Six Sigma Makes A Comeback

At the risk of offending some folks, I couldn’t agree with you more.  Its the 80/20 rule:  About 80% of the Belt people “know how” to do everything and talk a good game, but only 20% are the real doers who get it. You need to look through the 400-500 resumes these days just to sift through the bull and find a few real competent people.

B Johnson – We’re off the subject but I’ll be happy to provide a brief answer to your question.
The comments by Stan and I reflect the fact that a lot of folks get their hallway pass (a Belt) and use it only on their resume.
Its not an exact science by any means.  We take people very deep in the interview process and evaluate their broader deployment knowledge (e.g. SS expertise, executive leadership skills, teaming and facilitation skills, project management skills, communications skills, change management skills, selling and development skills, industry reputation, etc..  We also take the time to check people out – Not their references but via our own contacts.  We share past client experiences as if they were current clients and ask what they would do in certain situations.  The interview team just does their best to find a great candidate.  Most of the time we’re on, and sometimes we get a surprise down the road. 
I think everyone agrees that the Business Week article was bunk.  I’ve been around long enough to seeelements of Lean and Six Sigma repackaged and pitched by several buzzword labels.  Its all about improvement – Before, during, and after a recession.

You’re right Stan.  After three+ decades I don’t understand why organizations spend millions of dollars on training the masses with these firms and then stop there.  We’ve also seen a lot of the “get rich quick – training factories” come and go and that’s good news for us – Because “Belt Processing” is about all many organizations have done with Lean/Six Sigma. 
We’re 20 years old for several reasons.  One is unquestionably our Lean/Six Sigma deployments or other improvement projects with consistent, “real” benchmark results.  We’ll be around after the shakeout for sure.

Hey Stan,
The “We” and the “Our” and the “We’ve” was referring to our Consulting Firm.  We’ve built a successful practice around Lean, Six Sigma, Supply Chain Excellence, Product Development Excellence, Operations Excellence, Reengineering, TQM, SPC, JIT, ERP, Cultural Transformation, Productivity Improvement, and other strategic improvement initiatives for the past 20 years (long before ISIXSIGMA existed).  No Comebacks here – We will be around for 20 more years if I have my way about it (ha ha). 
Sorry about the confusion, Stan.  You’re always a great, professional contributor on here.
PS – ISIXSIGMA is a great site and a great resource !

Not quite right B. Johnson.  That’s what lack of standardization gets us.  There’s the generally accepted SS certifications that follow the Motorola and other industry accepted models.  There are shysters offering “accelerated” and “multiple seat discount” “no project necessary” SS certicications.  You can’t get your engineering degree in 3 weeks over the internet and the same holds true with a legitimate SS certification.  There are on-line SS certifications.  Some require testing, some do not.  I know of one individual who had the BB in the next cubicle do most of the work for his certification.  Experience and application counts a lot.
Buyer beware.  There’s a lot of people who’s Six Sigma activity ceased when they received their “Belt.”  Others have picked up certification from a sub-standard source.  I had an VP of Quality send in his resume claiming to be a “Grand Master Black Belt.”  During the phone interview (I had to find out what a Grand Master BB was) he said that he never went through a formal certification, but has worked with all of these tools for the past 35 years and has annointed himself.  How’s that one?

Well said Stan.  I was fortunate enough to pass through those Motorola Allied certification roots with one of the original instructors.  We have improved significantly upon those original materials and that’s the standard we use with our clients.  There are a lot of opportunists out there peddling training.