Lean 6 Sigma is the solution to unemployment?

I have been reading about 6 Sigma trainings for the unemployment boom, especially here in Western New York.
This concerns me - classroom training vs. on the job experience - this varies greatly amongst Lean 6 Sigma training organizations.
My worry is this - if we have an overflowing market of Lean 6 Sigma specialist this is going to create a market approach where the certification will not mean very much for the people who have the practical experience.
Unlike physicians or other highly trained professions that require application of theory with hands on experience (theoretical and practical).
Many training organizations just offer the classroom of Lean 6 Sigma theory and no requirement for practical application hours. When I received my Green Belt in 6 Sigma my employer at the time required all team members trained immediately be assigned to a black belt for the practical application. I quickly found that the theoretical and practical were necessary for comprehension and effectiveness.
How many of these unemployed workers can gain the practical hours needed to be effective with the Lean 6 Sigma training while not employed?

My concern is that employers will begin to see 6 Sigma as a bidding process of the employee who is "certified" by someone will take the lowest bid.

Is Lean 6 Sigma becoming the "Fish Philosophy"?

Share your thoughts.

clipped from blogs.isixsigma.com So what's the harm in presenting Lean Six Sigma certification programs as a way for currently unemployed workers to get a leg up in a tough job market? Or any job market for that matter? As most (if not all) experienced practitioners of Lean and Six Sigma have learned, there is a huge difference between learning the tools and concepts of Lean and Six Sigma and actually applying them in a real business setting, with real people, real (usually messy) data, solving real business problems. In my own experience, running a correct MSA, ANOVA or DOE is far less challenging than working through the politics and organizational challenges to create sustained improvements. And this is not something that one can really learn in the classroom or through an online course. It has to be experienced first hand. In this way, our field is no different than any other. The theory is important to know, but in the end, it's the practical outcome that matters most.

- Michael Cardus is the Founder of Create-Learning-Team Building, an experiential based training and development consulting organization, as well as a blogger for TeamBuilding NY. Mike specializes in team building, team development, leadership development consulting and training, creating team building programs that retain talented staff members, increase production and effectiveness of your team.Located in Buffalo NY.We travel to your location and facilitate team building and leadership training, wherever and whenever best serves your team

Analog Planning for 6 Sigma Team Building Workshop

While talking with a group last week, I was asked how I plan team building & leadership programs. Analog – on a chalk board in my office, following a discussion with the decision makers and stakeholders in the program spending on average 8-12 hours planning (depending on the length and objective of the program).
Recently I was invited by the Buffalo NY, ASQ (American Standard for Quality) to present a workshop at their conference in October of 2010 on Team Building (development) for 6 Sigma Projects.
Re-learning much of my green belt training and reading some great books on process management,  6 Sigma and Team Building. It has been FUN!
So the point of the picture is to plan without the computer – meaning that before you sit in front of and even turn on the computer list list your ideas on the black board. This method is very effective and very tactile (also experiential)
By writing your ideas on a large board and examining them from various perspectives you are able to create a neurological connection that makes the material come alive. Try this next time you are planning a project or a presentation. Instead of going right to power point or writing it in a document take about 2 to 4 hours and write it on a chalk board, white board, paper whatever you can find. This method of visually exploring it in a medium that is not digital will make you a better presenter and facilitator.
Also it will give your material the needed spark of life that make it interesting and compelling, so go analog on paper then if you need to transcribe it to the computer.

Michael Cardus

Mike has won the 6 Sigma Commenter Award for the 2nd Year in a ROW!

On Wed., Feb. 3, iSixSigma Live! presented its annual awards breakfast honoring the companies and individuals who have successfully applied strong practices and achieved breakthrough results through continuous improvement. The morning began with the iSixSigma MVP Awards, recognizing the voluntary contributions to the Six Sigma community through the iSixSigma Discussion Forum, Blogosphere and Twitter. The winners for 2009 were:

• Most Prolific Poster on the iSixSigma Discussion Forum: Stan

• Most Helpful Poster on the iSixSigma Discussion Forum: Robert Butler

• Best Blogger on the iSixSigma Blogosphere: Sue Kozlowski (for the second year in a row!)

• Best Commenter on the iSixSigma Blogosphere: Michael Cardus

 

For the 2nd year in a row – I have won the 6 Sigma Blog commenter of the year – It is great just to be nominated, and to win 2 years in a row is a point of pride for me!

Especially as I am presenting at the Buffalo NY, ASQ (American Standard for Quality) to present a workshop at their conference in October of 2010 on Team Building (development) for 6 Sigma Projects.

-Michael Cardus is the founder of Create-Learning-Team Building, an experiential based training and development consulting organization. Mike specializes in team development and leadership development consulting and training, creating team-building programs that retain talented staff members, increase production and effectiveness of your team. He lives in Buffalo, NY, and travels to you to serve your team-building and leadership training needs, wherever and whenever fits your schedule.

