Belts

Six Sigma is a revolutionary process improvement methodology, pioneered by Motorola in the early 1980s and famously developed by General Electric (GE) in the 1990s. It was frequently cited by legendary CEO Jack Welch as a pivotal factor in the success of that company at the turn of the century which established GE as an American corporate paragon.

The targeted techniques of DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Control) require adoption at all levels of the organisation. While Black Belts are full time dedicated process improvements experts in any Six Sigma program, a critical role is also played by Green Belts and Yellow Belts.

Green Belts are typically full time supervisors and analysts who can pursue stand-alone small scale process improvement projects within their own work area, or else support Black Belts as part of a bigger project team. To achieve Green Belt certification it is necessary not merely to receive training but to practically apply key Six Sigma techniques. Yellow Belts are workers on the coal-face - the factory floor, production line or call centre – which often have primary and pivotal responsibility for meeting customer needs. Quite simply, these employees are amongst the most valuable in any organisation as they are the interface between the product or process and the consumer.

So what skills are needed to make an effective Green Belt or Yellow Belt? First of all, Yellow Belts need a willingness to think in data-driven and quantitative terms. The important thing is to avoid relying feelings and intuition when analysing business problems and to let the data drive decisions. Equally important is training in the core skills of Six Sigma – data analysis, Pareto thinking and Yamazumi charts as well as cause and effect diagrams and basic statistical ideas. The level of maths required is not rocket science and often the best solutions are “poka yoke” – really simple process enhancements that benefit the organisation out of all proportion to the investment made. Finally, the ability to work as part of a project team is the hallmark of a well-trained Green Belt or Yellow Belt and is the final vital ingredient in the Six Sigma mix.

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