Article 41. The Power of a Collaborative Team Mindset

After Hurricane Katrina, it was collaborative leadership that returned order to New Orleans and improved rescue and recovery efforts.

by Russ Linden | April 7, 2010

Except from Governing Magazine

 

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On Monday morning, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. It was the costliest and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. Billions of people around the world watched in disbelief as the world's superpower seemed astonishingly unable to save the inhabitants of a major city. Government at all levels failed the people of New Orleans despite the valiant efforts of thousands of people.

Most of the anger was focused on FEMA, the federal government's emergency management agency, and its director Michael Brown. In the months after being fired due to FEMA's poor performance, Brown argued that he had managed FEMA well but couldn't control agencies outside of his authority. In fact, Brown's statement reflects a mindset totally inappropriate to his task. Brown was thinking hierarchically; he saw his job as managing his agency. But as Donald F. Kettl argues in The Next Government of the United States, Brown's primary job during the disaster was to think horizontally and develop partnerships. No single agency could deal with this disaster; it required a coalition.

On September 9, Thad Allen replaced Michael Brown to lead the search, rescue and recovery efforts. His no-nonsense demeanor restored a sense of confidence. Over the next three weeks, approximately 60,000 people were rescued from New Orleans -- 33,500 of them by the Coast Guard. A sense of order returned to the city, rescue and recovery efforts improved and political players started to cooperate. Allen received considerable credit for this improvement. How did he do it?

He began by inviting a number of his most trusted colleagues to work with him in New Orleans. Then, when Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco issued a blistering statement criticizing the federal government for failing to retrieve bodies from New Orleans waters, Allen called her. He asked, "Governor, have I done something to give you the impression that I'm interested in anything but helping the people of Louisiana?" That call softened her criticism and bought some time.

Within 24 hours of arriving, Allen and Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore`(commander of the Katrina Joint Task Force) established a planning group. They reported daily to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Gov. Blanco on their goals for the next day. Allen told those reporting to him that they were to treat everyone in New Orleans "as though they were members of your own family."
Allen then acted on one of his favorite sayings, "Transparency of information breeds self-correcting behavior." He opened the recovery process to the media, inviting them to become a partner in telling the public what was being done to help the residents.
Allen also relied on an approach refined by the Coast Guard over the years: focus on "strategic intent." Rather than develop detailed plans, he and his partners agreed on a general direction and major priorities, determined who was responsible for what and emphasized constant communications and flexibility.

As a result of these approaches, Allen's team was able to leverage about 130 boats from other organizations. They got local responders to share knowledge of the city with those who came from elsewhere. They allowed themselves to work more closely with the government and nonprofits on the rescue and cleanup.

As painful as Katrina was (and still is), its lessons are powerful for anyone interested in collaboration. The table below captures the key differences between Brown's and Allen's approaches. My point isn't to portray one as a superhuman hero and the other as totally responsible for inept government responses to Katrina. No single person was responsible for either the failures or the successes. The reason for contrasting Brown's and Allen's leadership styles is simply this: their performance during Katrina reflects some key differences between a bureaucratic-hierarchical style, and a collaborative approach.

Two Different Mindsets

	Michael Brown	Thad Allen
Focus	Manage his agency	Lead a network
Key assumptions	Can only use formal authority to accomplish goals	Can use relationships, influence, the media and peer pressure to achieve goals
	Need senior leader support to succeed	Need strong partnerships pulling in same general direction to succeed
	Go by the book	Be flexible, use requirements of the situation to set your course
Communications	Control the message tightly	"Shine a light" on the operations, show the public our work
Political power	You gain power through access to senior leaders	You gain power by listening, speaking truth to power, making good on promises and delivering results

To be sure, there are many times when a hierarchical leadership style is appropriate. But large, complex challenges require a collaborative mindset. In New Orleans, Thad Allen gave us a clinic on how a collaborative mindset works.
Note: This column is excerpted from Russ Linden's new book, Leading Across Boundaries: Creating Collaborative Agencies in a Networked World.

 

 

 

 

Article 40. Election Reform Yields Savings in Missouri

The number of counties in Missouri was determined in the 19 century by the distance that a resident had to go to the county seat and return in a single day by horse and buggy. The number of polling places in the county also had to be a convenient drive by horse and buggy. Now after more than a century and since the invention of the automobile any talk of cutting back the number of polling places is thought to be a treasonable offense. It is time to recognize that the cost of an election is directly related to the number of polling places.

An election in rural Phelps County Missouri normally requires a great deal of coordination and training of more than one hundred Election Judges with about 23 polling locations. There is also some difficulty for securing handicapped accessible polling places. The larger of election costs are associated with the purchase, maintenance, certification and transporting of expensive handicapped touch screen and regular scanning voting machines. Election costs soared with federal handicap voter mandates requiring computer touch screen voting machines as well as handicap access to the polls. Elderly election judges were unable to supervise the use of the touch screen voting machines and computer specialists (paid the same as elections Judges) are needed at each polling location adding to the cost. Apparently no thought was entertained for reducing the number of polls at the time of the government handicap poll requirements were made. Now the touch screen computers will soon need to be replaced (most computers usable life is not more than five years) Phelps County will need to purchase about 25 of them. The urgency for Election Reform comes from the fact that Phelps County as well as most other Missouri counties who have invested in the touch screen voting machines can not afford to meet this unfunded mandate without an increase in property taxes.

A change in Missouri’s election laws from voting on a single day to allow a choice for Early Voting could significantly reduce the cost of an election by decreasing the number of poll locations and the number of voting machines. In a time when state and local governments are struggling with reduced revenues Early Voting can reduce election costs significantly. Early voting is done in Texas and in Florida for different periods of time from a few days to as much as 17 days in Texas. I would suggest the adoption of a standard for Early Voting of one to five voting days prior to a Tuesday National election, including a presidential election. Voting on local elections with a smaller number of voters could be accommodated in one day, the regular Tuesday election. The point is to be flexible in serving voters according to expected voter turnout.

The number of polls required could be based on any number of criteria: school districts, natural barriers such as rivers, zip codes, or population centers such as incorporated towns. In some Missouri Cities for example Kansas City the school district is too large encompassing the entire city. Zip codes are not an exact location as some believe but overlap with each other even county lines. The logical choice for poll locations at least for rural Missouri is incorporated towns. Phelps county has five incorporated towns which would allow the number of polls to be 5 instead of the current 23. This is good for municipal as well as school elections.

