Governments looking for a way to streamline operations while still providing quality services are increasingly turning to Lean and Six Sigma to make taxpayer-funded agencies more efficient.
That includes the new Peak Academy within the city government of Chattanooga, Tenn.
Officials in Chattanooga, the fourth most populous city in The Volunteer State, were looking to eliminate waste from city operations while also improving services. That essentially sums up the philosophy of Lean Six Sigma.
Peak Academy uses many of the tools and strategies defined in Lean Six Sigma that empower employees to identify and eliminate wasteful practices that don’t add value to the customer. And it’s completely volunteer, with no cost to the city.
So far, more than 100 employees have gone through the training. The city already has realized $85,000 in savings. The program also is starting to generate revenue because people outside of city employees are willing to pay to take Peak Academy courses. That includes employees from organizations such as the United Way of Chattanooga and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Inspiration From Denver
Chattanooga officials had inspiration from another city. In November 2016, Tim Moreland, the director of performance management and open data for the city of Chattanooga, attended courses at the City of Denver Peak Academy in Colorado.
The program in Denver has resulted in a much more efficient process within the city’s Department of Human Services, as documented in this video.
Impressed by what he saw, Moreland decided to spearhead creation of a similar academy back in Tennessee, creating the City of Chattanooga Peak Academy.
Much of what is taught at the academy parallels what is taught in Lean Six Sigma. Part of that is empowering employees to make small changes that can dramatically reduce costs over the long run.
The idea is to foster collaboration that leads to plans that strategically remove waste – particularly anything that does not serve the customer.
The academy offers two levels of training. The Green Belt level takes less than a day of training and introduces students to basic Lean Six Sigma concepts. The Black Belt level lasts a week. That time is spent learning how to identify waste in a process, understanding how to find the root cause of that waste and then learning how to create solutions that will last.
Everyone involved volunteers their time while maintaining their regular jobs.
Success So Far
City of Chattanooga employees, using skills learned at Peak Academy, have already saved the city $85,000. They have done this by identifying 22 different areas to cut waste.
In one case, an employee realized she didn’t need to make the 11 copies of major government contracts that had always been the practice. Instead, she now only makes copies upon request, resulting in significant savings on paper and ink.
Not all initiatives directly involve money, but rather focus on customer service. In one case, a worker simply reorganized her desk to allow the public better access. In another case, a library worker and a member of the city police department’s gang unit who went through Peak Academy together formed a book club between the two departments with a reading list aimed at increasing empathy among members of the police force.
The use of Lean and the Peak Academy concept has spread to many different city governments. In San Diego, city officials started a program based on the Denver Peak Academy. Kern County in California has launched a program to educate hundreds of employees in Lean Six Sigma methodology. Leaders in Oklahoma state government are turning to Lean to find efficiencies in the midst of a budget crisis.
All this is happening against the backdrop of a study released last year that showed governments could see many improvements by incorporating Lean, but few have taken those steps. With the spread of the Peak Academy concept and with more local and state governments considering Lean and Six Sigma, that could change in the coming years.
