How do I become a six sigma black belt?

If you are a manager or an engineer, one of the questions you might want to ask yourself if you are interested in improving your career and your earning potential is how you can become a six sigma black belt.
Six sigma is an approach to management that uses a statistical and observational approach to improving productivity, efficiency, value, and customer satisfaction. Developed by Motorola, six sigma has become one of the most popular approaches to management and product improvement out there. In order to correctly and productively practice six sigma, you need to be six sigma certified. There are different levels of six sigma certification—yellow belt, green belt, black belt, and master black belt.

So your question is how you can become a six sigma black belt. Well, if you just Google how to become a six sigma black belt, you’ll come up with tons of results. There are endless online universities and training courses that promise to make you a sigma black belt in just a few weeks after you fork over several hundred dollars. If you really just want the certificate that shows that you are a six sigma black belt, without full grasp of all of the different sigma tools and a real understanding of six sigma, then one of these four week seminars is perfect for you.
What critics see as one of the problems with six sigma is the emphasis on certification. As six sigma has become more and more popular, the emphasis has moved from really developing a good six sigma management to improve your corporation, and now the name has become the important thing. The problem is that you get a lot of people who are black belts or master black belts who end up causing more problems than anything else because they can’t really use six sigma effectively.
When you are looking at six sigma black belt certification, you need to decide what kind of six sigma black belt you want to be. It is important that you take the courses to become certified as a six sigma black belt. However, make sure that you take the certification courses from a reliable training company or reliable university. A highly ranked business school can offer reliable and thorough black belt certification. Motorola University also offers good six sigma certification courses. But while you are working through your six sigma black belt certification, there are a few things that you need to remember. There are a lot of tools that are taught as part of the six sigma process. Don’t let these tools take over your life. Six sigma is as much about common sense and intuition as using tools. Listen to your instincts. Don’t let six sigma projects and initiatives be taken over by the simple certification process of being a black belt. While going through the certification process, see if you can get on board some projects that will allow you to practice and to develop your six sigma skills.
Another thing that you need to remember as you work to become a six sigma black belt is the role of six sigma black belts. Six sigma black belts are put into leadership positions within the organization—not just the quality control division, often called Change Agents. Make sure that you are able to take on those leaderships positions—that you will be able to coach green belts and that you are willing to be coached by master black belts. Develop your communication skills so that you will be able to more efficiently communicate with customers and with fellow employees, along with higher management. If you work on all of these practical and also more intuitive skills, along with mastering the essentials tools of Six Sigma, then you will really be worthy of your black belt certification.

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