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My name is Jonathan Ingram. I’m a Vice President with Raftelis and I lead our local government organizational assessment practice.
What is process improvement?
So what on earth does that mean? Organizational assessment is a broad bucket term for process improvement, staffing and deployment analysis, and those elements of the organization that contribute toward its efficiency, its effectiveness, and the delivery of service to the public. So what it takes to run an organization, particularly a local government, is people, process, and technology. And that’s really what our focus is.
Process improvement is one area of focus. And really, so what is it, right? I think everyone’s probably heard the term. But really what it is, it’s about looking at the way in which you deliver services to the public and asking yourself the question: is the way we are delivering this service, does it suit the current environment? Or is it a relic from the past? That’s really the question we’re trying to answer.
Processes develop over time, and they develop for good reasons. Individuals make adjustments to a process or define a process step because it’s specifically designed to solve a problem. But maybe that problem doesn’t exist anymore. And what process improvement does is it really provides a very structured and focused approach to answer the question: can we make sure the process works for today?
A dive into a process improvement case study
A process improvement effort that I’m really proud of is the work we’ve done with the city of Charleston, South Carolina, over the past several years. We have developed a process improvement training program called the Raftelis Performance Academy, where we will come into an organization and spend up to four days training a cohort of employees from all vantage points in the organization:
The folks in the organization who have the energy and interest to learn about process improvement. It equips those folks with the ability to tackle the real-world challenges they face day in, day out. But it also creates an opportunity for professional development where we can build on the strength of the organization and create opportunities for those folks who are scattered throughout the organization but have real interest and will to really grow and develop in a way that benefits them but also benefits the organization and the public.
Focus on the people in the process
A key takeaway that I would offer our clients who are interested in taking on a major process improvement effort is to respect the fact that the process exists for good reason. That process was formed in response to particular challenges in the past. The circumstances that that process was designed around may have changed. But let’s not forget the process was designed with good intention and that there are people in your organization who care about that process and who have an ownership stake in it.
If you don’t include those folks in the conversation, if you don’t honor their history with that process and their role in the organization, it doesn’t matter how effective the process improvement is. If the people aren’t behind you to support an implementation, it will go nowhere. So focus on the people, focus on the people in the process, and you’ll have a much greater likelihood of success.
For more information on local government process improvement or the Raftelis Performance Academy, contact Jonathan Ingram at jingram@raftelis.com.
