Professional Ethics & Code of Conduct
The Ethical standard for Chartered Lean Six Sigma practice
Improve performance without compromising truth, people, safety, law, dignity, confidentiality, or future value.
The Chartered Institute of Lean Six Sigma LLC
1.8
23 July 2025
Members, candidates, credential holders, officers, reviewers, trainers, assessors, partners, volunteers, contractors, and representatives
Interpretive status
This Code establishes the minimum ethical standard for Institute-related professional practice. It does not replace applicable law, a stricter employer or client rule, or a binding professional obligation. Where standards differ, the practitioner shall comply with the lawful requirement that best protects people, the public interest, professional integrity, and legitimate confidentiality.
Contents at a Glance
- ▪Sections 1–4: Purpose, scope, language, and CILS core values
- ▪Section 5: Fundamental principles of professional conduct
- ▪Section 6: Duties and obligations
- ▪Section 7: Ethics across the improvement lifecycle
- ▪Sections 8–10: Prohibited conduct, ethical decision-making, and speaking up
- ▪Sections 11–13: Complaints, duties of the Institute, and implementation
- ▪Appendix A: Quick decision card
- ▪Section 14: Member declaration
1. Purpose
This Code states the ethical standards that the Institute expects of every person who holds or seeks a CILS credential, membership, role, or affiliation. It exists to protect the public, the profession, and the people served by Lean Six Sigma practice; to guide practitioners when duties conflict or the right course is unclear; and to give the Institute, employers, clients, and the public a common reference for evaluating professional conduct. The Code is both a personal commitment and an institutional standard.
2. Scope
2.1 Persons covered
This Code applies to all members, candidates, credential holders, officers, committee members, reviewers, trainers, assessors, partners, volunteers, contractors, and anyone representing the Institute or acting under a CILS credential. It applies whether the person is employed, self-employed, unpaid, or acting in an advisory capacity.
2.2 Practice covered
The Code applies to all professional activities related to Lean Six Sigma, including but not limited to process improvement, coaching, training, assessment, certification, research, publication, consulting, auditing, data analysis, tool selection, project leadership, and the use of AI-assisted methods. It covers paid and unpaid work, internal and external engagements, and work performed in person or remotely.
2.3 Geographic and sector scope
The Code applies worldwide and across all sectors. Where local law, sector regulation, or a binding employer or client rule imposes a stricter standard, that stricter standard prevails. Where this Code is stricter, this Code prevails. The practitioner shall seek guidance when requirements appear to conflict.
2.4 Continuing duty
The duties in this Code apply during and after the period of membership, credential, or affiliation. They cover the handling of confidential information, the integrity of published results, the correction of material error, and cooperation with legitimate professional accountability even after a relationship with the Institute has ended.
3. Language
In this Code, "shall" denotes a mandatory duty, "should" denotes a strong recommendation that the practitioner may depart from only for good reason, and "may" denotes a permitted action. "Practitioner" means any person covered by Section 2. "Institute" means The Chartered Institute of Lean Six Sigma LLC. "Member" includes candidates and credential holders unless the context requires otherwise. The singular includes the plural and headings are for convenience only.
Professional Promise
A Chartered Lean Six Sigma practitioner serves as a steward of evidence, improvement, and trust. The practitioner seeks better outcomes while protecting people, customers, organizations, communities, the environment, and the credibility of the profession.
The rule of ethical improvement
No initiative may be presented as a Lean Six Sigma success when its result materially depends on deception, manipulated evidence, unsafe work, unlawful conduct, discrimination, retaliation, concealed transfer of cost or risk, misuse of confidential information, or denial of stakeholder rights.
4. CILS Core Values
The Institute's published core values are Excellence, Integrity, Inclusivity, and Community. They are not promotional statements alone; they are interpretive anchors for every duty in this Code.
Excellence
Apply professional rigour, sound methods, due care, and continual improvement.
Observable practice
Evidence is sufficient; methods fit the problem; limitations are stated; learning is maintained.
Integrity
Act honestly, transparently, consistently, and for legitimate purposes.
Observable practice
Claims match evidence; conflicts are disclosed; promises and professional boundaries are respected.
Inclusivity
Respect human dignity and enable fair participation across sector, nation, identity, ability, language, and level.
Observable practice
Affected people are heard; accommodations are reasonable; bias and exclusion are actively addressed.
Community
Strengthen the profession through collaboration, mentoring, knowledge sharing, and responsible service.
Observable practice
Credit is shared; emerging practitioners are supported; disagreement remains respectful and evidence-led.
4.1 The four values explained
Excellence
Excellence means applying professional rigour, sound methods, due care, and continual improvement to every engagement. A practitioner pursues excellence by ensuring that evidence is sufficient for the conclusions drawn, that methods are fit for the problem rather than merely familiar, that limitations are stated openly, and that professional learning is maintained through CPD and reflection. Excellence is not perfection; it is the disciplined refusal to overclaim, shortcut, or present incomplete work as finished.
Integrity
Integrity means acting honestly, transparently, consistently, and for legitimate purposes. A practitioner with integrity ensures that claims match evidence, that conflicts of interest are disclosed and managed, that promises and professional boundaries are respected, and that the same standard of conduct applies whether or not anyone is watching. Integrity requires the practitioner to say what they mean, to mean what they say, and to correct the record when they are wrong.
Inclusivity
Inclusivity means respecting human dignity and enabling fair participation across sector, nation, identity, ability, language, and level. An inclusive practitioner ensures that affected people are heard, that accommodations are reasonable and proactive, and that bias and exclusion are addressed rather than tolerated. Inclusivity is not token representation; it is the genuine engagement of diverse voices in defining the problem, shaping the solution, and evaluating the result.
