Makati City, Philippines - Jenny Ramirez received her Certification as a Service Innovator (CSI) last September, on the last day of Design Sprint's 2-day Certification Workshop (Wave 5). 

Jen is part of the Creative Thinking team in an Insurance and pre-need company here in the Philippines. After receiving her certification, Jen left a short testimonial to the graduating class to motivate them to finish their own projects; We were also able to ask her a few questions that can inspire our readers; you just can't help but admire her answers below:

1. What prompted you to take the Innovation Workshop? 

We’re looking for ways to better improve our team, design thinking
How our team can better provide services in changing the game
 
I am part of the Creative Thinking team, we are tasked to look for ways to drive innovation within the organization. We make sure that every project we take on will challenge the norm and create a positive impact on both the organization as a whole and individual employees. We always aim to better provide game-changing services. We created a creative thinking framework and we were on the lookout for a good benchmark to test its validity and currency and more importantly, to build on it. We looked for resources and training online and came across the Design Sprint Workshop offered by the School of Design Sprint which offered more extensive coverage, reasonable prices, and certification.

2. What prompted you to do this project? 

After the Design Sprint training, I was eager to put my learnings into practice. I wanted to revisit all processes and spark innovative business process improvements through the Design Sprint methodology. Until our Human Resources department sought our help in coming up with ideas on how we can repackage the onboarding/new hire training process. Their primary aim was to incorporate our values and personality into the onboarding process and ultimately equate the project to a reduced attrition rate. In my aspiration to come up with quality ideas, I suggested that we do the Design Sprint methodology to give us a structured and effective approach.

3. What were the results of your project? 

A completely revamped, interactive, and innovative onboarding experience for new hires. Since the project has just been deployed recently, there is no data available to show trends in reduced attrition and increased employee engagement. However, there was overwhelmingly positive feedback.
 
 4. What was it like for you, starting up and executing your own project? 

Although the idea to adopt the Design Sprint methodology and its facilitation came from me, the project was highly collaborative. We worked with a core group of multi-disciplinary members for task allocation and idea variation. Although the project had a lot of components, it was more exciting than challenging to see it materialize from end to end. To see ideas develop through collaboration and iteration was inspiring and had me motivated to apply the methodology to every area possible.
 
5. Among/Aside from the Action Items that were done, what were the key elements that led to the success of your project? 

The open mindset, the highly collaborative environment, the structured iteration, and the customer focus that the Design Sprint framework provided. I would also like to highlight the support of our management end-to-end.
 
 
6. What was the impact of your project on your company?

The objective of the project is to reduce the attrition rate during the first 90 days to 10%.  Since the project is just 30 days from implementation, no data has been captured yet.  However, there’s been an increase in the satisfaction rating from 3.3 in July to 3.8 in August and September.
 
7. What was the impact of attending the Innovation workshop on you as an individual / professional?

It opened my mind to the possibilities of solving problems; that there is a structured way of overcoming challenges.  Most of the time, I’m bogged down with finding methodologies that can help in looking at things from a different angle so I end up choosing one which has the least effect. Design Thinking puts into perspective how the problem should be attacked to arrive at a sound solution.
 
8. What would be your message to those who are currently taking/planning to take the Innovation Program or those who are currently conducting their own projects? 

I want to encourage everyone to not have self-limiting thoughts, the only limits that we have are the ones we set for ourselves, and in the same manner, let us not limit others. Be an encourager of ideas, do not take negative feedback as opposition, but rather, a constructive conflict that helps develop your ideas. If your project fails, fail fast so you can succeed sooner.
 
Being part of the project end-to-end made me appreciate the importance of having a methodology like Design Sprint to facilitate, encourage, and continuously improve on any idea. Design Sprint creates a guided yet free-flowing environment that provides a safe haven to just let any idea flow out, get critiqued, and be enhanced because everyone has the common goal of creating something impactful. It is highly collaborative and provides an avenue for one’s idea to evolve. It made me realize that you do not necessarily have to be an expert in a certain field to be tapped for ideas, you just have to know how to effectively come up with one and how to help others improve on theirs.

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