Is Six Sigma White Belt Worth It?

Is Six Sigma White Belt Worth It?

If you have taken the time to read this article, you will probably wonder, “Is Six Sigma White Belt worth it?” Before I get into answering that question for you, I want to take a minute to explain what Six Sigma is. Six Sigma is a quality management strategy designed by Motorola as an improvement on Motorola’s Motorola Projects. The strategy is designed to improve the quality of products or services while simultaneously reducing waste, reducing cycle times, and increasing employee productivity and efficiency. So, if you are asking, “Is Six Sigma worth it,” then probably you have taken the time to examine the quality improvement possibilities with your organization and have decided that improvement is necessary.

There is some argument, however, about the value of Six Sigma Black Belt training versus six sigma white belt certification. The main argument is whether or not the two are actually different things. The answer to that question really depends on your organization. In large organizations where projects must be completed in a timely manner and management cannot afford to take any shortcuts, both types of training are important. However, if you are a small business with a small set of employees and if you are trying to reduce cost, then you are probably better off to focus on simply getting Six Sigma Black Belt training so that your employees can perform their jobs in an efficient manner.

One of the primary arguments that Six Sigma supporters make against the Black Belt certification is that it is too extensive of a training program. Employees will need at least one year of training with a full suite of tools and resources. This is a lot of Six Sigma White Belt training! And, even if your employees take the full program, they still will not understand all of the concepts contained in the Six Sigma Yellow Belt training. Therefore, they will not be able to apply the concepts to their job, which diminishes their overall value to your company.

Another argument is that there are more employees qualified for the Black Belt certification than for the White Belt certification. While there is certainly nothing wrong with having more employees certified in Six Sigma, this is not an argument that is based on fact. If you take the entire Six Sigma package from the Black Belt to the Yellow Belt level, you will find that you have a nearly unlimited number of employees qualified to work on Six Sigma projects. Once they complete their Black Belt certification, they are only limited to working on projects that they have been trained on. This limits the amount of resources that your company has available to it, but it does not limit the number of employees you can hire to work on Six Sigma projects.

There is also an argument that your employees will become obsolete if you make your employees take Six Sigma Black Belt training. This is not an argument that is based on fact but it is a conclusion that are drawn based on the statistical data that has been discussed. It is easy to see that there is a drop in productivity among new employees. While it is natural to expect that the newest employees will perform at a higher level than the employees who just started out, the reality is that Six Sigma increases productivity regardless of the level of experience of the employees. There is a reason why the white belts and black belts have their own Black Belt certification. It is due to the extensive training that they receive prior to their official certification.

The other argument against Six Sigma is that because Six Sigma projects are extensive, you cannot easily keep them up to date. In reality, there is never a situation where you cannot come up with something new for a Six Sigma project. The tools and techniques used by Six Sigma professionals are constantly evolving as they are implemented. New innovations are incorporated into the methodology, and the result is a project that is better designed, more thoroughly tested, and always being developed.

You might think that making improvements to your company would be a lot of work and you’d be right. However, a lot of the projects that Six Sigma creates are relatively small and do not require much effort on your part. Even if you do have to hire people to help you with the projects, the cost of that is really not much more than hiring another employee. Furthermore, employees that are employed in Six Sigma projects are usually self-employed so the overall costs of the projects are highly unlikely to break your budget.

If you are asking yourself, is Six Sigma White Belt worthy for my organization? This will depend upon the type of business you run, your employees, and your goals for improvement. In most cases, a white belt is definitely worthy of your organization’s attention and investment.

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