Things I heard yesterday: Policy Sweet spot – what we do well Staff Development Staff Exodus Succession Planning We can only cut for so long New dialogues should include systematic, wide-spread process improvement

County Executive Office

Champions – Select and sponsor what is important to improve Green Belts – Facilitate improvement teams or Kaizens Yellow Belts – Subject matter experts who are empowered to improve the process LEAN THINKERS DO WORK * IMPROVE WORK

So Much Better! Health Care Agency PWA/GSA Public Defender Public Health County Executive Office Special Therapy Medical Clinic wait time from 45 minutes to 5 minutes Reallocation of $600,000 towards channel repair annually without adding additional cost Public Defender can now issue Electronic Subpoenas Reduce callers time on hold in the WIC call center by 22%

So Much Better! County Clerk/Recorder RMA – Weights and Measures Fire Protection District Treasurer-Tax Collector Sheriff County Executive Office Saved $73,700 by repairing rather than purchasing 75 ballot boxes Reduced paper and improved customer service by offering on-line annual weights and measures device registration Battalion Fire Equipment Mechanic Program relocates service operations more regionally to improve service response time Balanced work load to reduce cost of extra help during the busy tax season for a savings of $7,000. Improved process for oversized vehicle permits to make things easier for the customer.

Dry Drug Analysis Turn-Around Time Reduction Kaizen The turn-around time (or cycle time) is defined as the time it takes from the moment a request for analysis is received until the time the final results are reported out. Current cycle time – order to completion averages 63 work days: analysis time averages 49 work days ** technical review averages 14 work days Future cycle time goal – 95% of all cases turned out in 21 days or less Results as of September 2011  New Performance: 17 work days technical review: 5 days Productivity (avg. cases processed per quarter): Jan-March (157), Apr-Jun (172), Jul-Sept (186) Baseline Backlog (Jan): 202 Backlog (Sept): 116 [was 60 in August] 2 team pizza parties, more time for training staff in section, encouraging other sections to pursue Kaizens Helps reduce wait-time for courts Collecting data for last quarter

County Executive Office SEEING WHAT IS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

“When the best leader’s work is done the people say: We did it ourselves.” - Lao Tzu

KAIZEN = CHANGE FOR THE GOOD IMPROVEMENT TEAMS WHO: 1.Focus on the Customer 2.Use Employees as experts to fix the problems 3.Reduce wasteful steps and create error-free processes 4.Continuously strive for excellence

DEFINE IMPROVE ANALYZE CONTROL MEASURE

“Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.” - Alasdair Gray Questions?