With Early Voting an election is supervised by the County Clerk using existing office personnel and monitored by political party designated officials who validate election equipment as well as voters just as in a normal election. The difference being that the election is held at the County Court House in Rolla and in four other incorporated towns using one handicapped (touch screen) and one regular scanning voting machine at the five poll locations. There should be at least one back-up machine in case of equipment failure for a total six or seven handicapped (touch screen) and scanning machines. The saving comes from reducing poll locations from 23 to 5 and extending the voting period as in Early Voting with 5 polling areas each requiring Election Judges and with the reduction in both types of voting machines from about 50 to 14. Phelps County will benefit from the sale of the 18 touch screen computers as well as the sale of the 18 surplus scanning voting machines. The election reform will reduce Phelps County election costs by 50% to 70% while still meeting Federal mandates for handicap voters.

In Missouri Early Voting will require Legislative action authorizing the use of Early Voting and in some cases voter approval to make the change an alternative election procedure.  Voters in Missouri will get a chance to vote on this issue in the Spring of 2012.

A second improvement authorizes local governments to use ballot printing equipment (backed-up in case of printer failure), to “pre-print” and to “print on demand” ballots during an Early Voting election. This reduces the significant cost of unused ballots which currently must be pre-printed in advance in large numbers in case there is a greater voter turnout than predicted.

Update Dec 6, 2013
The state legislature has voted to allow the polls to stay open for more than one day but counties have been reluctant to reduce the number of polling places even for up to a 50% reduction in election costs.

Article 39. Approach Outline for the Total Reform of the US Federal Government

A White Paper by Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant  February 18, 2013

I read somewhere that if your going to eat an elephant you have to break it down into bite size pieces and that is exactly what the intention of this white paper is about.  This is an outline intended to build a frame work where others may hang their ideas.

The intent is to implement high level Government Reform Commissions to have oversight of the implementation of the reforms.  Each of the president’s cabinet departments should have a Reform Commission.  But to fully understand the responsibilities of each Reform Commission I recommend a pilot implementation be made in the Department of Defense.  This will allow lessons learned to make the remaining Departmental implementations operate more smoothly.

The Key Role of the Government Accounting Office
The GAO will Chair each Cabinet Departmental Reform Commission; this is necessary to provide the objectivity required for the implementation of the reforms.  Department personnel will be members of the Reform Commission.  Some Departmental officials may be on the commission in a rotating basis to focus  on key areas of the implementation.

The GAO will supply Budget Analysis personnel for the implementation of the author’s General Reform Model.  The GAO will be responsible for the storage of all data generated by low level Functional Lean Teams and collected by the Budget Analysts.  The data stored will be the basis for bottoms-up budget with the actual cost of every government function including the actual staffing required.

The Executive Office of Management & Budget and other government officials in need of budget data will have access to the budget data for budgeting purposes but the GAO will be responsible for maintaining and updating the data.

Congressional Oversight
Congress shall be updated on the progress of the Reform Implementations as required.
Department of Defense Pilot Implementation
The GAO will Chair the DOD Reform Commission at the Joints Chiefs of Staff level.  High level DOD personnel will be members of the Commission.   I recommend that the first area of implementation be in the US Army because of their emphasis on Lean Six Sigma.  Representatives of the US Army associated with the Lean Six Sigma should be members of the DOD Reform Commission.  Rotating membership should be provided for US Army organizations as key implementations are made in their areas.

Article 38. County Consolidation in Missouri

County Government Reform by consolidating the 19th century Counties into 21nd century Districts using the authors Consolidation Model.  Counties are among the most inefficient government organizations due to the difficult problem of balancing employee work loads caused by elections.

Question from an Ohio State Legislator
How do you approach the reduction of the number of local governments? 
Do you have something on how to reduce local governments?  We have 16 townships and 88 counties, is all of that necessary, just thinking about it.  I know some legislators here have already begun to talk about it.  

There are several reasons why this is a good idea among them are:
1. A significant cost savings results from the elimination of duplicated services.
2. Services to the elderly can be provided more economically and effectively.
3. Combining nearby counties and or cities increases the the appearance of a larger population attracting business and industry to the area.

Recommendations for Consolidating Counties
I recommend that my consolidation model be followed. Start by examining how the State Department of Transportation is organized into Districts.  These Districts are organized to provide the best service for the State's roads. Then consider that the same Districts more or less can provide health services. This gives you are starting example for the number of required Districts.  These new Districts will replace the current counties reducing their number from the 88 counties in Ohio to around 30 or 35 Districts.

Because most Counties will be reluctant to give up their County Seat and their Court House I recommend the the districts be called Health Care Districts and Department of Transportation Districts for the time being.  Each District should contain at least three Counties with the District offices residing in the most prominent town with a hospital. Each District should have a walk-in clinic for public health service and can be either public or private.  I would ignore the combining of local county and city governments until the Health and DOT District concept is accepted by the public.  This may take a couple of years.

Details of the Consolidation Model
I recommend that pilot Demonstration be made of the Consolidation Model of the first District.  This will allow lessons learned to be developed in the consolidation of the first district.  It also allows for the development of software applications that can be duplicated in the remaining Districts.
Step 1. Determine which of the Counties will be the new District   seat. This is done by a District wide vote
Step 2. Implement Enterprise Lean in each of the pilot Counties
Step 3. Have Budget Analysts collect the Lean Team data for each County in a separate Spread Sheet.
Step 4. After all the Functional data have been collected in each of the pilot counties.  The duplicated functions will be compared to determine the most efficient Lean method for doing the function and added to the new District database.  This will also become the Bottoms-up functional Budget for the District.
Step 5. The bureaucratic organization will be changed to a Team Management organization and layoffs for the District's redundant personnel will follow.
Step 6. The data developed in the pilot will be replicated for all of the remaining Districts.  It is not necessary to implement Enterprise Lean in all of the remaining Districts because the Lean Data has already been determined in the pilot however I still recommend that it be implemented for the benefits to employees and the need for continuous improvement to the district's functions.

I also recommend that County Road service be provided as a part of the State DOT District.

Consolidation in Metro Cities
Where County lines bisect metropolitan cities I recommend that Metropolitan District be created from the Counties. Some of the metro District's services will be the responsibility of the district but other services such as schools, fire and police should be the responsibility of the local city government.

Four Year State Reform Plan
After the state has implemented my General Reform Model and the other Reform Models the County Consolidation Reforms should follow as apart of a Four Year State Reform Plan.  This approach becomes more obvious when the Central Cloud State IT Model has been implemented.  This will provide Cloud IT services for all of the State's county and city obsolete IT computers.