Community
Community means strengthening the profession through collaboration, mentoring, knowledge sharing, and responsible service. A practitioner who values community shares credit fairly, supports emerging practitioners, engages in disagreement that is respectful and evidence-led, and contributes to the body of knowledge and standards that sustain the profession. Community also means recognizing that the profession exists to serve the public, not merely itself.
4.2 Professional Virtues
Chartered status carries an elevated duty. In addition to the four institutional values, a Chartered practitioner is expected to cultivate the following professional virtues.
Respect for people
See people as participants and rights-holders, not merely as labour, data points, or sources of variation.
Warning sign: Humiliation, coercion, unsafe work, punitive observation, or exclusion.
Truthfulness
Communicate facts, assumptions, uncertainty, authorship, status, and results accurately.
Warning sign: Half-truths, selective disclosure, invented evidence, or misleading omission.
Objectivity
Use impartial judgment and test alternatives against reliable evidence.
Warning sign: Starting with a preferred answer and shaping data to support it.
Accountability
Own decisions, corrections, consequences, and the quality of delegated or AI-assisted work.
Warning sign: Blaming the tool, team, client, or sponsor for an unreviewed conclusion.
Moral courage
Raise concerns, resist improper pressure, and stop work when people, law, evidence, or trust are at serious risk.
Warning sign: Silence for convenience, status, revenue, or fear of disapproval.
Humility
Recognize limits, invite challenge, correct errors, and seek expertise.
Warning sign: Overclaiming competence or treating a belt level as proof of infallibility.
Stewardship
Protect resources, information, institutions, the environment, and value over the long term.
Warning sign: Short-term savings that externalize harm or degrade future capability.
Agility
Respond responsibly to change without abandoning controls, due care, or ethical boundaries.
Warning sign: Using urgency as a reason to bypass evidence, safety, consultation, or authorization.
4.3 Conflicts between values
Where two or more of these values appear to conflict, the practitioner shall not treat any single value as overriding the others. Instead, the practitioner shall identify the people affected and their legitimate interests, consider the likely consequences of each option, seek to find a course that honours all the values so far as possible, and where a value must be limited, limit it the least and document the reasoning. No value may be invoked to justify conduct that breaches a mandatory duty, a legal requirement, or the rule of ethical improvement.
5. Fundamental Principles of Professional Conduct
The following fifteen principles adapt the professional-conduct framework in APO-PS 101:2023 to the Lean Six Sigma profession and to the Institute's mission. They operate together; one principle must not be used to defeat another.
Respect for the profession
Act in a manner that strengthens the honour, credibility, and responsible development of Lean Six Sigma. Do not exploit the profession’s name to lend credibility to weak evidence, coercive conduct, or commercial misrepresentation.
Public confidence
Place trustworthiness before personal advantage. Consider how a reasonable client, learner, worker, regulator, or member of the public would view the conduct if fully informed.
Responsibility
Serve legitimate stakeholder interests, accept responsibility for foreseeable consequences, and balance the voices of customers, employees, process, business, suppliers, community, and environment.
Legality
Know, advise on, and comply with applicable law, regulation, contractual duties, and authorized professional requirements. Escalate suspected violations appropriately.
Professionalism
Agree clear scope, roles, deliverables, fees, timescales, quality standards, and decision rights; deliver with due care and communicate delay, risk, or inability promptly.
Truthfulness
Disclose conflicts, limitations, assumptions, uncertainty, material errors, AI involvement, and facts needed for an informed decision. Never fabricate, falsify, or knowingly mislead.
Objectivity
Maintain independence and impartiality; use appropriate data and analysis; invite disconfirming evidence; and distinguish fact, inference, estimate, professional opinion, and advocacy.
Integrity
Respect professional rights, proprietary methods, authorship, promises, and fiduciary or entrusted responsibilities. Do not misuse position, information, influence, or Institute status.
Confidentiality
Protect personal, commercial, professional, research, assessment, and proprietary information against unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, or loss.
Efficiency
Use time, money, materials, energy, technology, and human effort responsibly, while rejecting false economy that transfers risk, cost, delay, or harm to another stakeholder.
Sustainability
Recommend solutions compatible with long-term environmental, social, economic, and governance value and, where relevant, the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Resourcefulness
Select and adapt appropriate methods, expertise, technology, and partnerships to solve the real problem rather than forcing a familiar tool onto it.
Proficiency
Accept only work for which competence exists or can be secured through qualified support. Maintain CPD and apply methods at the depth required by risk and complexity.
Agility
Respond to changing needs and evidence while preserving authorization, traceability, safety, impartiality, and transparency.
Commitment to continual improvement
Evaluate the effects of interventions, learn from failure and feedback, correct unintended consequences, sustain gains, and improve professional practice.
Appendix A. Quick Decision Card
When time is short, ask these questions before acting:
- 1Is it lawful and within my competence?
- 2Is it honest and transparent?
- 3Does it protect people, safety, and dignity?
- 4Have I disclosed conflicts and limitations?
- 5Would I be comfortable if it were fully public?
If the answer to any question is no, stop, seek advice, and do not proceed until the concern is resolved.
This Code uses plain language so far as possible. Defined terms have the meaning given in Section 3. Where a term is not defined, it carries its ordinary professional meaning. In case of conflict between this Code and a translated version, the English version prevails.
14. Member Declaration
I have read and understood the Professional Ethics and Code of Conduct of The Chartered Institute of Lean Six Sigma. I commit to uphold its values, principles, and duties; to act honestly and competently; to protect people, evidence, confidentiality, safety, and the public interest; to disclose and manage conflicts; to correct material error; and to cooperate with fair professional accountability. I understand that a breach may result in corrective or disciplinary action under Institute rules.
— Member Declaration