Black Belts may be the celebrities of Six Sigma, but they can’t launch and sustain an initiative alone. The success of any Six Sigma improvement effort depends upon the teamwork of many skilled participants, each playing a clearly defined role.
This network of Six Sigma expertise includes specialists at two broad levels:
- Project level: Experts known as Six Sigma "belts" conduct projects to implement improvements
- Organizational level: Organizational guides known as Executives and Champions ensure that projects add value and the program moves in a planned direction
Because Six Sigma is a company-wide initiative that addresses very specific opportunities for improvement, both of these functions must cooperate to produce the kind of results that will support a long-term implementation.
Six Sigma Belts: Improvement Experts
Black Belts (BBs) and Green Belts (GBs) conduct the improvement projects that account for the day-to-day work in any fully deployed Six Sigma program. Internal employees with special training in the Six Sigma methodology, they lead project teams in performing the statistical analysis that points toward process improvements, and they implement measures to sustain the gains.
Master Black Belts (MBBs) provide training and support for both Black and Green Belts. In more mature programs, Master Black Belts can be developed internally from experienced Black Belts. In newer programs, Master Black Belts are sometimes brought in from outside of the organization to conduct training and help deploy Six Sigma.
The table in Figure 1 presents a comparison of these three belt roles. Figure 2 illustrates the relationships among them.
Fig. 1 About Six Sigma Belts
| Black Belts | Green Belts | Master Black Belts |
| Full-time improvement specialists | Part-time improvement specialists who retain their previous job duties | Full-time improvement specialists |
| Receive 4 weeks?training over a 4-month period | Receive 2 weeks?training over a 2-month period | Statistics experts, often former BBs from within the organization |
| Lead problem-solving projects | Assist with data collection and analysis for BB projects | Develop key program metrics and help establish strategic direction of the program |
| Train and coach project teams | May lead teams and run GB projects | Train and coach BBs and GBs, often at multiple sites |
Why the “Belt?Terminology?
Mikel Harry, one of Six Sigma's creators and chief promoters, introduced the belt system for designating experience levels. Having a personal interest in the martial arts, he noticed that martial artists and Six Sigma experts share similar qualities, namely, practiced skill, mastery of very basic tools, dedication, and humility as they learn.
The belt terminology caught on. Its ability to conjure up powerful imagery especially contributed to early efforts to capture interest, and it became a unifier for large implementations, helping to speed Six Sigma's integration across entire organizations.
Improvement projects obviously have the most impact when their objectives are tied closely to organizational priorities. The Six Sigma Executive and Champion roles, described in Figure 3, ensure that this connection remains strong.
Executive leaders establish the strategic focus of a Six Sigma program. They provide overall alignment with both the culture of the organization and its vision of the future, and they create the system context for Black Belt projects.
Champions take their company’s vision, missions, goals, and metrics and translate them for individual projects. An organization may have one overall Program Champion to guide the progress of the implementation as a whole, in addition to Project Champions who sponsor individual projects by providing resources, removing roadblocks, and conducting phase reviews.
Fig. 3 About Executive and Champion Roles
| Executives | Champions |
| Spend up to 25% of time on Six Sigma | Spend up to 80% of time on Six Sigma |
| Attend one-day Executive training sessions | Receive one week of training |
| Drive overall program | Help drive program; align projects with organizational goals |
| Establish organizational goals and business targets for the program | Manage and support Black Belts |
A Broader View
Any well-established and smoothly functioning implementation is characterized by easy and frequent communication among all experience levels. There are, nevertheless, a few primary interactions that are especially key to success.
Figure 4 depicts the main relationships among the Six Sigma belts and Executive and Champion roles. Champions and Master Black Belts have a combined focus, operating at both the project level and the organizational level. However, whereas Master Black Belts are technical advisors, helping to establish the metrics behind the overall program, Champions serve as more of a diplomatic link, providing organizational support for Black and Green Belts.
From the chart in Figure 5, it is easy to see that Black Belts and Master Black Belts form the backbone of any Six Sigma program. Full-time improvement experts, they provide the time and the talent that bring project results. For those results to have real value, however, Executives and Champions must establish an organizational context for the program, and Green Belts and team members must be in place to provide follow-through.
When Six Sigma specialists at each experience level perform their roles well, the program becomes central to operations. All employees soon become involved, finding opportunities to serve on project teams, whether as the owners of the processes being improved, subject matter experts, or representatives from other departments that have an interest in project outcomes.
Cultivating such opportunities for involvement accomplishes more than uniting an organization around an implementation. The more employees who take an early interest in Six Sigma and participate on project teams, the more potential Green Belt, Black Belt, and Champion candidates there will be to keep a program growing for years to come.
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