introduction to lean six sigma in government
DESCRIPTION
Government departments and agencies face a difficult challenge: with limited resources, how can they deliver faster, better and cheaper while engaging their people? Many organizations have used the approaches of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in government to meet this challenge.TRANSCRIPT
An Introduction to Lean/Six Sigma (LSS)
in Government
copyright owned by Lean Agility Inc.
The Government Challenge
With limited resources
you must still deliver as much, and possibly more
faster, better and cheaper
while engaging your people.
Here’s how.
Typical Government LSS Results
• 25 – 100% increase in capacity without adding resources or working harder
• 25-50% improvement in quality and customer satisfaction
• 25-100% improvement in financial performance
• Increased employee engagement
• Improved union-management relations
• Reduced firefighting – more time and resources to devote to your
core business
A number of Canadian federal, provincial and municipal government organizations have achieved and sustained results such as these…plus over
30 federal departments and agencies in the USA
Lean Enterprise
What is Lean Enterprise?
• A business improvement approach that creates speed, flow and efficiency by fixing business processes.
• Work that does not add value is identified and removed to reduce complexity, creating flow and allowing resources to focus more on value added activities, increasing capacity without working harder or adding resources.
When should it be used?
• When an organization needs to deliver faster, better and cheaper
From the perspective of the end user, at least 90% of your organization’s time does not add value
1 Carter, Willie L. Quality Digest. June 23, 2010.
10%: value added time
90%:
non-value added time
Typical Government
Organization
“It takes us three weeks to process an application, but the time we spend actually touching or working on the file is only a few hours.”
90% Non-Value Added Time Example
Where is that 90% Non-Value Added Time Hidden?
Some examples of activities that take time but don’t add value:
• Waiting
• Incomplete files
• Expediting
• Errors and rework
• Unused reports and their data collection
• Unnecessary approvals
• Managing a backlog
• Misunderstandings/poor communication
Example: Process flows horizontally
Application for Approval
Processing of
Application
Decision Process
Reply Process
Applicant Applicant
But traditional thinking and accountability is in vertical silos…
Lean looks at your processes horizontally from the point of view of the end user of your service or output
Mapping Flow If you took a file, put an imaginary video camera on it and sent it through your process What would it see?
When would it: • Go forward? • Stop and wait? • Back up?
Mapping these interruptions to flow tells you where your end-to-end process is breaking down
bottlenecks
chronic errors
missing info
large batches
unbalanced work
last-in, first-out
unnecessary approvals
too many handoffs
too much travel
waiting
waiting
waiting
The Lean Approach
1. Identify and prioritize the needs of your end users and stakeholders
2. With your team, map the current state of your business process
3. With your team, identify interruptions to flow
4. With your team, map “future state”, with these interruptions to flow minimized
5. Prioritize and implement improvement projects
6. Assess, adjust, repeat in next area
7. COMMUNICATE your early wins, and don’t stop listening and communicating
Test out solutions: Plan, Do, Check, Adjust
Always test out your solutions to ensure that they work
1. Plan
2. Do 3. Check
4. Adjust Define your plan –
what is the solution
you are testing?
Implement the
solution in the daily
work
Did the solution
achieve the desired
result?
If the solution met its
desired result, adjust
your daily way of
working to
incorporate it on an
ongoing basis. What
did you learn?
Six Sigma
What is Six Sigma?
• The application of statistical tools to identify and fix root causes of
defects or errors.
• Minimize variability from the point of view of the end user of the
service.
When should it be used?
• When an organization faces significant variation in its results, e.g.:
– Chronic errors are present that create bottlenecks or affect the quality
of the service being delivered to the end user and/or key stakeholders
The Six Sigma Approach
Five Steps:
1. DEFINE: the problem, objective, “customer”
2. MEASURE: the process, collect and validate the data, determine process capability
3. ANALYZE: Identify the root cause of the issue
4. IMPROVE: Determine and test solutions to solve the problem
5. CONTROL: Put in place controls to ensure that solution fixes problem on an ongoing basis
Why Combine Lean and Six Sigma?
• Lean creates efficiency and flow • Six Sigma creates consistent results
• Many successful government organizations combine the
tools of Lean and Six Sigma in order to achieve both efficiency, flow and speed as well as consistent delivery of results.
• Our approach is often to use Lean first to create flow/efficiency and then identify where variation continues to be a problem. Use Six Sigma tools to solve this variation.
• This results in delivering more of your mandate, faster, better and cheaper
How is LSS Different in Government?
Private Sector Government How to address the difference
Clear view of “who is the customer”
Multiple, often competing, stakeholder needs
Conduct a stakeholder assessment to determine “who and what is important”
Bottom line measure: “profit” creates focus
No “profit” motive or clear “bottom line”
Use the measures of “time” and “how we deliver on our key stakeholders’ needs” to drive improvement
Often produce physical products
Usually produce services Identify your services as your “products”
Flatter organization structures
Multi-layer hierarchical structures
Engage all relevant levels in identifying and implementing improvements
Monetary incentives to drive improvement
Few monetary incentives to drive improvement
Monetary incentives are over-rated. Leverage staff intrinsic motivation and visibility to encourage improvement
Staff Engagement
• Map your process with the people who do the work
• YOU cannot rewire THEIR mental maps.
• THEY have to do it for themselves
• Involve THEM from Day 1.
• When they see what is possible, they become early adopters and ambassadors
Principle:
Change that is imposed
Is change that is opposed.
Job Security
“That’s all great, but are you going to use these increased efficiencies to cut jobs?”
If yes – you will lose staff engagement and participation
Preferred approach: “We are not implementing LSS to cut jobs. We have to find ways of doing
more with less, without making people work harder. The business goes on.
Our intent is to help you find ways of making your day to day work life better, and to deliver on our mandate of _____________, not to cut jobs.
None of us can know the future, but instead of having someone else do it for you, this is your opportunity to help shape our future.”
How Does Process Improvement Increase Employee Engagement?
From “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience”, Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi
Finding and implementing improvements puts most people here
Change Management Approach • Build Change Management in at front end
• Start with a business process that has a critical, visible problem, and people who are interested in fixing it.
• Prove the concept – Walk, Run, Fly.
• Let your early adopters “spread the virus” for you.
• Create opportunities for objections, early and often
Why LSS is Attractive to Public Servants
If you can eliminate non-value added activities, and increase flow: Less firefighting – work
smarter, not harder
Smaller backlog – and less need to perform frustrating extra activities that result from backlogs
Use the freed-up time, people and focus to deliver better on the core mission of your organization
How Does LSS Increase Staff Engagement?
Staff fix chronic problems that have irritated them for….years
Increases self-esteem
Creates a focus on (re)building and re-creates “control” over their destinies
Increases marketable job skills – process improvement and teamwork skills
Getting Started
• Find a mentor • Begin by choosing the right
business process to analyze • Assemble a team of the right
people (early adopters with influence, including union rep)
• Map the current state • Identify interruptions to flow • Map future state • Prioritize and implement
improvement projects • Assess, adjust, repeat in next
area • COMMUNICATE your early wins,
and don’t stop listening and communicating
Questions?
Lean Agility Inc. coaches government and public sector organizations to deliver faster, better and cheaper while at the same time engaging and energizing their people.
Craig Szelestowski
613 266 4653
leanagility.com