1.Briefly describe what you learned from the activities, instruments and discussions. What stands out for you?
I found the readings for this class very good, particularly the Maleyeff article “Improving Service Delivery in Government with Lean Six Sigma”. That article made a couple of points that will correlate directly to my project.
Most performance data are designed to evaluate effectiveness by focusing on metrics that represent how well and how efficiently services are provided. While these “outcome” data can be valuable in highlighting areas of concern, their role is often less valuable during improvement projects that require “process” data. (Maleyeff, p. 11)
And
Management commitment to a Lean Six Sigma process improvement program must go beyond slogans, banners, or motivational speeches. The leadership team should exude a constancy of purpose, along with discipline and patience hat allows the program to take root. The management team must be made responsible and accountable for both managing the organization and improving its effectiveness. The creation of an infrastructure that sustains requires attention be given to the following four actions… Develop a sound, consistent, and robust methodology. Build trust by removing fear. Initiate long term cultural change. And Communicate the vision to all stakeholders. (p. 18)
The concepts of instilling a culture of continuous improvement, having senior management lead and demonstrate foundational commitment to that culture, and the basic introduction to the tools used for assessing continuous improvement were adequately described in the reading.