Example of consolidation of Missouri Counties:

                           Current Missouri Counties

                     Proposed Missouri Districts

Article 37. Why Enterprise Lean has failed to get the Highest efficiency in Iowa and Minnesota

Both Iowa and Minnesota’s Enterprise Lean implementations have been touted as being enormously successful for years.  But when you look closer you will find that they have misapplied Toyota’s TPS (Toyota’s Production System) aka Enterprise Lean system.  The problem is that when Iowa and Minnesota adapted the Enterprise Lean system to their governments they failed to understand the differences between a Japanese manufacturing environment and an American State Government environment.  Toyota is a well managed company with less than 5% over staffing a factor not even considered in Toyota’s TPS.  But Iowa and Minnesota had an inherent 20% to 30% over staffing before the implementation of Enterprise Lean a fact misunderstood or ignored by the States' Administrative offices which manages Enterprise Lean.  Both Iowa and Minnesota have a stated policy that they do not reduce staff when lean studies clearly show a reduced staffing requirement.  If staffing is not reduced then they must find some new project for the extra staff to do to take advantage of the increased efficiency.  After a number of Lean improvements have been made and there are no other jobs to move personnel to, the entire Lean program becomes a sham and a waste of taxpayer dollars.  Yes they have improved systems such as document flows that improve customer service but they could have done this and saved taxpayer dollars.

Recommendations by Lawrence Rosier
For Iowa and Minnesota I recommend the current Lean organization be moved to a proposed State Reform Commission as an independent part of the State Auditors Office. This is necessary to prevent the state's bureaucracies from controlling the Enterprise Lean implementation and preventing the implementation of the reforms I recommend.
 
For other states wanting to adapt Enterprise Lean I recommend an indirect approach which legislatures can use to stem the growth of state government and make it efficient and effective.  My indirect approach uses the Enterprise Lean data from Lean Teams to reform the State Government.

My recommended indirect reform approach Following my General Reform Model
1. Establish a proposed Reform Commission in the state auditors office.
2. Implement Enterprise Lean throughout the State Government with Lean Teams.
3. Budget Analysts will Collect, accumulate and verify the data developed by the Lean Teams in Spreadsheets.
4. A Principal Consultant will implement Reforms by: Right-Sizing (makes sure all employees have a full time job), bottoms-up budgeting, changing the bureaucracy to Team Management and followed by other State Reform Models.  
Reference:
1. Minnesota's Enterprise Lean: http://www.lean.state.mn.us/
2. State of Iowa Office of Lean Enterprise: http://lean.iowa.gov/
3. Washington State: "Lean Transformation Report 2012 and Beyond": http://www.results.wa.gov/whatWeDo/applyLean/documents/2012LeanReport.pdf

Article 36. False Assumptions by government Leaders

The following list of false assumptions are not universal some government Leaders are better managers than others. 

1. Every problem requires a funding solution.
This simply is not true some problems can be resolved without spending any funds.  However most major problems should be researched to find the most “bang for the bucks”.  If the legislature were to use a Lean team this is where you would find the most innovative solutions. 

2. Across-the-board spending cuts treat all Agencies alike.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Agencies that manage their budgets well will experience difficulty but badly managed over staffed organizations will not feel the pain. Public safety issues arise by cutting police and fire protection. The consistent practice of across-the-board-cuts promotes over-staffing in all agencies and is a real drag on budgets.

3. All agencies need an Organization Chart describing the jobs that the agency does. 
Ostensibly this is done so that those outside the agency can find the proper person to approach for a solution. The problem is that the person in the org box may have a job which occupies less than a full time employee.  I recommend that bureaucracies be organized as teams with functional groupings not departments more on this later.

4. Difficult problems brought before law makers are sometimes resolved by funding the formation a new agency and passing the problem to it.  
The result is many agencies have out lived their usefulness yet continue to be a drag on state and federal budgets.

5. When a new agency is formed a bureaucratic organization chart is the first thing made.                                                      Then each block on the chart is filled. Each block in turn creates its own org chart etc. This is a top-down created agency an ever expanding bureaucratic maze before any work is actually done.  I recommend the bottom-up approach used to grow private businesses. Start with the formation of a top level Steering Management Team (preferably with Lean training) with each of its members leading a self-managed Functional Team of employees who are actually doing the work of the agency. The agency is grown efficiently from the bottom-up only expanding when there is a need to get something done

6. Budget cuts automatically result in reduced services. There may be some truth to this if the budget does not reflect the true cost of the service.                                                                       The fact is that nearly all state budgets are Top-Down budgets that reflect little of the real costs associated with a service only by Work Measurement resulting in a Bottoms-Up budget can the real costs be known. Once the real costs are known budget leaders will know exactly where to make cuts and still keep wanted government services.

7. An agency can be made to be more efficient if productivity is measured.                                                                                       The absolute worst thing you can do is to try to measure public services without standards especially those that have variations in their processes.  What you can do is to find the best way to do a function using Lean then use Work Measurement to determine the correct staffing.  Establish self managed Functional Teams empower them to innovate and make continuous improvement to their jobs.   Then get out of their way.  Don’t waste their time by trying to micromanage their jobs. 

8. With extreme pressure to balance the budget the legislature should only concentrate on finding all the savings that can be found.                                                                                              Wrong, this is usually not going to be enough to balance the State Government’s budget short falls. Major government reforms using Enterprise Lean should be implemented with due haste. This means the implementation of Lean Teams throughout government agencies leading to Work Measurement with subsequent staffing and a Bottoms-Up budget. This will determine where cuts can safely be made to continue needed government services.

9. To increase the efficiency of an agency first fix their IT problems.                                                                                     Dead wrong. The correct approach is implement Enterprise Lean Teams to study the overall problem determine how best to provide these services organize for the best solution and only then consider automation. The false assumption  in starting with an IT solution is that the organization is assumed to be already operating the best way it can.

10. Contracting government services to private vendors is the best policy.                                                                                    This is not always the best policy. IT contracting of public services in several states has failed in: Indiana, Texas and Virginia. The false assumption here is that private contractors know best how to do the job when the reality is that agency personnel are closer to knowing the real problems than a private contractor. The agency needs to remain in control of these services and only subcontract for IT services which it cannot provide. But again the agency should always use Enterprise Lean to determine the best way to do the job before automating it. 

11. The application of manufacturing methods to government processes improves productivity.                                                 Yes, but only where they apply. Most manufacturing production lines are a set of non-varying processes that produce a product. Most government and office services have varying processes where Enterprise Lean can be applied but not without supporting history data. 

The Most Costly False Assumption Made by Government Leaders
The single most costly false assumption made by government leaders is that Bureaucratic Government Operates Efficiently. Nearly all government leaders seldom give the efficiency of bureaucratic government a second thought or at least they think that nothing can be done about the problem. The fact is that all Bureaucratic organizations are inherently inefficient in management in two areas: being overstaffed by as much as 20% or more and by the bureaucratic failure to prevent waste, fraud and corruption.

