Home Forums Black Belts Generalized Black Belt Training or Specialized Black Belt Training?

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    Patrick Spagon, Ph.D.
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    Post count: 37

    Should you focus on a general Black Belt training course or one more suited to your area of application such as a Transactional Black Belt? Which is best? What does it depend on?

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    • Mike Carnell
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      Post count: 7

      The whole concept of specialized BB training was so some consultant could create some niche in the market where they can be a big fish in a little pond. It is a ridiculous concept. A BB was from the beginning intended to be a person with problem solving skills (data driven). If you need specific product knowledge on a project you bring that in through Team Members. This thing really began to blow up when we were doing the GE deployment (1996) and all the GE BB’s from GE Capital began whining about GR&R (now MSA). Who could not imagine how measurement data would apply to transaction projects. They were not manufacturing people! How dare we train them is some tool designed for manufacturing people.

      Lets look at that concept a minute. That whole recession issue in 2008 began with a Measurement issue and if transaction BB’s (i.e. specialty trained BB’s) would have understood the concept of measurement error they would have seen that truck coming. When you use some arbitrary measurement system like A, AA, AAA, etc for a financial instrument you open the interpretation door. When you have people with little to no integrity selling those ratings and they will sell you a AAA rating on a BBB CDO you have just lost resolution in the measurement system. There is a great scene in the movie “The Big Short” on this specific issue. So because a bunch of people caved in to a bunch of people who had no idea how to apply a concept we got to write a check for $700 Billion to keep people from going bankrupt who are in the business of making money and advising other people to make money. That made a lot of sense. The movie “To Big to Fail” even has a scene with Immelt calling Paulson.

      Specialty training emasculates BB’s, GB’s, MBB’s etc. (not using the gender specific form of the definition). Who would have though having less knowledge was a good thing? That is a rhetorical question.

      What does it depend on? How smart you are when you decide how to train your people.

      Just my opinion.

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