Six Sigma Project Team Members

The actual work done in a Six Sigma project is done by the members involved. The Project Lead, Finance Certifier, Project Coach are all planning and enabling the team members to work in some way. Since the Project Team is usually a heterogeneous mix of people from different departments, there is no uniformity in the roles and responsibilities that they have. However there are some basic issues that must be known when it comes to understanding how a Six Sigma project team actually works. Here is an explanation of the same:

Required at What Stage

The Six Sigma Project team members are required after the Define stage of the DMAIC process. During the define stage, the higher levels of management create a high level plan and select concerned personnel. After this, the baton is passed to the members of the Project team, the workings of which are very unstructured.

In most cases, it is the duty of the Project Lead to ensure that the division of work has been done in an appropriate manner. The Project lead must also ensure that the workers understand their tasks and are capable of performing it within the specified period of time.

Members in the team may belong to different departments and have different designations. However, within the team they have equal status and report to the Project lead.

Composition

A Six Sigma Project Team usually consists of:

• People from marketing department
• People from engineering department
• People from finance department
• Internal customers
• Final users of the process
• Statisticians
• Business Analysts

Division of Work and Co-ordination

Not all members in a Six Sigma team are deployed simultaneously deployed. In fact, different people are needed at different stages of the project. This makes co-ordination a bigger challenge. If left unchecked, an endless blame game can ensue.

The Project lead has to play the key role of mediator. There are tollgates at every stage of the project. If the work done by the previous person has been deemed fit by the Project Lead and Project Champion, then there should usually be no issues with it. Considerations if any need to be raised to the Project lead who will then check if there is actually a need for re-work or improvement.

The real challenge in managing a Six Sigma team is that it cannot be micromanaged. They have to perform creative roles. The Project lean can articulate their vision, however the real success of the project comes when employees are motivated enough to go beyond what is expected and create a truly robust solution.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of a Six Sigma team are decided and written down in a charter. The individual responsibilities are communicated and discussed. However, as any experienced person will tell you, a lot of unseen issues come up when the project is being implemented and it requires the drive and initiative from the team to navigate them and make the process a success.