Should You Share Your New Lean Six Sigma Certification with Your Current Team?

As a project manager actively looking for a new job, should you share your new Lean Six Sigma certification with your current team or is it better to keep quiet about your new certificate? This question is often on the minds of professionals looking to advance their careers. Here, we explore the benefits and potential drawbacks of sharing your new certification.

Why Sharing is Recommended

It is important to share your new Lean Six Sigma certification with your current team, not for bragging rights, but to demonstrate that you are dedicated to career development and are proactively enhancing your skills. Lean Six Sigma certifications, especially when accompanied by real-world projects, showcase a high level of skill and capability. While almost everyone can study, the real differentiator is the ability to drive change in organizations.

Employers are more interested in the tangible impact of your training and how it has enabled you to make positive changes within your organization. This mindset and skill set can be invaluable to your current or future employer. By sharing your certification, you help to establish yourself as a knowledgeable and proactive team member who seeks to continuously improve.

Additionally, if the certification is relevant to your current job, sharing can be beneficial. It may raise suspicion if you don’t share and the team learns from other sources. Self-development is a valued trait, and it shows that you are committed to your career. Furthermore, there’s a possibility that you may stay in your current team longer than initially planned.

When to Keep it to Yourself

However, if the likely outcome is that you will be asked to start making use of your certification, it might be better to keep that information to yourself. Lean Six Sigma projects require significant planning and resources, and starting a project and then resigning can disrupt the organization's progress and result in wasted resources. Employers are unlikely to hire a Six Sigma-trained backfill, which could extend the search period and cause additional delays.

Conclusion

In summary, whether to share your new Lean Six Sigma certification depends on the context and your intentions. If sharing aligns with your goals and demonstrates your commitment to enhancing your skills, it is advisable to do so. On the other hand, if starting a project is likely, it might be better to keep the information to yourself to avoid disrupting ongoing initiatives and wasting valuable resources.

It is important to remember that the value of Lean Six Sigma training lies in its application and the positive impact it has on organizational effectiveness. If you are piloting a project that showcases the benefits, share the results and the underlying principles with your team. This not only reinforces your knowledge but also adds value to the organization.