This assumption is made every time we find related that there is only two ways to reduce budgets either “cut programs or raise taxes”.  This completely leaves out the third alternative of making government more efficient.  This is deeply engrained in our culture nearly all Politicians and Reporters regularly make this mistake of a two choice alternative cutting programs or raising taxes.  We hear this all the time repeated on TV.

This false assumption that bureaucracies operate efficiently comes from an even greater lack of understanding of the concept of efficiency and what it means for governments to operate efficiently.

Politicians make this assumption when they defend giant bureaucratic organizations such as Medicaid and Medicare from the recent budget cutting efforts. Some feel that there is enough public support for the services of these organizations that the opposition can’t win. Others are well aware that services provided cannot be sustained in the future and want to reign in the costs of these programs before doomsday. This kind of confrontational behavior is based on the single false assumption that bureaucratic government operates efficiently and therefore there are only two alternatives cut Medicare or raise taxes. Government Leaders who know about the inefficiency of Bureaucracies seam to be in agreement that nothing can be done about the problem. 

Congress should focus its attention on reforming government bureaucratic organizations using Enterprise Lean to get the highest efficiency possible. The method I propose Right-Sizes the Bureaucratic organization and changes it to a Team Managed organization. This is a major change in the way that these organizations are managed practically eliminating the current fraud and corruption with the help of today’s new computer systems. The benefits of this method is that democrats and the public get to keep the services provided and Republicans get the budget cuts they want and Medicaid and Medicare survive, at least for now and everybody wins except the bureaucrats.

It is clear that the third option of increasing the productivity of government is not well understood. In fact it is not understood at all by most state legislatures and congressmen who continue to pursue cutting programs or raising taxes as the only two options. One of the reasons for not buying into over staffing is that when I say nearly all bureaucracies are over-staffed by 20% or more they simply don’t believe it.  The reason is that nearly all politicians are regularly confronted by examples of over-worked government employees while some government employees have almost nothing to do.   

The Biggest Widespread False Belief About Government
The biggest widespread false belief about government is that “what it does” is somehow different from  “what normal business does”.   For every function found in government you can find something similar in business even voting.  But yet government appears to be fundamentally different from business.  This is because the political trappings of bureaucracy has created this mystique.  This belief is widespread in our culture.  I recall the famous quip by an astronaut who had just finished his day of training “That’s good enough for government work”.
  
If you can accept that this as true -there really is no difference between what government does and what business does -then you can begin to understand the mystique of bureaucracy.   Bureaucracy has brainwashed us all into thinking that if there is no profit motive then there is no reason to be concerned about the bottom line.  This has left us with the sad fact that it is nearly impossible to fire a government employee.  And as for laying off a government employee if there is no work to do it is totally out of the question.  This is one of the basic reasons that Bureaucracies are over staffed.

Article 35. Twenty Five Case Studies Using Lean in Government

Twenty five Case Studies using Lean in Government.  Ref. For the full case studies see the following link:  Lean Government Center  http://leangovcenter.com/govweb.htm by Harry W. Kenworthy Principal & Manager QPIC.
  
Recommendations by the Author Lawrence Rosier
These Case Studies are what I call high level Lean studies and are done mostly by professional Lean Consultants on individual projects. Lean Six Sigma is currently the preferred tool for fixing high level systems.

My complementary approach recommends that this individual high level project approach be done first using Lean Six Sigma followed by the implementation of Enterprise Lean for fixing the subsystems that feed the high level systems.  I also use the data from the Enterprise Lean studies for implementing major reforms to the organization using my General Reform Model.

The Enterprise Lean implementation involves all employees of a department or Agency being trained in the lean Lean tools.   I recommend Lean Six Sigma training for internal Management Employees to do internal document flow studies using the Value Stream Mapping tool for cross departmental studies.

Why implement Enterprise Lean?
The projects listed here only make individual high level systems more efficient but ignores all of the subsystems found in an Agency or a Department.  It is true that it makes the organization more efficient but it does less than half the job.  Enterprise Lean is used in the low level functional areas by Lean trained employees. Besides the savings from the Lean studies employees are empowered to innovate and make continuous improves in their jobs.
 
Use of Enterprise Lean Data for Reforms
Following my General Reform Approach I have adapted the Enterprise Lean Team data to be used in getting the highest efficiency and effectiveness possible in government systems. The Data is used in reforms for Right-Sizing (makes sure all employees have a full time job), staffing and the development of a Bottoms-up Budget.  This is followed by the elimination of the bureaucratic organization changing it to a Team Managed organization with additional savings.

Twenty five Case Studies using Lean in Government
Note that the following Lean case studies were mostly made by the invitation of a government bureaucracy and it is not known if any staffing reductions were actually made.

Case 1: MRAP Production Improvement
Greatly Increased Production of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicles. US Military 2006.

Case 2: Navy F404 Repair
Navy F404 Engine Repair Improvement for F/A-18 Hornet Aircraft

Case 3: Navy Process
Navy Process Improvement for Acquisition of Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Information Technology Items

Case 4: F-16 Pylons
Air Force Improved Repair of F-16 Wing Pylons at Ogden Air Logistics Center

Case 5: Improved Repair Process
Air Force Improved Repair of F-16 Radar Antennas at Ogden Air Logistics Center

Case 6: Corpus_Christi_HH-60
Improved Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul of HH-60 Pave Hawk Helicopters

Case 7: Army Process Improvement
Army Process Improvement for Preparing Cost Analysis Requirements Documents

Case 8: NASA Process Improvements
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrative and Technical Process Improvements

Case 9: IRS Performance
Problem
Quality of performance within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was sufficiently poor in the 1990s that in 1998, Congress passed the Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA 98). Problem areas identified for correction included personnel accountability and internal measurement accuracy.

Case 10: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) Improved Process for Obtaining Return of Overpayments

Case 11: EPA Corrective Action
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Improvement of Corrective Action Tracking Process

Case 12: EPA Process Improvement
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Process Improvement for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System

Case 13: Iowa Improved Environmental Permit Issuance
Iowa Improved Environmental Permit Issuance to Remove Barriers Effecting Economic Development and Growth
Problem
In 2003, Iowa’s Coalition for Innovation and Growth was working to improve state processes considered to be barriers to a business’s ability to develop and/or grow in Iowa. Several processes identified were related to issuing various environmental-related permits by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Case 14: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
Minnesota Improved Performance of Pollution Control Agency
Problem
In 2003, Minnesota’s Pollution Control Agency (PCA) was experiencing an increasing number of complaints from industry, and had received an audit by the state legislature, regarding inefficiencies in its permitting processes. Due to these inefficiencies, permit backlogs were high. In order to improve this situation, the agency turned to the Enterprise Lean (LSS) method.

