Changing Careers with  LSS and PMP Exam Prep Training

Yvette Gerdes has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Kinesiology, a Master’s Degree in Clinical Exercise Physiology, and more than 15 years of experience as a hospital exercise clinician.  In February 2023, the  job she had started just four months earlier was eliminated.

Realizing she wanted to expand her career options beyond hospital and clinical settings, Yvette began viewing her experience with a broader perspective.  She thought about projects she’d worked on and Lean Six Sigma training and initiatives she’d been involved in and concluded that “my passion and energy for work focused on program development and operations, project management, and process improvement.” 

Within a year, Yvette’s career had shifted dramatically:  From hospital-based exercise physiologist to strategic project manager at a large corporation.   Her road to this new work world was supported by the Northern Kentucky Accountability  Group where she took many classes including their Transferrable Skills Workshop and the Lean Six Sigma White Belt (LSSWB) class led by BPG President and COO Tasos Georgopoulos.  Yvette went on to earn her Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from BPG and to complete their PMP Exam Prep Program. 

We asked Yvette for her thoughts on the value of BPG training and her key training takeaways.

The Value of Lean Six Sigma and PMP Exam Prep Training

A very tangible benefit of Yvette’s training: Her new job in a new industry.  Yvette says that the LSSBB was the credential that gave her the “winning edge” over other candidates for her Strategic Project Manager position.

Yvette has already found the PMP training helpful day-to-day because of her familiarity with PMP terms like agile and waterfall. PMP terminology is often used in team meetings.  Longer term, Yvette  believes completing the PMP certification will qualify her for projects and continued career growth.

Yvette’s first assignments have been finishing up non-LSS projects in progress.  She has found great value in using Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to understand the projects she is working on and when talking with other team members about the project.  She highly recommends VSM as an orientation tool.

Yvette’s looking forward to using LSS on her own new projects soon. Experience and training have shown Yvette that using the LSS methodology is a great way to get everyone on board with a project, keep project goals in focus, and get a project back on track when things “inevitably” get chaotic.

The Importance of Asking Why

One of Yvette’s key takeaways from the BPG LSSBB training is the importance of asking why – a skill children seem born with and adults are often hesitant to use. Yvette believes that the focus on asking why is one of the main reasons LSS is a very practical approach to developing efficient solutions and thinking innovatively.   Yvette’s advice, “If you want to encourage innovative thinking, get comfortable asking why.”

If you are wondering why you should consider the LSS or PMP training, Yvette encourages you to talk to Tasos Georgopoulos.  She did after taking his White Belt training. Tasos recognized the transferability of the Lean and project management skills she had developed while working as a hospital clinician  and helped her get the funding she needed to schedule the training.