Free Green and Black Belt training?

BMGi is one of the largest process improvement consulting companies around. I've had some friends attend training from them, and they have had positive comments about them.

Due to their size and reputation, I was a little surprised when they opened up a large amount of their online Lean and Six Sigma training for free.

At first I thought it would be some teaser videos on basic concepts only, and you had to pay for the really good stuff, like SPC, Design of Experiments, and DFSS. However, they have an entire Green Belt and Black Belt program you can take. Did I mention it was free?

We obviously can't compete with that option, so instead we decided to make it easier to figure out which exact modules you should take.

Six Sigma certification is highly sought-after, yet very expensive to obtain. You can either attend a one or two week long course, or you can self-study for hours and hours, in order to pass the certification exam.

ASQ offers a Green Belt and Black Belt certification, if you meet the experience and project requirements.  Since ASQ has one of the more popular certification programs around, we decided to align the Green Belt body of knowledge to the BMGi online modules, so you can learn a majority of the content on the Green Belt exam for free, without taking every single module.

Here is the Green Belt Body of Knowledge, along with the links to BMGi's free online training on that topic.

http://www.biz-pi.com/certification.asp?id=10

To learn more about Green and Black Belt certification, visit our website at http://www.biz-pi.com/certification.asp and answer the questions, to determine if you are ready for the certification or not.

You might be wondering, "what's in it for us"? Why would we promote another company's training material instead of our own?

Learning about a topic is just the first step. After a class, you still need to translate the learning into something personal, that applies to the work you do today. That is where we come in. We can help translate the tools and help explain how they fit into your job or company. When you try and apply the training to your work and get stuck, we can help you out, and get you moving in the right direction. That is the value we can bring with our experience, which is more important than providing education and teaching.

It is much more rewarding for us to help you address a specific problem, than stand up in front of a room and talk about concepts and ideas that may not translate into something useful to you. Don't get us wrong. Training is very important, but it's what happens after the training where the real value and learning comes to fruition, and that's where we want to be involved to help you out.

View the list of content you'll need to know to get your Green Belt certification: http://www.biz-pi.com/certification.asp

If you want help studying for the ASQ exam, check out our helpful guide: 8 steps for passing the ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt exam

How many of the 50 Best Practices for Process Excellence has your company implemented?

Lee Pollock and Mark Kiemele are authors of a new book, Reversing the Culture of Waste – 50 Best Practices to Achieve Process Excellence. The book provides a list of best practices that companies use to become stronger in process improvement. Not every company excels at all 50, but the companies that apply most of the suggestions are much further ahead. You can even assess your company, to see how mature your process improvement approach is today.




The book is divided into 10 chapters, and each chapter identifies a few best practices. Where you see the term "process excellence" you can replace it with your company's initiative (Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement, etc). Explanations of each best practice are provided in a concise summary, usually 1-2 pages in length.

Chapter 1 - Executive Ownership and Leadership Alignment
1. Establish ownership at the executive level.
2. Develop and communicate the need, vision and plan.
3. Train leadership first.
4. Link compensation to involvement and success.
5. Continuously assess what is working and what is not and adjust.

Chapter 2 - Effective Support Infrastructure

6. Designate a well-respected Deployment Champion early.
7. Commission and use a guiding coalition.
8. Partner with a capable and reputable service provider.
9. Integrate key stakeholders into the plan.
10. Create position descriptions that mandate a pull for excellence.
11. Quickly attain a critical mass of practitioners.

Chapter 3 - Integration with Existing Business Improvement Initiatives

12. Maximize the synergy of multiple initiatives.

Chapter 4 - The Right Projects and Studies and People to Lead Them

13. Establish criteria for project selection and prioritization.
14. Use quick-hitting studies to accelerate results.
15. Select top-tier candidates for first waves of training.

Chapter 5 - Integrated Training and Software

16. Use motivational and experienced instructors and coaches.
17. Keep the software simple and easy to use.
18. Use a blended approach to learning.

Chapter 6 - Financial and Implementation Responsibility

19. Use a consistent, simple and straightforward approach.
20. Generate successes early and communicate them.
21. Plan the service provider's exit strategy.
22. Develop internal subject matter experts.
23. Manage the expectations of every practitioner.
24. Define and use a meaty certification process.
25. Train all ares of the organization.
26. Apply the training immediately.
27. Provide expert coaching on all projects and studies.
28. Scope projects carefully.
29. Establish and follow rules for assessing benefits.
30. Publicize and use savings wisely.
31. Regularly review projects and act based on the assessment.
32. Conduct refresher sessions for leaders and practitioners.
33. Connect and use Champions to upgrade the initiative.
34. Make everyone aware of what is going on.
35. Design and use standardized templates.
36. Anticipate and manage position loss resulting from projects.
37. Include team-oriented "soft" tools.
38. Develop transfer functions to predict, optimize, and assess risk.
39. Make innovation systematic.
40. Solve new problems using trained resources and trumpet successes.
41. Make process excellence part of the human resource succession plan.
42. Integrate process excellence into all mergers and acquisitions.
43. Update the implementation plan based on feedback and results.

Chapter 7 - Reward and Recognition
44. Recognize people who execute successful projects.

Chapter 8 - Enterprise-Wide Knowledge Sharing

45. Establish a project-tracking database and keep it current.
46. Schedule benchmarking sessions.

Chapter 9 - Customer and Supply Chain Involvement

47. Involve suppliers and customers early on.
48. Implement a fact-based process for assessing the Voice of the Customer.

Chapter 10 - Change Management: Leveraging Cultural Strengths and Managing Its Weaknesses

49. View process excellence as a mindset, not just a toolset.
50. Leverage cultural strengths that promote change.




To assess your company on their maturity in process excellence, determine your ranking from 0-2 for each item.

0 = No implementation of that best practice whatsoever.
1 = Some areas exist where it is done
2 = We do that very well  

You can use decimals (like 0.5 or 1.5), but they suggest using integers only. Next, sum up the total score for each chapter, and enter the results on the Air Academy website: http://www.airacad.com/bestpractices.aspx  

Your total points will give you an idea where you rank against 500+ companies involved in a 2011 study. For example, if you scored a 32 or less, you are in the 10th percentile. If you scored a 48, you are in the 33rd percentile. If you scored a 59, you are the 50th percentile. If you scored an 82, you are in the 90th percentile. There were very few companies scoring above 90 (maximum score is 100 points). Exact percentiles are provided in the book.  

After reviewing your scores, we would recommend determining which best practices could provide your company with the biggest gains, and develop an action plan to address the gaps.  

Leave us a comment if you filled out the assessment, and how your company scored.