The Role of the Six Sigma Black Belt Part IV: The Leader

This is part of the series The Role of the Six Sigma Black Belt. The concepts and ideas presented also apply to other improvement professionals and leaders implementing improvements in an organization.


The Leader Role

This example illustrates this critical role. In one project I followed closely, the BB worked hard to earn the trust and respect of a team of front line workers who made electrical harnesses for aircraft. These were union employees who typically did not mingle with "management" types like a BB (even though BBs didn't really didn't manage people but that was the generic label for anyone not covered by a union contract), but they had managed to learn from one another and now they were developing a new training program as a pilot for a larger training effort within the union-covered workforce. The union employees even got to go on a "benchmarking" trip to a local company as part of the effort. It was unheard of for union employees to be involved in such activities but they loved the work and when faced with the expected criticism from fellow union members for hanging out with "management" people, they effectively defended their position and continued their work. This small band of unlikely friends (that's what they had become) had bonded in such a way that even years after the BB had moved on to another division, they kept in touch and he would come by their shop whenever he was in town.

This story illustrates the key role the BB can play as a leader. He became one of them. Much has been written about leadership so I won't attempt to even begin to summarize any of it. Much in the current literature is good, interesting, and uses data from very interesting studies. I only comment on one aspect of leadership, a very simple one, really, but something that can spell the difference between leadership success and failure.

First, leadership is a choice, not a mantle. Second, leadership has a lot more to do with being than with doing. So, here it goes...

The power and influence to lead people to do great things (by choice) cannot be achieved nor maintained through compulsion or force and it certainly does not stem automatically from one's position of authority over others (e.g. try forcing people to be collaborative or to be creative, it doesn't work). OK so theory X vs. Y is old news (very old in fact) but what McGregor failed to point out is that the key is not just in the doing but in the intent.

So, effective leaders at the core must have integrity (total SAY-DO alignment) and see and treat others well because they respect them, because they have unconditional positive regard and good will toward them. In other words, active listening without real intent won't do. Participative management without real intent is just manipulation. "Teamwork" without real trust, is just work.

So, what to do? Well, this is a good news, bad news story. On the one hand, it's all within the BB's control (entirely one hundred percent!), that's the good news. On the other hand, it's all within the BB's control, it's the man (or woman) in the mirror; that's the bad news. How many of us is happy to admit 'it's my fault'? And though there are many factors for why projects go wrong, one cannot and must not dismiss the 'me' factor, because it is there whether we admit it or not.

Gandhi's assertion "be the change you want to see in the world" has application here. Yes, it's a very basic concept but it's true. Change begins with "me." A colleague of mine Michael Carter said it well in his blog (6ixsigma.org). Speaking directly to belts, he said:

"Because of your new found skills, you will be called upon to fix problems – difficult problems - problems that may have been around for years.  Some of the team members asked to join you will be Subject Matter Experts (SME’s), perhaps once assigned the task of solving the problem you are now tasked with.  This can be uncomfortable.  The SME’s will have an opinion on how to solve the problem, even if they attempted resolution in the past.  But no matter what the situation is, never act superior, never make your team members feel inferior, and never be condescending."

Well said! To that I'd add "never 'feel' superior, never 'see' your team members as inferior, and never 'think' about them in a condescending way. If you change the way you feel about, see, and think about others, the actions will follow. 

So here is my invitation...

A book I recommend (and have recommended to many executives in the past) is a short, concise, but great treatise in leadership called "Leadership and Self-Deception" by the Arbinger Institute (no, I am not affiliated with them in any way). I think it would be a great practice for BBs to create a reading group and read this book (ideally as they begin their training journey) and discuss its concepts and ideas for how to practice them as they lead their teams through the six sigma experience.

Next up...The Role of the Facilitator