Case 15: Michigan Improved Air Permitting
Michigan Improved Air Permit to Install Application Review Process
Problem.  In early 2004, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was experiencing pressure from its regulated community, citizens and state government to have its Air Permit to Install (Air PTI) application review process completed in less than six months. Industry within the state considered Michigan’s air permitting program to be cumbersome, slow and unresponsive to its needs. General Motors (GM), supported by other members of the regulated community, met with Michigan DEQ to discuss options for improvement and recommended a Value Stream Mapping (VSM) Workshop be held.

Case 16: Making Permits Work
Delaware Improved Performance of Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control in Air Construction Permitting Processes
Problem
In 2005, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) wanted to increase efficiency in its air construction permitting processes. The department had heard about the success Michigan had already achieved in doing the same thing. As a result, Delaware decided to use Michigan’s successful effort as its model.

Case 17: Idaho’s Enterprise Lean Success
Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Improved Air Quality Permitting Process
Problem
In Idaho, whenever any business has the potential to emit pollutants into the air, that business is required to obtain an air pollution control permit. Permits are needed when either a new business begins operations or an existing business make changes to its facilities. As with most states, Idaho wanted to ensure that economic development was not hampered by a lengthy permitting process that would be a roadblock to acquiring new businesses or enabling expansion of existing businesses. The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was also confronted with the reality that no additional funds or staff would be available in the foreseeable future to improve air quality permitting despite the fact that an increasing number of applications was expected. It was necessary, therefore, to make improvements with existing resources only. Further, improvements were sorely needed. The time required to complete the process was taking more than 300 days, and there was a substantial backlog of applications (50) awaiting approval.

Case 18: Oregon’s Improved Operation
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Reduced Time and Cost to Test Environmental Samples
Problem
Water, soil and other environmental samples must be tested within a reasonably short period of time after they are collected—some as short as 48 hours—before the sample is no longer viable. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) competes with private laboratories for this testing business. Therefore, Oregon DEQ experiences considerable pressure to keep turnaround times short and its costs competitive within this marketplace.

Case 19: County Uses Enterprise Lean
Erie County, Iowa: Cost Savings and Improved Services through Use of Enterprise Lean
Problem
Erie County, Iowa is located in the western part of the state and contains the city of Buffalo. The county borders on the shore of Lake Erie and is home to approximately 1,000,000 residents. In 2007, Erie County was operating under the auspices of an independent control board due to its unsteady fiscal situation.

Case 20: Building the Future Faster
San Diego County, Improved Process for Issuing Building Permits
Problem
When real estate developers needed to deal with San Diego County in order to obtain building permits, they were required to make nine separate visits, on average, to various county departments and agencies, and to navigate a mix of different fee structures, requirements and priorities. For example, one department focused on upholding building codes, another cared about environmental oversight and a third cared about how the proposed new structure would fit into the county’s master development plan. There simply was no single point of contact to provide applicants with the information and direction they needed to effectively, and successfully, accomplish the building permit process in a reasonable length of time. Indicative of the disjointed nature of the process, applicants walked a total of nearly 9/10 of a mile between various agency service counters to complete the process.
That situation began to change in November 2007 with the election of Christopher C. Collins as County Executive. He ran for this office as a businessman with the campaign slogan: “Elect a Chief Executive, not a Chief Politician.” He won with 64% of the vote.

Case 21: Handling Unplanned Changes
Mitigating Costs Associated with the H1N1 Influenza Virus within a County Correctional System
Problem
The 2009 H1N1 pandemic flu caused a series of issues for the jail and court system within a certain county government (not specifically named).

Case 22: Reforming City Government
Fort Wayne, Indiana: Cost Savings and Improved City Services through Use of Enterprise Lean
Problem
The city of Fort Wayne, Indiana (population, 250,000) is credited as being the first city within the country to implement Enterprise Lean (LSS) on a city government-wide basis. This was done in February 2000 under the leadership of its then mayor, Graham Richard. Mr. Richard was very familiar with the successes in using LSS that had been achieved by such notable private corporations as General Electric, Raytheon and ITT Industries. He believed that if costs could be reduced, productivity increased, and the quality of products improved in these companies; then the same benefits probably could be achieved in government entities as well.

Case 23: Irving’s Healthy Budget
Irving, Texas; Improved City Services Including Purchasing Healthcare for Employees
Problem
Irving, Texas is a city of approximately 200,000 residents located in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. It operates on a yearly budget of $350 million and has 2,180 employees. In 2006/2007, the city wanted to find breakthrough improvements in the services it provided to residents, visitors and businesses. To achieve these goals, the city decided to employ Enterprise Lean (LSS) methodology. Irving was the first city in Texas to implement LSS citywide.

Case 24: From the Ground Up
Mesa, Arizona, Improved Process for Issuing Building Safety Permits
Problem
The population of the city of Mesa, Arizona grew 37% from 1990 to 2000 and is expected to grow 30% over each of the next several decades. In order to attract more commercial development during this economic growth period, city government leaders wanted to cut the time it took builders to obtain a building safety permit from the city. At the time, it was taking three months, on average, from the initial application to permit issuance. Also, there was a two-month backlog. Finally, it was discovered there was a 73% first-time error rate for calculating fees based on what appeared to be an overcomplicated formula.

Case 25: Nationwide Savings
Various Examples of Improved Government Services at all Levels Using Enterprise Lean
Problem
Not every example of government use of Enterprise Lean (LSS) is widely publicized. In fact, for many applications, only limited information is available. However, all governments regardless of whether they are city, county, state or federal experience the same common problems: constrained financial resources, bureaucratic red tape, long lead times and increasing backlogs of work. The various government entities that have turned to LSS to solve these problems have experienced impressive and very satisfying results both in terms of the immediate issue at hand and regarding better motivated, more satisfied workforces
with higher morale.

Article 34. DOD Should Implement Enterprise Lean NOW!

By Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant

The DOD should implement Enterprise Lean (aka Toyota’s TPS) in all civilian offices Now!  Here is why. The process immediately focuses employees on how their jobs can be done better.  The process organizes employees into Functional Lean Teams that study how to improve each function performed by the Team.
The teams are organized and supported by Lean facilitators who have been trained in the Lean process by US Army Lean Six Sigma internal consultants.  I suggest that Facilitators can be found available in Human Resource Departments because the DOD has a hiring freeze.  