Six Sigma (6 Sigma) Best Commenter

Michael Cardus is a finalist in the iSixSigma MVP Awards!
Mike is in the running for "Best iSixSigma Blogosphere
Commenter"

I am Green Belt in Six Sigma (if you are not sure what that is read the link).
The Six Sigma blog that I read keeps me up to date with current system processes and best practices that are used in many various sectors of the economy.
When I received my training I was working for a large manufacturing company on the shipping dock. The returns we saw on our increased shipping rates, decreased shipping time, as well as the decrease in defective parts (broken boxes, damaged materials, etc...) helped me to realize that this can be done anywhere!
When I left the manufacturing company, I went back to outdoor education and started to implement the six sigma training I had received. It took some tweaking and evangelizing by me to the staff (eventually they came on board).
What happened with this outdoor education programs had similar results that I saw with the manufacturing company. We had decreased spending and increased return rate of participants. We also had a higher satisfaction rating by the teachers about how the programs were run and delivered to the students.

I have led and developed trainings on six sigma, partnering with Black Belt and Master Black Belts. Here is one program that I developed. It is not totally six sigma, it was designed for a small team that had one black belt. The remaining team members were not certified in six sigma, although they were familiar with some terms. The program was designed to introduce them to language used within the organization so the team members had a greater understanding of what they were being asked to do. The focus was on developing skills and a working vocabulary of process improvement terms, as well as Team Development.

Create-Learning can bring these results to you and your team

Contact us

- Michael Cardus serves as an Adventure Consultant for Create-Learning Team Building. Mike facilitates, trains, and speaks to groups in a variety of settings including Fortune 500 Companies, small business, universities and classrooms. Currently he lives in Buffalo NY, he travels to serve your groups needs - where and when your group desires.

Successful Teams: What makes them?

What are the right action steps to take for a successful team? I have been pondering this question for several weeks now. Is it logistics, Fishbone charts, 8D Problem Solving, 6 Sigma Projects, training programs, Gen x workers Gen y workers - millennials, baby boomers etc...
Are you prepared for a successful team - many people and leaders say yes and do not really mean it. A team that has success is also a team that has failures - many - many failures. A team with success also has challenges - many - many - many challenges. A team with success has conflict - lots - lots - lots of conflict. A team with success is transparent - the leadership & team members share with the team all that is going on.
With all these successful team ideas it is scary for a leadership team to accept failure (they may look like they cannot lead within the team! Although who do they look bad too? Themselves - their peers? - their families? - other team members?) To accept and encourage failure - this is a skill that is not taught and rarely incorporated into our LOP or SOP's. Without the fear of failure in our teams we also lose the joy of success.
Conflict is one of the scariest words I use - conflict itself has conflict all over it. I encourage you to see conflict (not character assassination, belittlement and bullying) as love. How often do you and your teams have a meeting or training and the people are all polite to each other and you can feel the tension in the room. Once the team is out of the meeting the water cooler talk starts, "can you believe s/he said that, s/he is always kissing up, I do not agree to any of those statement! I would have said something but my ideas are never listened to, I should have her job, he only is there because he plays golf with the CEO" These internal feelings of restlessness cause resentment and bleed into work habits. Take a moment and think about conflicts that you yourself have been a part of - what caused them? How were they resolved? Do you still feel scorned? How did this affect your work? Scary!
To have a successful team a great team you must be able to work and "raise up" these feeling of resentment that the team is feeling. A system of rewards for team success - the switch comes on for the problem is on the inside of me as a team member. As Gandhi said "Be the change you wish to see".
I feel that this comes back to transparency. The team must feel aware of what is going on - this is challenging when in our past behaviors the person with the information is in power, and employees should know as little as possible. We may feel that we are transparent in our information, when was the last time you asked your team if they felt you were transparent and you felt that they were honest and transparent with you (whether you are a team leader or not) .
I remember working in a place some time ago - where everything was kept top secret. We never had any meetings and the staff was actually discouraged to talk to each other. The manager was distrusting of everyone and let the team members know this because he would talk about you to other team members and say that you could not be trusted. This behavior led the employees to act in deceitful ways - steal, lie on their time cards, come to work drunk, leave early, talk bad about the boss, and live in fear everyday of getting fired. I am glad I am no longer working there.
The point of this article is to inspire thought - we as teams and team members know what it is to be successful. We know how to love each other and be transparent - what is it in each of us that causes negative behaviors - I say it is negative environments with a downward spinning oscillation loop of negative reinforcement. I encourage teams to change direction to a positive oscillation of success - success is failure that we have learned from.

-Michael Cardus serves as an Adventure Consultant and Team Building Facilitator for Create-Learning Team Building located in Buffalo NY - We Travel to any location.