On behalf of Benchmark Six Sigma, Vishwadeep Khatri interviewed Manmeet Wilkhoo, who has undergone Green Belt, Black Belt and Master Black Belt training from Benchmark Six Sigma.

BSS : Manmeet, can you share with us details of your career journey till now?

Manmeet Kaur: I started my career in August 2003 with Tata Honeywell (it was a campus recruitment). I moved to Lucknow with Birla Sunlife Insurance and was with them for 3 years. I had completed Green Belt while at Birla Sunlife. This job profile was related to recruitment of Sales people and provide training. I then moved to Unicorn (Unicorn has 25 business units) where I worked as a trainer. I worked here for 8-9 months. I was managing all training there, creating training manuals etc. I did some Six Sigma projects on PF consolidation, joining kit cycle TAT reduction, and attrition reduction. I have recently moved to Airtel as Assistant Manager Quality. I am working here in HRMS. HR shared services is a new concept in India. We carried out some projects here. SOPs here are my responsibility. Compliance and auditing is also a part of my profile here. My objective is to get people trained on quality. We are doing Value Stream Mapping for some processes. I am a part of nation-wide Gallop India project. I have also been doing some DFSS projects. I work with IBM teams for some of the projects. We are developing several employee friendly tools and KM tools.

BSS : Manmeet, was there something that can be considered as an important decision in your career (which you can regard as the turning point of your career?)

Manmeet Kaur: Taking steps towards quality has been my turning point in my career. In Airtel, I am getting great opportunities using Quality in HR. So, moving toward Six Sigma was indeed a turning point in my life as I am able to visualize the bigger picture now.

BSS: Which phase do you find as the most challenging during Six Sigma projects?

Manmeet Kaur: While working on JD's for UNICORN business units, clubbing JD's into just 10 PMS formats was a specific big challenge. Presenting them to all people required creating one single URL that provides Business Units - Guidelines - Division. A person now clicks on IT (let us say) - JDs - Executive (let us say) - Profile with KPIs come up - PMS format is also visible.

BSS: How has Six Sigma impacted your career?

Manmeet Kaur: I was with a captive unit during my GB and BB where I did not find many opportunities. I was able to enter the Quality role within HR, which is very much in line with my career objective.

BSS : You have undergone GB, BB, MBB training from Benchmark. How was your experience?

Manmeet Kaur: Absolutely wonderful in terms of material and presentation. I have benefited a lot.

BSS : Do you have any suggestion for our programs?

Manmeet Kaur: One or two case studies from HR domain would be great during training.

BSS: Which Six Sigma tools have you applied more often?

Manmeet Kaur: I have been using TMAP, Pareto, C-E matrix/ analysis, FMEA most often in DMAIC

projects. I am relying on Lean in almost all HR processes.

BSS: What career direction do you see for yourself in the coming period?

Manmeet Kaur: To grow in the field of quality and Six Sigma and become head of department of some good organization in the coming years.

BSS: Thanks for your time and suggestions. I have noticed that you have persisted with Quality domain and succeeded. Best wishes for your career progress.