Quality and the Art of Weaving into Business Delivery
In consulting, the word quality prompts negative and positive reactions.
Demystifying Innovation
Government agencies and policymakers increasingly recognize supporting innovation as essential to achieving their missions. Still, many leaders struggle to promote innovation. Some may even give up and see it as unrealistic for their organizations. However, promoting innovation is very realistic and is achievable.
To promote innovation across the government and achieve mission results, we need to start with a clear understanding of what innovation actually involves and of specific problem-solving techniques we can use to innovate effectively.
SILab Ideas: Process and Tools for Improving Organizations
A great customer experience (CX) depends on efficient, compelling processes. Process improvement sounds simple enough – just identify a few bottlenecks or weak points, reroute processes, teach the new processes to your employees, and congratulate yourself on a job well done. Right?
Process improvement rarely goes this smoothly and they can be particularly difficult for the Federal Government because the size and complexities of the programs leads to processes that become firmly ingrained in day-to-day work and culture. To get it right, the Government must recognize their weak spots and develop a plan that integrates process improvement with their strategy and with organization change management techniques.
Reinventing Strategy
Since the GPRA Modernization Act in 2010, agencies across the Federal Government have raced to establish new Strategic Plans in response to incoming Presidential Administrations and agency leaders. Developing a new Strategic Plan is incredibly exciting for an agency. Leaders can redefine priorities, frontline managers can improve mission performance, and employees can better engage with the mission. Strategy, however, is so much more than just a Strategic Plan.
Great Meetings with IT Customers in an Agile World
Meetings are an essential part of day-to-day work and collaboration in every organization. There are an estimated 37 million meetings every day in the United States, yet up to 67 percent are considered failures. Sources estimate the cost of unproductive meetings in the billions and say meetings may take up 15% of an organization’s collective time.
Improving Processes… to Change How Customers View the Government
The days of ‘because this is the way we have always done it’ are over. Agencies face demands to be more mission-focused and customer-centric.
While ‘innovation’ is the word of the day, leaders are forgetting the power of documenting, measuring, and improving processes across Government – and the link to supporting the mission. It is time to go back to the basics of process improvement since it is common that funding is not available to improve the information technology systems that can help make more dramatic improvements.