Implementation of the Team Management Organization
I further suggest that all DOD civilian employees be reorganized from the current Bureaucratic organization into a permanent Team Management organization based on the Functional Lean Teams.  Each Functional Lean Team would elect its own leader by secret ballot.   Cross training would begin immediately with each employee knowing how to do at least one other job this eliminates employees waiting on other employees to do their jobs and improves efficiency.  

Enterprise Lean Implementation
The Enterprise Lean project would be kicked off with mass training provided by the US Army’s Lean Six Sigma internal consultants.  The training would concentrate on the Value Stream Mapping tool (VSM).  The Functional Lean Teams would meet for one hour each week to do the VSM study.  Each Functional Lean Team would use the VSM tool to find the best way to perform the function (the most efficient and effective way).  One way of doing this is to tape each step of the function on brown wrapping paper taped to the conference room walls.  I suggest that the current method be done first followed by the improved method to determine savings in expenses and man hours. 

All of the above work can be done without the expenditure of any funds for outside consultants.  The next steps will require at least one outside consultant to train GAO Budget Analysts in how to cost out the VSM data, implement right-sizing and build a bottoms-up budgeting database.

GAO Budget Analysts
I further recommend that GAO Budget Analysts be brought in to collect and document the improved methods expenses and man hours on spread sheets.  This will become the basis for right-sizing (makes sure each employee has a full time job) the functions within the department.  Employees who do not have a job will become redundant.  The GAO would be the custodians of the VSM functional expenses and labor costs storing the data in a new database which will eventually become a bottoms-up Budget. A bottoms-up budget would make the expense and labor cost of each function transparent to all who need and use budget data.  The GAO would also be responsible for maintenance of all the Federal Government’s bottoms-up budget databases.

Article 33. Proposal for a Pilot Demo Reform of a Ford Dept Office

Lawrence Rosier & Associates

Management Consultants Government and Industry Reform

12143 Cedar Grove Rd. Rolla, Missouri
Phone 573-364-8789  Cell 573-578-4716

Letter of Transmittal: August 7, 2013
To:  Ford Motor Company
From: Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant

Subject: Proposal for a Pilot Demonstration of Reform of a Ford Department office

This proposal is for a pilot demonstration and implementation of a unique method of using Enterprise Lean with Lean Teams to get the highest efficiency with the most effectiveness within a Departments office environment of the Ford Motor Company. 

Ford has been a leader in the use of Lean and TQM to increase the efficiency of its shop floor employees now I am proposing a demonstration of the application of Enterprise Lean (Toyota’s TPS) to its office and Knowledge workers within a department.   Ford has demonstrated the effectiveness of Lean Six Sigma to solve high level individual systems problems.   But this is only on a project by project basis fixing one major system at a time within Fords bureaucracy and between agencies. While the Systems are improved and there is a significant cost reduction resulting from the elimination of waste the approach does little to reform an entire department making it more efficient and effective. This is accomplished in this proposal by implementing the General Reform Model developed by Lawrence Rosier adapted specifically to address the reform of a Ford department.  

Please Review the following Proposal for a Pilot demonstration of my General Reform Model. This document is intended to be used to promote understanding and to start discussion on consulting activities.  The Ford Motor Co. may modify the attached Proposal to fit its specific needs.

Kindest Regards Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant








Lawrence Rosier & Associates
Management Consultants Government and Industry Reform
12143 Cedar Grove Rd. Rolla, Missouri
Phone 573-364-8789  Cell 573-578-4716
http://managementconsultant.blogsome.com

PROPOSAL August 7, 2013

Proposal for Pilot demonstration Reform in a Ford office environment
By Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant

This proposal is for the implementation of a pilot reform using the General Reform Model developed by Lawrence Rosier Principal Consultant to be implemented  in a selected office environment. The Method implements Functional Lean Teams of employees throughout the selected Department‘s office environment. The Lean concept was developed by Toyota to involve employees in increasing the efficiency and the continuous improvement of their jobs. The benefits to Ford are from efficient and effective operations but also the change in the way Ford employees view their jobs empowering them to innovate and make continuous improvements to their jobs. The General Reform Model uses the data developed by the Lean Teams for Work Measurement and from that staffing and budgeting is determined. The objective of the General Reform Model is to get the highest efficiency possible and improve the effectiveness of the selected department and turn a difficult major reform into a relatively smooth operation.

Goals:
Phase 1:
The main goal is to use Enterprise Lean to get the highest productivity possible and improve the effectiveness of a department while empowering its employees through Lean training to innovate and make continuous improvement to the systems in their jobs.

Phase 2:
The Lean Team data is used for right-sizing and the development of a bottoms-up budget the result is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the department which may result in the reduction of staffing. A major benefit is the transparency to Ford’s Management of the detailed costs associated with each of the functions within the department’s budget.

Phase 3.
The final Phase changes the Bureaucratic organization to a Team Managed organization using the already established High level management Lean Teams for management and the Functional Lean Teams at the functional work place.  The steps are to train employees to do multiple jobs, eliminating wait times and implement weekly work planning for variable jobs. Redundant employees are remove from the work environment and retrained for other jobs.  The General Reform Model is a method designed to accomplish these goals. 



Proposal Details:
I suggest a meeting to allow Ford leaders and staff members to become fully familiar with the logic of the method I am proposing using my General Reform Model. I suggest this meeting be an across the table discussion of my proposed General Reform Model and how it can be implemented successfully at Ford.

The first step is the formation of a high level Implementation Committee with broad powers to lead and implement reforms. This is necessary for legitimacy and to make sure that data developed through Work Measurement belongs to the Committee and not to the Department where it was obtained. This is followed by the selection of the Department to be reformed.

I suggest that the day to day activities of the implementation be co-chaired by the Principal Consultant and a Ford Management Representative. The Management Representative will be tasked with providing those employees who will participate in the implementation and their expenses including equipment, offices and meeting rooms. 

The Management Consultant will form an Implementation Team with Budget Analysts and or Auditors on loan from Ford Audit Division. The required number is entirely dependent on those who can be made available and the size of the Department. I do not bring any of my own staff to the job but chose to train current employees such as Budget Analysts from the Lean Facilitators to fill key jobs during the implementation . The advantage is that the knowledge they acquire in managing the new methods will stay within Ford.

