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The Lean Six Sigma methodology has defined roles of Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt, and Master Black Belt with respect to project leadership and execution. In addition, there are roles and responsibilities for team sponsors, team members, and others who become involved with a Lean Six Sigma project.

Quick reference

Roles and Responsibilities

The Lean Six Sigma methodology has defined roles of Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt, and Master Black Belt with respect to project leadership and execution.

When to use

The roles and responsibilities of Lean Six Sigma Black Belts, Green Belts, and Yellow Belts apply whenever they are working on a Lean Six Sigma Project.

Instructions

Lean Six Sigma has some unique roles that are not found in most other project management methodologies – that is the roles of Master Black Belt, Black Belt, Green Belt, and Yellow Belt. (Some organizations have even more “belt” levels, but these are the most common.)

This leads to a discussion of the roles and responsibilities of the “belts.”  The Master Black Belt is the individual responsible for managing the Lean Six Sigma Program (rather than projects).  This individual prepares the organization’s templates and checklists, conducts training of candidates for belt certification, and coaches teams as needed.  In many companies, this individual does the business case for projects and once a project is approved, they assign the belts who will run the project.  Most organizations have only one Master Black Belt.

Black Belts are the subject matter experts who implement the Lean Six Sigma methodology on projects.  They are project leaders on large projects and often lead several projects simultaneously.  In most organizations, this is a full-time position in the Quality Assurance organization.    

Green Belts are also project leaders; however, they do not have the same level of subject matter expertise as the Black Belts.  They are often leading smaller projects that are based in their area of responsibility.  These are not full-time positions.  When a Green Belt has a question or hits a barrier, they refer it up to a Black Belt or the Master Black Belt.

Yellow Belts are important team members on Lean Six Sigma projects.  They are usually subject matter experts on the product or process being improved.  They need to understand the Lean Six Sigma methodology, but they don’t need to be experts in all the tools and techniques.  

In addition to the “Belts” there are other roles associated with Lean Six Sigma projects that are also common to many other types of projects. Executive leadership sets a vision for the organization and is responsible for leading organizational change. The project champion is a member of the senior leadership team that oversees the project. Often the impact of the improvement is in an area over which they have responsibility. They work with the Master Black Belt to scope the projects in their area. The process owner is the individual who manages the process that is being improved by the Lean Six Sigma team. They must collaborate with the team since they will ultimately determine the extent to which the process improvement is fully implemented. The same individual could be champion, process owner, and a member of the executive leadership team.

