By Mary Jo Caldwell
Every leader wants their agency to be a continuously improving agency, with themselves and their senior management as the champions of change.
So, by implementing a Continuous Improvement (CI) initiative is that what the result will be for you? The answer to that is, “Yes, it can!” I’ll begin with what CI is and how it got its start, and follow with how the State of Minnesota, specifically the Department of Corrections (DOC), launched its effort.
One definition for CI is: A set of processes and procedures adapted from the Lean and Six Sigma methodologies that will work to improve a current process or design a new one.
The goal is to become efficient, effective, and less wasteful in our work. W. Edwards Deming, often called one of the grandfathers of Total Quality Management, said, “If you can’t describe what you do as a process, you don’t know what you are doing.” There you have it. Everything we do can be termed a process and it can always be broken down into smaller processes, steps, or tasks.
The Six Sigma methodology takes a system-improvement approach, emphasizing customer input, relying on data to make decisions, and using process control to sustain improvement results. Six Sigma originally was thought to work only in the manufacturing industry. General Electric and Motorola were the ground breakers in bringing this into their organizations beginning with their assembly lines. They found Six Sigma helped reduce the variance in their processes, thereby reducing the number of defects in each of the products manufactured.
The Lean approach to organizational improvement was heavily influenced by the Toyota Production System which was developed during World War II and is termed a “pull system” rather than a “push system.” This means that a stakeholder or customer is able to pull from you or your web site for a product or information rather than one of your staff needing to deliver or send something on to them, which is a very efficient use of resources.
A main contribution of Lean is to reduce waste and increase efficiencies by removing non-value-added tasks. One of the main tools in the Lean toolbox is a Kaizen project. This tool helps to visually depict a process or processes in a swim lane map the number of tasks, delays, handoffs, and decisions that are involved in the process by categories or timelines.
Minnesota’s Journey
We have been successful at embedding CI in our Facilities Division culture by utilizing a project team approach coupling tools from Six Sigma and Lean. This combination of methodologies provides us with a range of tools to take a system-improvement approach, rely on data to make decisions, and use process controls to sustain improvement results with our stakeholders as the focus.
We also benefit from this combined approach in our process evaluation, linking our process improvement efforts with our strategic plan, and providing good tools to our staff to map, measure, analyze, improve, and redesign current processes.
Each project is looked at individually to determine the best method for the project facilitators. To date, we have one CI Manager and 44 trained project facilitators. Here is our annual recap of what we did to bring CI on board at the DOC. We have held 14 Six Sigma projects and just completed our 50th Kaizen.
- 2005 The Continuous Improvement journey begins at the direction of the Commissioner and with help from a private consulting team. Two Six Sigma Green Belt project teams are established and trained in Six Sigma methods. They select two initial projects; the first is a Human Resources (HR) project and the second in the offender industry division.
- 2006 Four more Six Sigma Green Belt projects are completed this year, talk of their improvements is beginning to circulate through the agency. These projects include another HR project and three prison projects: linen exchange, offender work assignment, and leave management.
- 2007 Managers receive Six Sigma Leadership Black Belt training and begin selecting additional improvement projects. Five Green Belt project teams are created and projects begin.
- 2008 A dedicated position is created for a CI manager. CI Executive Management Team formed. This team selects proposed projects and works with CI Manger to develop training curriculums. Three Green Belt Teams are deployed. Lean joins the toolbox and the Kaizen projects begin. Four Kaizens completed.
- 2009 Process improvement becomes part of the Agency’s strategic plan. Fifteen Kaizens completed and all existing Green Belt projects are completed. MN Department of Administration (DOA) hires a CI Director supporting all state agencies’ CI efforts called Enterprise Lean. DOA provides free training to state agencies in Lean 101 and Lean Facilitator training.
- 2010 Continuous Improvement and Lean CI integration continues in the Facility Division. Staff roles and expectations in CI clarified. Policy is drafted and approved for submitting projects. CI Executive Team continues. New trainings continue to be developed. General Mills partners with the State of Minnesota in the Enterprise Lean effort and shares their lessons learned and what works for them.
- 2011 New commissioner supports CI vision and new Governor submits an Executive Memo to all agencies requesting continued support of the CI initiative from the past administration requesting participation from all agencies in CI.
- 2012 To date, 50 Kaizen projects have been completed with improvements realized in each one! Additional projects are lined up to begin.
Continuous Improvement allows the MN DOC to achieve these guiding principles:
• Focus on priorities, manage for results
• Actively partner to leverage knowledge, ideas, and resources
• Rely on data for decision-making
• Strive for excellence and innovation in our service delivery
What lessons have we learned?
1. On-going leadership involvement and support is critical to success
2. Clear goals, targets, roles, and responsibilities are needed
3. Continuous Improvement is a mindset – not an end result
4. We must be flexible – plans and priorities change
5. Communicating improvements resulting from CI is essential
6. It takes WORK to change habits and culture
7. To maintain gains, we must continually integrate CI into process management
As a leader, what is your role in Continuous Improvement?
As a leader, you are critical to the success of the Agency and to the success of CI. To adequately fulfill your role and responsibility, you must:
• Communicate: Regularly talk and write about projects and results (avoid using jargon) internally and externally (when appropriate).
• Model the way: Look for opportunities to employ CI tools – then do it! Allow staff the time needed to engage in projects. Walk the talk; set the tone.
• Support projects: Take an active role. Help link projects to Agency strategies. Track and inventory projects; document and communicate results.
• Expect improvement: Help staff establish proper project scope and size. Lay out expectations; require accountability. Conduct regular reviews.
• Generate culture shift: Allot time in work plans for CI. Regularly explore where CI can be applied in day-to-day process management. Recognize and reward success.
Continuous Improvement can be found in state government around the country and it is working for them as well.
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About the author: Mary Jo Caldwell has been the Continuous Improvement Manager for the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) since 2008. She leads the process improvement initiatives that help facilitate organizational change.
Mary Jo joined the DOC in 2000 as Project Manager for Field Services. In 2003, she was promoted to Administrative Management Director for Field Services. Prior to coming to the DOC, Mary Jo worked in the non-profit sector in half-way house settings with sex offenders and electronic home monitoring.
She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Hamline University in St. Paul.