Whitehall alumni Christeen Cereno spoke at the 1st Home Credit Philippines Lean Six Sigma Week. Christeen shared valuable insights on successfully deploying Lean Six Sigma. Present during the event are the newly certified Yellow Belts, Green Belts, process improvement team members, sponsors, and top executives.
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We sat down with Christeen Cereno, Home Credit Philippines Lean Program Manager, and asked her reflections in deploying Lean Six Sigma.
Why did you embark on the program?
With the rapid advancement of information and consumer technology, the process has arguably become important and complicated as Home Credit aims to be one of the forerunners in the country. Working along with HR for a couple of years we came up to an idea of nurturing homegrown experts that will help us in ensuring that our processes have the quality, efficiency, and reliability that doesn’t only make our customer happy but also enable agility as we adapt to the fast-changing market.
What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
Rallying for support was an early challenge since the program was new back then. Overcoming this wasn’t easy, we as leaders have to have a clear vision and execution plan that we can confidently sell to our sponsors and that we can confidently execute. Thanks to Blanka Richtar (then Head of PMO, and a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt) for being such a guiding light as we go through the process.
Home Credit PH newly certified Green Belts at the awarding ceremony of the 1st Lean Six Sigma Week. CEO Annica Witschard and project sponsors witnessed the awarding ceremony held on August 22, 2019, at the Home Credit PH Corporate Office in BGC, Taguig City.
What did you do differently in Home Credit that led to the success of the Lean Six Sigma deployment?
Everything was a conscious decision that aims to challenge the norm and make a difference. We performed the due diligence in selecting and prioritizing the projects. We wanted to make sure that we have a good start when we deploy the lean six sigma program. We partnered with HR on empowering the candidates and keeping them motivated.
What are your future plans to further make sure lean thinking is top of mind for every employee?
The program was designed with four components, Learning > Application > Rewards and Recognition > Engagement. This framework aims to teach those who are willing to learn, guide them with their practice, reward remarkable performance, and keep a community that shares best practices that will enable and accelerate the learning process.
Kick-start your Lean Six Sigma professional certification journey, join our upcoming Certified Green Belt program starting January 17, 2020.
