Professional Documents
Culture Documents
WillowTree Advisors
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Volume 1, Issue 3
Scott Zimmerman
censure. In The One-Minute Manager, Ken Blanchard urges leaders to catch people doing something right. Even Dale Carnegie, dating back to the 1930s, recommended being hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise for best results. Lean leaders observe and make correction, but also view their role as truly setting a positive example. When touring gemba, the leader must understand how work is being performed. The Lean leader is a problem-solver and a disseminator of process knowledge, and so he or she is out in the workplace to go see and ask why. This is especially true in a Lean workplace, where process changes are occurring as part of the work effort. Some of the performance information is used as input for planning, organizing, and measurement roles that the Lean Manager plays, and some should be immediately reflected back to the workforce. People performing the work in the operation need and want to know how theyre doing and what needs to be done next. While theyre busy working away in their compartment of the ship, they need someone whos been topside to tell them what ocean theyre in and what waters theyre headed toward. Thats a key role of the leader learning and disseminating useful information to the team.
Part of the leaders role is to be out where work is performed (gemba) in order to build morale. The psychological sciences tell us that people hear negative feedback 2-3 times louder than positive reinforcement. Therefore, to have an effect, Next time: Planning and Organizing encouragement must be communicated much more often than
Volume 1, Issue 3
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
Volume 1, Issue 3
In January, WillowTree Advisors (WTA), began offering business transformation and Lean consulting services to the City and County of Denver under a Master Services Agreement. WTA will be working in conjunction with the Mayors Peak Performance Initiative, under the leadership of Dave Edinger and Scotty Martin. Todays economic and political pressures have pushed governments to do more with less. Lean Government methodology enables agencies and public entities to do more with the resources they have and provide better services to their stakeholders and constituents. the application of Lean techniques to business processes can save time, reduce waste and eliminate costs while improving customer and employee satisfaction, said Kathryn Douglass. This opportunity is an excellent way for the City and County of Denver to optimize its operations and focus on the customers and public it is serving.
One Denver colleague went back to her wastewater division ofce and created over $46,000 of annual savings. She determined that the 11,000 annual lien letters from her department did not require certied mail.
Lean Government initiatives center on the agencies work and operations, helping them think differently about the way they work, while increasing capacity and adding value for those they serve. The following are real results from City and County of Denver that resulted in costs savings and improved services to customers: u At the Denver Department of Human Services, the team reduced the number of internal mail transfers from 23 to 12, and increased the percentage
of cases indexed within 24 hours from 29 percent to 100 percent. The bulk of the work took one week, and the financial payback occurred within seven months. u At Denver Public Works-Parking Collection team members changed the policy for employee parking payments to be entirely paid by Electronic Funds Transfer, which eliminated invoicing and reconciling cash payment for customers. This changed resulted in $20,833 in projected annual savings. .
WillowTree Advisors worked with Mayor Hancocks Performance Improvement Office, to develop and deliver a Lean Simulation for the Denver Peak Academy pilot, which illustrated many Lean Principles, and provided an opportunity for the pilot participants to experience and practice Lean process improvements, principles, tools and methods. Special thanks to Scott Zimmerman and Triche Guenin who facilitated the workshop, and to Norm Thiele and Toby Threadgill, who assisted in the review and dry run of the simulation. The Mayors Office & City leaders have created the Peak Academy to train colleagues in the principles of Lean. Through Peak Academy, city employees will learn techniques and strategies for implementing Peak Performance throughout their department, taking personal investment in the City's continuous improvement initiatives.
Volume 1, Issue 3
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead