Coaching and Mentoring; The Role of the Six Sigma Master Black Belt (MBB) – Part 2 of 2

Cohesive Team through Coaching and Mentoring

Finally, and maybe most importantly, at the highest level, the role of the Master Black Belt in a Six Sigma deployment is to coach and mentor Black Belts in the application of the methodology.  Coaching and mentoring are pretty vague terms, so let us turn to how coaching and mentoring should be focused to develop high performance teams.  The following ideas are derived from the work Susan Lucia Annunzio, President and CEO of Center for High Performance has done on high performance leadership.  She writes: “there’s no question that individual performance does matter. People need to be trained, developed, and given appropriate reward incentives.  It is also good business to monitor and measure performance. But individual performance is influenced by the environment. If the best and brightest people are not in the right environment, they will not do their best work. Stars in under-performing workgroups won’t shine as brightly.”¹⁴

Valuing People

A Black Belt’s success should be the #1 priority for his Master Black Belt.  As such, the MBB should strive to develop a strong professional relationship with his Black Belts.  The ideal ratio to accomplish this is probably somewhere between 1 to 4 and 1 to 8, depending on the experience of both Black Belts and Master Black Belts .  The lower the ratio, the closer the relationship can become.  Though there are always opportunities for casual relationship building, there are also some more deliberate actions MBBs can take in order to build the level of trust required for high-performance teams.  MBBs should strive to build an environment where Black Belts feel valued, and understand how their work fits the goals of the organization.  He/she should communicate to the BBs what the “main thing” is, give feedback on performance, provide recognition for doing a good job and communicate the team’s score.¹⁵ A Black Belt should be placed in a state of self-control, where he understands the expectations of the job, knows how he is doing in reference the expectations, and given the tools/opportunities to impact his performance.  Ultimately, as MBBs we should make use of the highest and best talents of our Black Belts.

Optimizing Critical Thinking

In order to promote high performance, the MBB should lead by example.  One of the best bosses I’ve had has a gift for critical thinking.  You would come to him with an idea or theory, and he would, in a non-threatening way, ask very keen questions to find a weakness or oversight in your reasoning.  MBBs need to be excellent critical thinkers, and transfer that skill-set to the Black Belts in their charge.    Furthermore, the BBs need to have access to and knowledge of important information about the state of the business.  This understanding should lead them to better decisions, in terms of the big picture.

Seizing Opportunities

The MBB should work to create an environment where the BBs will be able to thrive.  Some ways to accomplish are to constantly seek and try new ideas, reward learning (even as the result of a mistake), continuously adapt to change, and look for ways to work more efficiently.  A common thread that runs through each of these ideas is the need for unfiltered and open lanes of communication. 

References

14.  S.L. Annunzio, “Contagious Success,” Portfolio, 2004

15.  D. Cottrell, “Monday Morning Leadership,” CornerStone Leadership Institute, 2002-2009