Champion

Six Sigma “Champions” are the key individuals, often at the C-level or part of the executive leadership team of an organization, who ensure the direction and goals for the deployment of Six Sigma are aligned with the organization’s overall goals. They may assist the Sponsors, the upper level management supporters, with the process improvement project and practitioner selection processes. The Champions are part of the leadership team that commit the resources required to sustain their continuous improvement journey efforts. They also ensure their teams have the necessary focus and hold them accountable to successfully complete process improvement projects that are tied to the company’s goals.

The role of a champion includes:

• Setting the goals for the organization’s Six Sigma/process improvement deployment
• Communicating the expectations for the deployment, and the measures of success
• Understanding variation and how reactions to the variation impact the organization
• Challenging the status quo and avoid over-reactions to common causes of variation
• Dedicating to using the Six Sigma philosophy for process improvements
• Driving positive behaviors through appropriate metric selection
• Setting an example by “walking the talk”

Sponsor

Six Sigma “Sponsors” are the key individuals, at the upper management level of an organization, who facilitate the leadership and deployment of Six Sigma. They provide leadership direction to the Black Belts and Green Belts and are a critical component of the project and candidate selection process. They ensure that the project goals will align to the organizational goals. In addition to actively reviewing the progress of the projects with their Belts, the Sponsors will assist with the removal of barriers if and when the Belt project leaders should encounter such obstacles that could hinder the success of their projects. Having a vested interest in the projects, they understand the project deliverables and milestones and are able to “roll up” progress summaries to their executive leadership team, which would include “Champions”.

The role of a Sponsor includes:

• Knowing the right questions to ask
• Understanding variation and how reactions to the variation impact the organization
• Challenging the status quo and avoid over-reactions to common causes of variation
• Recognizing project status and driving the projects to closure
• Dedicating to using the Six Sigma philosophy for process improvements
• Driving positive behaviors through appropriate metric selection
• Setting an example by “walking the talk”
• Keeping teams focus and avoid “scope creep”
• Removing barriers encountered by the Belt leaders
• Celebrating and recognizing the teams’ successes