Phase 1:
The first act of the Reform Committee and the Principal Consultant is in planning for the implementation of Lean Teams throughout the selected Department. The purpose is to resolve issues related to Lean training, Facilitators, Budget Analysts and specifically what the Lean Teams must do to meet the requirements for determining staffing and budgets. I suggest that a Certified Lean trainer be brought in to train the training staff. Lean training should begin immediately by the Ford’s training staff.  Training should be made for staff members first followed by management and then Lean Facilitators. Lean facilitators organize and train each employee Functional Lean Team work group which usually meets for one hour on a weekly basis. There are three major Lean Team endeavors, a high-level Steering Lean Team, a mid-level Lean team made up of mid-level managers to make document flows efficient and at-the-work-place Functional Lean Teams, those who do the basic work of the Department. The Steering Lean Team will report to the Principal Consultant and will assist in the management of the implementation. The Steering Team also has another task to consolidate the Department’s internal Services as described in my Consolidation Model (if required).  Mid level Lean Teams are tasked to study inter-department document flows.

Phase 2:
After a period of about two months most Functional Lean Teams, those that were organized and trained by Facilitators, should have their Value Stream Analyses completed. I have had success with doing the flow of the current method on long butcher or brown wrapping paper taped around a conference room on the walls. The proposed improved method is done directly under the current method to highlight the differences between the methods. I would allow the Lean Teams to present their improved method to management. After the presentation the Lean study data is given to a Budget Analyst to determine the savings from the Lean study data.

Phase 3.
The final Phase changes the Bureaucratic organization to a Team Managed organization using the already established High level management Lean Teams for management and the Functional Lean Teams at the functional work place.  The steps are to train employees to do multiple jobs, eliminating wait times and implement weekly work planning for variable jobs. Redundant employees are remove from the work environment and retrained for other jobs.  The General Reform Model is a method designed to accomplish these goals. 

Activities of the Principal Consultant:
The Principal Consultant will play a key role in being sure that the Lean Teams are properly trained and in the selection and approach of the high-level Lean Teams. The Principal consultant will insure that the activities of Analysts currently employed by the Budgeting and Auditing Departments can determine the correct staffing level through Work Measurement and any expenses needed during the process. Some Analysts may find the proper staffing for variable processes difficult to determine. If so the analysis will be done by the Principal Consultant. This data combined with the number of occurrences of the Function over time, obtained from a daily log kept by each Lean Team, provides the basis for an accurate Functional budget. The data from the Lean study will be Transferred to a spread sheet by the Budget Analysts and summarized in a database where all of the Agency’s Functional Data is stored. The activities of Budget Analysts are important and will be followed closely by the Principal Consultant.

The Consultant will make a final review of the data to determine the actual staffing required. Note that in most cases this is not a simple calculation due to variations in the times required to do some processes. Consolidation of Departmental employees is required meaning most employees who currently do not have a full time job will have to be trained to also do a second job while other employees will become redundant. A Special skill is required in balancing the work load to give the remaining employees a full time job. This may be further complicated by jobs which continually change which will require the training of a Work Planner to balance the work load assignments for each employee on a weekly basis an appropriate management tool. This is also the period of time for Right-sizing the entire Department once it is known where staffing can be reduced. Retraining and reassignment of redundant employees should be completed within three months.

Current knowledge about Bureaucratic staffing has shown that nearly all bureaucracies are overstaffed by at least 10% and most are overstaffed by as much as 20%. Savings to the Ford Motor Company for this implementation is largely from the salaries and benefits of redundant employees. Long term benefits continue from employee empowerment to innovate and make continuous improvement to their jobs. Other benefits are from the simplification of government processes.  The Return On Investment is expected to be significant and may reach as much as $100 for every $ 1 invested.  After three months with the Pilot Demo projections can be made for actual savings can be made.

The Ford Motor Company Agrees to Pay Lawrence Rosier & Associates a Fee per week for services rendered.  This agreement can be canceled by either party with a one week notice.  All expenses such as travel, lodging, rental car, per diem are the sole responsibility of Lawrence Rosier & Associates.  

The following Client signatures of the representatives for the Ford Motor Co. represents a general agreement that the Ford Motor Co. will follow the proposal’s outline of Lawrence Rosier’s General Reform Model as presented.  The proposal contains suggestions for the implementation of the General Reform Model which may be modified by mutual agreement.  By the following signatures the Client also agrees to the weekly fee required by Lawrence Rosier and Associates.

_____________________                     ___________________
Signatures of Ford Motor Co. Representatives

______________________
Signature of Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant
Lawrence Rosier & Associates 12143 Cedar Grove Rd. Rolla, Missouri 65401
573 364 8789, cell 573 578 4716,  fax:  573 368 2907
Email: Lawrencerosier4@gmail.com

Article 32. Pilot Demo Reform of US Health and Human Services

Lawrence Rosier & Associates
Management Consultants Government Reform

LETTER of TRANSMITTAL: May 7, 2013
To:  Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh, M.D., M.P.H. 
From: Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant representing Lawrence Rosier & Associates

Subject: Proposal for the implementation of a Pilot Demonstration for the Reform of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The approach recommends the use Lean six Sigma to make high Level health decisions in health management and in health diagnostics supplemented by Enterprise Lean to get the highest efficiency with the most effectiveness in the DOHHS and in health care delivery systems nation wide.

The objective of this Proposal is for a pilot demonstration of how health care can be made efficient and affordable through the implementation of Lawrence Rosier’s General Reform Model, a unique method of using Enterprise Lean to obtain the highest efficiency and effectiveness possible; followed by right sizing the organization (making sure there is balanced work load), the development of a Bottoms-up budget and finally the conversion to a Team Management organization.    

The method builds upon the implementation of Toyota’s Enterprise Lean with both high level Management Lean Teams studying agency systems and document flows and work place Functional Lean Teams studying all of the agencies functions involving all agency employees. The Lean Training of employees is done by agency training staff after a train-the-trainer program provided by a certified Lean trainer. The primary purpose of the Lean Teams is find the best way to perform the agencies functions getting the highest efficiency possible while improving the agencies effectiveness. An added benefit of Lean training is to empower employees for innovation and continuous improvement of their functions.

Please Review the following Proposal of a demo for DOHHS reform. This document is intended to be used to promote understanding and to start discussion on consulting activities and may be altered to fit required situations.  The Federal Government may modify the attached Proposal to fit its specific needs.

Kindest Regards Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant
Please Review the articles on my website for or details.

