A Lean Journey: enhancing efficiencies and client centricity with Green Belt Training

Lean is a way of working based on creating more value for customers with a high level of efficiency. A Lean organisation has providing top-quality services through a value-creation process that has zero waste at the core of its mission. Applying Lean techniques such as the ones offered in the Green Belt training followed by our colleagues, bolsters organisational growth from both an internal and external perspective.

The Green Belt training was followed by colleagues across all our offices (France, Germany, Netherlands and the UK) and departments. The selection criteria ensured that  different teams of the organisation  were represented and the knowledge acquired during the training could be successfully shared with other colleagues.

The course took a total of 5 days in which the main focus was on acquiring a solid knowledge on how to improve your organisation through little steps, searching for specific mechanisms that can become more efficient, taking a client-centric approach. The participants completed several assignments, as well as a final test that they all successfully passed.

The customer is our priority

With Lean, every colleague is a part of a chain delivering value to clients. By adopting this mindset, employees understand the impact that their work has within the organisation and encourages eagerness to improve and enhance efficiencies. These techniques are strongly beneficial as they can be applied within a wide range of daily tasks. By constantly identifying processes that a team should or shouldn’t keep doing, a constant improvement flow is guaranteed within the organisation. This also enables a more agile approach to adapt to change, particularly in these challenging times. The daily exchange between Commercial Finance and Lease is a very good example of how to enable improvements within and across teams.

At ABN AMRO we maximise value for our clients through a customer-centric approach. Understanding our clients’ visions and needs is essential to provide an excellent service. Efficient systems and processes contribute to this approach, but at the heart of the operations are our people.  We believe in investing in our teams in order to provide our clients with the best possible service and expertise. 

Lean is an ideal tool to achieve excellence by encouraging everyone in the organisation to optimise their role and deliver the most value at the best time, in the best form. From an internal perspective, Lean is also meant to eliminate waste and improve the value provided through smarter ways of working which bolsters employee satisfaction.  We are committed to continue working on our Lean Journey towards a more agile working philosophy.