A3 - A Currency for Improvement in Municipal Governments

Municipal Organizations across the country deal with problems day in and day out. Many times the solutions become Band-Aids to problems that are never completely solved. The organization becomes very proficient at "Fire Fighting" but the problems keep coming back. In order for an organization to move from "Fire Fighting" to true continuous improvement everybody in the organization from leadership to the front line will have to become engaged. Engaged in a proven methodology involving thinking together, working together and attacking problems together at their root cause. Success will hinge on how well the organization can teach and apply this robust, shared problem-solving methodology at all levels while incorporating "evolutionary learning" into the organizational culture.  

In this workshop we will teach and coach a problem solving methodology while utilizing the A3 DzThinkingdz approach as our story board. The A3 will become the linkage between the employee assigned to solve a municipal problem and folks closest to the problem. The participants will work through the sections of the A3 (Background, Current State, Analysis, countermeasures, Planning, and Follow-up) using  DzHumble Inquiry Questioning,dz an approach developed by Dr. Edgar Schein.  This approach insures ownership in solving the problem resides within the organization and doesn’t become the responsibility of the Lean Facilitator. They will also learn the process for developing "Rapid Learning Experiments" to test their countermeasures. "Go and See" will be a key component discussed within the steps of the PDCA problem-solving process while at the same time using prescribed RCA2 evaluation techniques.  

The City of Grand Rapids Michigan has adopted this culture over the last seven years and has recorded some phenomenal results while at the same time continuing to develop problems solving employees at all levels of the organization, from assistant comptroller to sewer installation service employees.  

What will you will learn?

• How to develop a Problem Solving A3 Collaborative Problem Solving utilizing a DzHumble Inquirydz questioning approach
• How to engage your organization to achieve the performance improvement needed
• How to use this A3 approach to become the Municipal Currency for Improvement and used for everything from Problem Solving to Appropriation Requests

Who Should Attend?

• Municipal Leaders and Managers who are interested in making a profound change in performance in their Municipalities Managers with experience in lean transformations who have found it difficult to achieve the benefits of Lean
• Change agents, lean promotion office managers, and specialists
• HR and OD professionals who wish to seek more effective means to deeply improve the thinking, behavior, alignment, and performance of their organization and the people in it
• Anyone who wishes to improve his or her critical lean thinking

This training is created and instructed by LTG Partner, Tom Shuker.