Lawrence Rosier & Associates
Management Consultants Government Reform
12143 Cedar Grove Rd. Rolla, Missouri
Phone 573-364-8789  Cell 573-578-4716
http://managementconsultant.blogsome.com

PROPOSAL May 7, 2013
By Lawrence Rosier & Associates

This Proposal for a Pilot demonstration of  Federal Agency Reform is presented to  Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh, M.D., M.P.H.  By Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant

This proposal is for the implementation of a pilot reform using the General Reform Model developed by Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant to be implemented by   The DOHHS. The Method implements Functional Lean Teams throughout the Agency. The Lean concept was developed by Toyota to involve employees in increasing the efficiency and the continuous improvement of their jobs. The benefits to the Government are from efficient and effective operations but also the change in the way government employees view their jobs empowering them to innovate and make continuous improvements to their jobs. The General Reform Model uses the data developed by the Lean Teams for Work Measurement and from that staffing and budgeting is determined. The objective of the General reform model is to get the highest efficiency possible and improve the effectiveness of the agency and turn a difficult major reform into a relatively smooth operation.

Goals:
The main goal is to maintain the serves of the agency while getting the highest productivity possible and improve the effectiveness of the agency by empowering its employees through Lean training to innovate and make continuous improvement to the systems in their jobs. This is followed by Right-sizing the agency‘s staffing, the development of a bottoms-up budget and the change to a Team Management organization

The developed Lean Team data is used for right-sizing and the development of a bottoms-up budget the result is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the agency which may result in the reduction of agency staffing. A major benefit is the transparency to the Federal Reform Commission of the Agency’s staffing budget. The “General Reform Model” is a approach designed Lawrence Rosier to accomplish these Goals.

Proposal Details:
I suggest a meeting to allow DOD leaders and staff members to become fully familiar with the logic of the method I am proposing using my General Reform Model. 

The first step is the formation of a Departmental Reform Commission with broad powers to lead and implement reforms.  This can be followed by the selection of the Agency to be reformed.

I suggest that the day to day activities of the implementation be co-chaired by the Management Consultant and a high level Department representative. The Department representative will be tasked with providing those employees who will participate in the implementation and their expenses such as equipment offices and meeting rooms. The Department representative shall be given the authority to remove any employee who attempts to block this reform implementation and refer them to the Departmental Reform Commission for disciplinary action.

The Management Consultant will form an Implementation Team with Budget Analysts and or Auditors on loan from the GAO and or the Department’s Audit Division. The required number is entirely dependent on those who can be made available and the size of the Agency. I do not bring any of my own staff to the job but chose to train current employees as Budget Analysts and Lean Facilitators to fill key jobs during the implementation . The advantage is that the knowledge they acquire in managing the new methods will stay within the Department and will be used for other continuing implementations.

The first act of the Departmental Reform Commission and the Principal Consultant is in planning for the implementation of Lean Teams within the selected Agency. The purpose is to resolve issues related to Lean training, Facilitators, Budget Analysts and specifically what the Lean Teams must do to meet the requirements for determining staffing and budgets. I suggest that a Certified Lean trainer be brought in to train the agency’s training staff. Lean training should begin immediately by the Agency’s training staff.  I also suggest that the Agency’s normal training curriculum be suspended and an all out effort be made for Lean Training of all personnel. Training should be made for staff members first followed by management and then Lean Facilitators. Lean facilitators organize and train each employee Lean Team work group which usually meets for one hour on a weekly basis. There are three major Lean Team endeavors, a high-level Steering Lean Team, a mid-level Lean team made up of mid-level managers to make document flows efficient and at-the-work-place Functional Lean Teams those who do the basic work of the Agency. The Steering Lean Team will report to the Principal Consultant and will assist in the management of the implementation.

The Steering Team also has an alternate task when required to consolidate the Agency’s internal Services as described in Lawrence Rosier’s Consolidation Model. Mid level Lean Teams are tasked to study inter-department and agency document flows.

After a period of about three to six months most Functional Lean Teams, those that were organized and trained by Facilitators, should have their Value Stream Analyses completed. I have had success with doing the flow of the current method on long butcher or brown wrapping paper taped around a conference room on the walls. The proposed improved method is done directly under the current method to highlight the differences between the methods. I would now allow the Lean Team to present the improved method to management. After the presentation the Lean study data is given to a Budget Analyst to determine the savings from the proposal.

Activities of the Principal Consultant:
The Principal Consultant will play a key role in being sure that the Lean teams are properly trained and in the selection and approach of the high-level Lean teams. The Principal consultant will insure that the activities of Analysts currently employed by the GAO and Department Auditors can determine the correct staffing level through Work Measurement and any expenses needed during the process. Some Analysts may find the proper staffing for variable processes difficult to determine. If so the Analyst should wait for the Management Consultant to make this determination. This data combined with the number of occurrences of the Function over time, obtained from a daily log kept by each Lean Team, provides the basis for an accurate Functional budget. The data from the Lean study should be Transferred to a spread sheet by the Budget Analysts and summarized in a database where all of the Agency’s Functional Data is stored. The activities of Budget Analysts are important and will be followed closely by the Principal Consultant.

The Principal Consultant will make a final review of the data to determine the actual staffing required. Note that in most cases this is not a simple calculation due to variations in the times required to do some processes. Consolidation of Agency employees is required meaning most employees who currently do not have a full time job will have to be trained to also do a second job while other employees will become redundant. A Special skill is required in balancing the work load to give the remaining employees a full time job. This may be further complicated by jobs which continually change which will require the training of a Work Planner to balance the work load assignments for each employee on a weekly basis using six sigma as a management tool. This is also the period of time for Right-sizing the entire Agency once it is known where staffing can be reduced. Layoffs should be completed within three months.

Current knowledge about Bureaucratic staffing has shown that nearly all bureaucracies are overstaffed by at least 10% and most are overstaffed by as much as 20%. Savings to the Federal Government for this implementation is largely from the salaries and benefits of redundant employees. Long term benefits continue from employee empowerment to innovate and make continuous improvement to their jobs. Other benefits are from the simplification of government processes.  The Return On Investment is expected to be significant and may reach as much as $100 for every $1 invested.  After three months with the Pilot Demo projections for actual savings can be made.

The Federal Government Agrees to Pay Lawrence Rosier & Associates a Fee per week for services rendered.  This agreement can be canceled by either party with a one week notice.  All expenses such as travel, lodging, rental car, per diem are the sole responsibility of Lawrence Rosier & Associates.  

The following Client signatures of the representatives for the Federal Government represents a general agreement that the Federal Government will follow the proposal’s outline of Lawrence Rosier’s General Reform Model as presented.  The proposal contains suggestions for the implementation of the General Reform Model which may be modified by mutual agreement.  By the following signatures the Client also agrees to the weekly fee required by Lawrence Rosier and Associates.

_____________________                     ___________________
Signatures of Federal Government Representatives

______________________
Signature of Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant
Lawrence Rosier & Associates 12143 Cedar Grove Rd. Rolla, Missouri 65401
573 364 8789, cell 573 578 4716,  fax:  573 368 2907
Email: Lawrencerosier4@gmail.com