Roles of Six Sigma Leaders

Six Sigma has well-defined leadership roles, and success depends on each of the roles fulfilling its unique responsibilities. Some of the key players involved in a Six Sigma initiative are shown in Figure 1-2.

For this discussion we will define the organization as the unit that has responsibility for identifying the improvement opportunities and chartering the Six Sigma projects. This could be a corporation, a division, a facility, or a function. The leadership team (often called the Six Sigma Council) leads the overall effort and has responsibility for approving the projects undertaken by the Black Belts.

In the case of a manufacturing facility, the leadership team is typically the plant manager and selected members of his or her staff. In the case of a finance function, the leadership team might be the chief financial officer (CFO) and selected members of his or her staff.

Each project has a Champion who serves as its business and political leader. (Some organizations use the term Champion to refer to the overall leader of the Six Sigma effort.) The project Champion is typically a member of the leadership team and has responsibility for:

• Facilitating the selection of projects

• Drafting the initial project charters

• Selecting Black Belts and other resources needed to conduct the project

• Removing barriers to the successful completion of the project

• Holding short weekly progress reviews with the Black Belt

The Black Belt leads the team that does the actual work on the project. Black Belts are hands-on workers, devote work full time to their projects, and do much of the detailed work. The Black Belt also leads the team, acts as project manager, and assigns work (e.g., data collection) to the team members as appropriate.

Black Belt projects are defined so that they can be completed in less than four to six months, are focused on high priority business issues, and are targeted to produce $175,000 to $250,000 per year to the bottom line. The team that works with the Black Belt is typically four to six members who may spend as much as 25 percent of their time on the project. The amount of time spent by each team member will vary depending on the person's role. The team may also include consultants and specialists as well as suppliers and customers. Black Belts also act as mentors for Green Belts, as do MBBs.

Green Belts may lead a project under the direction of a Champion or MBB, or they may work on a portion of a Black Belt project under the direction of the Black Belt. Green Belt projects are typically less strategic and more locally focused than are Black Belt projects. A Green Belt project is typically worth $50,000 to $75,000 per year to the bottom line and should be completed in less than 4-6 months. Green Belts do not work full time on improvement projects, and typically have less intensive training. Green Belts work on improvement projects in addition to their existing job responsibilities. Several companies (such as GE) have recognized the value of Six Sigma as a leadership development tool and have the objective of all members of the professional staff being at least a Green Belt.

The MBBs are the technical leaders and enable the organization to integrate Six Sigma within its operations. The MBBs have typically completed several Black Belt projects and two to five weeks of training beyond the four weeks of Black Belt training. They help the champions select projects and review their progress. They provide training and mentoring for Black Belts and in some instances training for Green Belts. They are also responsible for leading mission critical projects as needed. In essence, they are intended to combine technical skills beyond that of a Black Belt with managerial and leadership skills similar to a Champion.

The functional support groups, such as Human Resources, Finance, Information Technology, and Legal, assist the Six Sigma effort in four key ways, beyond improving their own processes through Six Sigma projects. (1) They provide specialized data as needed by the Black Belt and the team. (2) They provide expertise associated with their functional responsibilities. (3) They provide members for the Black Belt project teams when appropriate. (4) They help identify improvement opportunities for the organization to pursue. Functional groups are typically involved in more aspects of the organizations' work than other groups. They interact across the organization, and as a result they see where improvements are needed in cross-functional processes operated by the organization. For example, the finance organization interacts with procurement, manufacturing, marketing, logistics, sales, and research and development, and therefore can more easily pinpoint cross-functional issues that need to be addressed.

There are two other types of Champions in addition to the Project Champion. As noted earlier an organization typically names a Corporate Six Sigma Champion who reports to the president or CEO and has overall responsibility for developing the Six Sigma infrastructure. In large organizations it is not unusual for each business and each functional unit (Human Resources, Finance, IT, Engineering) to name what they will call a business or functional Champion. Different organizations have used different titles for such roles, such as Quality Leader, Six Sigma Leader, or Six Sigma Champion, but the role is basically the same. It is essentially to oversee the implementation of Six Sigma in that unit. It is more prudent to focus on the actual role, and not get hung up on the title.