Hints & tips

  • Many organizations require that an individual have successfully led a Lean Six Sigma project before they can apply for Green Belt or Black Belt certification. This can lead to a “chicken or egg” problem.  They are not qualified to lead the project until they have been certified, but they can’t become certified until they lead a project. The organization needs to establish clear and reasonable policy in this area.
  • Yellow Belts should be knowledgeable in basic problem-solving and process mapping skills, even though they may not know the statistical techniques of Lean Six Sigma.
  • When an organization only has one Black Belt, that person is by default the Master Black Belt.
  • Some organizations do not have any Black Belts, but rather rely on a consulting firm to fill the role of Black Belt and Master Black Belt.  When a Green Belt hits a barrier, they contact the consultants for coaching on what to do.
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  • 00:04 Hi, this is Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 Let's talk about Lean Six Sigma projects now.
  • 00:08 I want to start this with a discussion of the roles and responsibility of the belts.
  • 00:13 Let me first describe the makeup of several Lean Six Sigma project teams that
  • 00:18 will put the roles and responsibilities in context.
  • 00:21 Most organizations have a Master Black Belt who is not on a team.
  • 00:26 Instead, they are managing the Lean Six Sigma initiative.
  • 00:30 Think of them as a project management office responsible for
  • 00:34 subject matter expertise, training, and overall documentation.
  • 00:39 Next, we will consider a program.
  • 00:42 Think of this as several projects that are working in concert with each other to
  • 00:46 achieve a large business objective.
  • 00:48 For instance, it could be a program to improve quality on the production floor.
  • 00:52 And one project is focused on work at a supplier of the raw material.
  • 00:58 And the other is focused on the tooling and fixturing of the in-house process.
  • 01:03 The Black Belt is leading both projects, and has team members working on each.
  • 01:08 Most of these team members have been trained to at least the Yellow Belt level.
  • 01:14 The next project is a more focused project.
  • 01:18 It has a Green Belt, and also has a number of Yellow Belt team members.
  • 01:23 Then there are several more projects, again led by Green Belts.
  • 01:26 A project should always be led by a Green Belt or a Black Belt.
  • 01:30 Notice that there are often many more Yellow Belts and
  • 01:33 Green Belts than there are Black Belts.
  • 01:37 With that as context, let's go through all the roles and their responsibilities.
  • 01:42 First, there's Executive Leadership of the organization.
  • 01:45 These are individuals who set the vision and direction for the organization and
  • 01:49 become the catalyst for culture change.
  • 01:52 They are not usually on teams, but are supporting the initiative and
  • 01:56 helping teams to overcome barriers.
  • 01:59 Next is the Champion.
  • 02:00 This is usually a senior manager who is driving the Lean Six Sigma initiative in
  • 02:04 the area of their business responsibility.
  • 02:07 They set the continuous improvement strategy and
  • 02:10 prioritize projects based upon that strategy.
  • 02:13 They also help to select project leaders for the projects.
  • 02:16 In most organizations, this is the person with the budget for the program.
  • 02:22 Next is the Process Owner or manager.
  • 02:24 This is the functional manager with responsibility for
  • 02:27 the existing process performance.
  • 02:29 This individual, more than any other,
  • 02:32 will be the person who sees and feels the impact of the Lean Six Sigma project.
  • 02:37 An organization normally only has one Champion, but
  • 02:41 it could have many Process Owners.
  • 02:45 The Master Black Belt is the person who runs and
  • 02:47 administers the Lean Six Sigma program for the organization.
  • 02:52 Many organizations only have one Master Black Belt.
  • 02:55 This individual is the senior subject matter expert for Lean Six Sigma.
  • 03:00 And spends much of their time training and
  • 03:03 coaching the other belts in the organization.
  • 03:06 This is usually a full-time position.
  • 03:09 Next is the Black Belt, these individuals are also subject matter experts.
  • 03:14 Normally, they are full-time positions.
  • 03:16 As a Black Belt, an individual is often leading a major Lean Six Sigma program or
  • 03:22 multiple project teams.
  • 03:24 They're also acting as an advisor for
  • 03:26 smaller projects that are led by Green Belts.
  • 03:29 Now let's look at the role of the Green Belts.
  • 03:32 These individuals are knowledgeable and
  • 03:34 competent in all aspects of Lean Six Sigma,
  • 03:36 although they may not be in the expert category like the Black Belts.
  • 03:40 In some cases, they are working on projects led by Black Belts,
  • 03:44 where they are involved with data collection and analysis.
  • 03:47 They are often leading Lean Six Sigma projects within their department or
  • 03:51 area of responsibility.
  • 03:53 As such, their Green Belt duties are normally not their full-time job.
  • 03:57 But rather, they're using those skills to augment their normal work.
  • 04:02 Finally, there is the Yellow Belt.
  • 04:04 These are team members on Lean Six Sigma projects.
  • 04:07 They are normally on the project because of their product or
  • 04:11 process subject matter expertise.
  • 04:13 While not leading the project, they need to understand the methodology and
  • 04:18 be active and capable contributors.
  • 04:20 Now, some organizations have additional belts which provide further
  • 04:23 differentiation among these categories.
  • 04:26 But these are the common ones found in almost all programs, and
  • 04:30 these are the ones for which IASSC offers certification.
  • 04:34 The roles of Black Belts, Green Belts, and
  • 04:36 Yellow Belts are the leadership roles in Lean Six Sigma projects.
  • 04:40 These individuals will plan and manage the projects.

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