Moving Lean Six Sigma training online in 2020 forced trainers to rethink what makes learning stick. The design choices that make online training engaging and practical, and the mistakes that turn it into a webinar marathon.
The first attempt at moving a Green Belt course online was a seven-hour video call per day, with slides, for five days. By the afternoon of day two, cameras were off, questions had stopped and several participants were obviously answering email. The content was the same as the classroom version. The learning was not.
When travel stopped in 2020, every trainer had to work out what makes improvement training work without a room. The answers have lasting value, online and in person.
Shorter, more frequent sessions
Attention online drops sharply after about 90 minutes. Effective programs replace full days with half-days or two-hour sessions spread over more weeks. The gaps between sessions become an advantage: time to apply each tool to a live project before the next one is introduced.
Learning by doing
- Every participant works on a real project from their own operation, as in our project-based belt programs.
- Each session ends with a specific assignment on that project.
- The next session starts with participants presenting what they found.
Interactive by design
- Small breakout groups for exercises, with three or four people each.
- Digital whiteboards for process maps, fishbone diagrams and value stream maps.
- Short polls and quizzes to check understanding.
- Statistical exercises on participants' own data, using shared software screens.
- Simulations, such as virtual production games, that recreate the experience of classroom exercises.
Bringing the gemba online
The hardest part of online training is the lack of direct observation. Practical substitutes include:
- Participants filming their process and sharing the video for analysis.
- Live walk-throughs with a phone camera.
- Photo-based waste walks, looking for the eight wastes.
Coaching between sessions
One-to-one coaching calls between sessions keep projects moving and catch problems early, such as poor problem statements, unreliable data or scope creep. They are where much of the real learning happens.
Assessment based on results
Online or not, the meaningful measure of a belt program is project results and demonstrated capability: a completed project with validated improvement, reviewed by a coach and the project sponsor.
What carried over after 2020
Many of the lessons now improve classroom training too: shorter blocks, more application, coaching between sessions and assessment based on real results. The best programs today are often blended, with online theory and coaching combined with on-site sessions for gemba work, kaizen events and team exercises.
Training was never about the room. It was always about changing what people do on Monday morning.
