Recently, it was decided that all state government employees needed to complete Lean Six Sigma White Belt training. Essentially, this training is designed to combine Lean’s methods for reducing waste and maximizing flow in processes and Six Sigma’s methods for using measurement tools to decrease the variations that lead to inefficiency in processes. These concepts can be incredibly useful for government agencies, because government agencies are often extremely inefficient and behind the times in adopting new technology, processes, and management styles.
Weaknesses:
Often, when Lean Six Sigma White Belt training is introduced to an organization, it is for the purpose of increasing cultural buy-in by employees (New to Lean Six Sigma?). This …show more content…
While the ideas and information being presented in the training have merit, the training was given to employees in a format where it is completed individually and can be skimmed over or not even read. I actually did read the papers and thought the ideas had merit, but I wish I could have had the opportunity to tell some of my supervisors some of my ideas about how to improve processes or heard some of their ideas about how we can eliminate waste and variance. I’m have a pretty good first-hand knowledge of how things work at my workplace, so my input might have value, but I don’t believe that my opinions would be valued if I gave them, because they haven’t been valued in the past by upper level management at this organization. Reviewing the training material as a group would at least ensure that everyone had some awareness and familiarity with the content. Because the training was given in the most convenient and least effective way, the perception is that the training was only an afterthought for the department that had to be completed because it was obligatory. While I suspect that that perception is accurate, I feel that our department missed out on a real opportunity to make some changes for the better.
To improve the training, I would combine it with the team meetings we have, so that we could all read over the material together and then brainstorm …show more content…
The obstacles are that our institutions aren’t safe for upper management (or anyone else) to just walk around and many of our upper managers are corrections officers who promoted and made friends with the right people, not expert managers. The upper management staff within our organization seem to take a “that’s the way we’ve always done things” approach in all the wrong areas, while trying to reinvent the wheel to change things that worked. I think it’s important to bring in personnel from other departments or management specialists from outside corrections to help evaluate processes, while tempering their advice with input from people with corrections experience who can analyze the ideas’ applications for the correctional setting. To overcome the safety issue, you just need to coordinate with custody staff to keep managerial staff safe as they move about the facility. That’s our job, and we’re happy to help keep you safe. Being able to walk around in the facility and directly observe the implementation of your policies and get direct feedback from front-line personnel would really help in managing the services we provide (Fisk 2014
Weaknesses:
Often, when Lean Six Sigma White Belt training is introduced to an organization, it is for the purpose of increasing cultural buy-in by employees (New to Lean Six Sigma?). This …show more content…
While the ideas and information being presented in the training have merit, the training was given to employees in a format where it is completed individually and can be skimmed over or not even read. I actually did read the papers and thought the ideas had merit, but I wish I could have had the opportunity to tell some of my supervisors some of my ideas about how to improve processes or heard some of their ideas about how we can eliminate waste and variance. I’m have a pretty good first-hand knowledge of how things work at my workplace, so my input might have value, but I don’t believe that my opinions would be valued if I gave them, because they haven’t been valued in the past by upper level management at this organization. Reviewing the training material as a group would at least ensure that everyone had some awareness and familiarity with the content. Because the training was given in the most convenient and least effective way, the perception is that the training was only an afterthought for the department that had to be completed because it was obligatory. While I suspect that that perception is accurate, I feel that our department missed out on a real opportunity to make some changes for the better.
To improve the training, I would combine it with the team meetings we have, so that we could all read over the material together and then brainstorm …show more content…
The obstacles are that our institutions aren’t safe for upper management (or anyone else) to just walk around and many of our upper managers are corrections officers who promoted and made friends with the right people, not expert managers. The upper management staff within our organization seem to take a “that’s the way we’ve always done things” approach in all the wrong areas, while trying to reinvent the wheel to change things that worked. I think it’s important to bring in personnel from other departments or management specialists from outside corrections to help evaluate processes, while tempering their advice with input from people with corrections experience who can analyze the ideas’ applications for the correctional setting. To overcome the safety issue, you just need to coordinate with custody staff to keep managerial staff safe as they move about the facility. That’s our job, and we’re happy to help keep you safe. Being able to walk around in the facility and directly observe the implementation of your policies and get direct feedback from front-line personnel would really help in managing the services we provide (Fisk 2014