Managing Six Sigma Team Performance

Six Sigma Black Belts have the challenging task of managing the full spectrum of personal dynamics that characterize project teams. Each team member provides the team with unique strengths and weaknesses, and combining individuals into a team produces varied results. Besides providing the basic tools and structure for smooth team operation, and maintaining the integrity of the project schedule by managing limited team time, Black Belts require the skills to minimize maladaptive team behaviors and optimize positive ones.

Black Belts must therefore be aware of the challenges of team dynamics and facilitate methods that resolve any conflicts that arise. Black Belts must also understand fully the many and diverse tools available for making decisions and solving problems in any Six Sigma project. A number of decision-making tools enable teams to generate and select creative improvement ideas, while a series of management and planning tools enable teams to implement and assess quality improvement throughout an organization. As team leaders with mastery over these tools, Black Belts are called upon to select the right tools to meet various team conditions and objectives. And Black Belts share yet another responsibility throughout a team's tenure: evaluating team performance and rewarding its contributions to the organization.

This course explores several team management strategies for Black Belts who seek to improve the operation and performance of their Six Sigma teams, and strengthen their teams' ability to realize project goals. This course is aligned with the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam and is designed to assist learners as part of their exam preparation. It builds on foundational knowledge that is taught in Skill Soft's ASQ-aligned Green Belt curriculum.

• Recognize how each key responsibility of team leaders should be fulfilled.
• Recognize issues and conditions that are likely to spark conflict.
• Choose the best conflict-resolution approach and recognize the steps for resolving the conflict, in a given scenario.
• Suggest strategies for improved time management in a given scenario.
• Recognize elements to include on a meeting agenda.
• Match decision-making tools to team situations in which they should be used.
• Select management and planning tools for team use in a given scenario.
• Match tools for presenting data to their descriptions.
• Rate a team's performance in a given.