“Official” Governing Bodies

Our advice is to avoid any person, website, organization, or training program claiming endorsement from Six Sigma’s official governing body. As we’ve already mentioned, Six Sigma does not currently have an official, centralized governing body. That’s why, here at 6sigma.com, we do our best to educate the public and spread the good news about Six Sigma. Any decent practitioner should care about Six Sigma’s standing. Fake practitioners only interested in using the Six Sigma label to con you out of your hard-earned money are to blame for sullying its reputation.

Neglecting to Research

The best thing you can do is scrutinize the practitioner or the organization. Does anything seem off about them? Scour the web for testimonials and reviews. Look at what other customers have to say. This can help ensure you aren’t disappointed later.

We hear stories about good people like you all the time. People who jump on the first course they find, only to find out later they’ve made a mistake. Furthermore, even those who expend hours of their time searching for the right program are equally vulnerable. The one you settle on may seem too good to be true. It probably is. You might think you’ve got yourself a great deal. Only to realize, halfway through, with hundreds – possibly thousands of dollars – down the drain, that your Six Sigma certification program is complete rubbish.
You can prevent this from happening to you by seeking out only the most reputable Six Sigma organizations. Get in touch. Learn as much as you can. You can save yourself a lot of time and money. Plus, there are plenty of blogs and sites compiling the best legitimate Six Sigma organizations. Use these to your advantage in your search.

Missing the Warning Signs

It’s essential to be aware of the warning signs of illegitimate practitioners and fake Six Sigma certification. You never can tell when and where they might appear. Even professional Six Sigma conferences can also be at risk. Like a wolf among sheep, fake practitioners lie in wait everywhere. Don’t let them take advantage of you. Watch out for these key warning signs:

• A suspicious lack of employee bios on their website.
• Little to no contact information – Always suspicious.
• No blog – Serious organizations take the time to write about their Six Sigma work.
• Few or no client testimonials. Or, even worse, bad reviews.
• All talk, with no demonstration of Six Sigma knowledge or skills.

The post Six Sigma Certification: How to Avoid Illegitimate Practitioners appeared first on 6sigma.

What Goes Wrong

A great deal of Six Sigma projects present inherent challenges from the beginning. However, consistent, effective teamwork is usually more than enough to resolve any problems faced. However, this isn’t always the case.

One reason a project turns bad is your team taking the wrong approach. Lean methodology, DMAIC, and Kaizen are all practices that work well under certain conditions in particular situations.

Just as in any occupation, using the wrong tool for the job will get you nowhere. For example, DMAIC, while a strategy that accomplishes project goals, is not suitable for administrative, business-related problems. DMAIC is designed to define, measure, analyze, improve, and control production processes. By utilizing it in the wrong situation, it can hinder the implementation of a solution.

Spotting the Warning Signs

It pays to be able to identify common warning signs that a Six Sigma project may be turning bad. Be on the lookout for any of these situations:

• If the project manager or team leaders cannot clearly define the problem, this will lead to confusion and poor practices.

• If you find that you are unable to glean relevant data with which to evaluate your process performance, as well as customer satisfaction rates, then you will effectively be “flying blind” as you start to implement Six Sigma. Six Sigma relies on teamwork, yes, but quantifiable data is just as important.

• If an appropriate solution is already evident but the project leaders and/or company executives are reluctant to implement the solution, bad Six Sigma is likely to follow. This can be due to a variety of reasons, but will often lead to them commissioning a DMAIC project that places the burden on an outside party. While this may work in the short-term, the problem is likely to return in the future if company practices are not at optimum levels. By resolving this problem completely, and aligning the project with critical-few business priorities, you will need to change the entire company culture. Management practices will trickle down through the company and affect worker practices. Kaizen is an excellent method for resolving this sort of problem.

• If the company is currently undergoing significant changes to its practices, the instability inherent here would prevent DMAIC from making any effective changes.

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