Black Belts (BBs) are change agents. Along with that role is a myriad of challenging tasks one after the other. They lead projects, train team members in Six Sigma methods, and mentor Green Belts to raise their level of expertise. Competent BBs are the key to every successful Six Sigma implementation.
As change agents, perhaps their most challenging task is guiding and motivating others in the organization to embrace change. I guess only a few brave souls welcome change. That is why I think, dealing with people who are going through some change should make up a large bulk of time during BB trainings.
Initially, a BB needs to understand the process of change. Developing a framework of understanding may be helpful. In the framework, he plots the process of change.
The change starts at multiple levels as the entire organization is going through the Six Sigma deployment. It will happen with the senior management or “C” (refer to my previous post, Six Sigma Training) and “VP” level employees. It will also happen in the work place, and within each individual member of the team. To be effective, a BB must be aware of the effect on the various levels and at what stage of the process they are operating, and should be able to manage any incongruency.
As a change agent, a BB must be able to manage change well. He starts by breaking down the pie into a problem statement, an objective, a baseline metric, and the secondary metrics for a project. At about the same time, he leads, trains, and mentors the Six Sigma team. More importantly, he prepares them for the crucial turning point that is called the Valley of Despair. This is an expected turn as people adjust to the new way of doing things. They fumble their way yet. A very important consideration here is that while the team is going through the change, so is the BB himself.
A very competent BB will overcome this. He will be able to guide the team to another turning point, the Pity City. Here, people will vent out their frustrations or otherwise about any uncertainty and confusion of the new rules. One important point is that the Black Belt should be able to shorten the duration of the change, or the time at Pity City, and minimize the severity of the drop into the Valley of Despair.
However, not everyone in the organization will be at Valley of Despair or Pity City at the same time, and most often they do not know about this. Confusion sets in, which can lead to conflict. This is the time that the BB will summon all the training tools he has to resolve this empasse. What complicates matters is that it has a cost associated with every delay.
Agility helps improve the situation. BBs must be quick in decision making and taking action to resolve whatever is there to resolve. As Val Larson and Mike Carnell put it, “The more efficiently we learn to deal with change, the more profitably we can operate. Changes can be instituted more quickly and with greater ease, but the larger advantage is the company’s increased agility. That agility is the company’s ability to respond to changes in technology and changes the marketplace.”
Sources:
Developing Black Belt Agents
Black Belt Certification
