Tag Archives: Process Improvement

Take Time to Find Time with Process Improvement

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

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leader-roundtable-studer-educationWe could all use some extra hours in the day.  At Studer Education, as we work with leaders around the country, we are frequently asked for time management tips.  Our Studer Education team has learned that process improvement is the most effective time-saver.

When you take a moment to think about the tasks and responsibilities that consume your time, you might also find yourself thinking, “There has to be a better way.”  The good news: there probably is a better way. The first step in successful process improvement is to realize and identify the process in need of improvement. High-performing leaders then engage key process stakeholders to define improvements that will achieve the same outcome while saving time. By connecting you to the work of our partners, we highlight two processes that save time and help you get the work completed in an efficient and effective way.

  • Stoughton Area School District (WI) leaders have adopted an efficient process for engaging new employees in 30 and 90 day conversations. The forms utilized and pre-determined schedule provide leaders with a structured and protected time to re-recruit and connect with new hires, which helps save time in the end.
  • The CESA #9 process of organizing each meeting with an Evidence-Based Leadership agenda creates a streamlined model for communicating expectations and maintaining alignment.  This approach not only drives the work of the leadership team, but also helps reduce the need for course-correction around essential pillars and priorities.

As you reflect on processes in your district, consider where leaders might find time through process improvement.  How much time could you win back if your department modified one process this year?  Select one from our partner examples or one that aligns to your immediate needs. Improve a process and save valuable time.

Studer Education

 

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Today’s post by Dr. Janet Pilcher, Executive Leader and Managing Director of Studer Education. Subscribe to Studer Education’s Leadership Development Newsletter here. Learn more about process and continuous improvement practices by attending Studer Education’s What’s Right in Education for cross-district leadership teams or Destination High Performance for executive leaders by emailing Erica at Erica.Callaway@StuderEducation.com or Ryan at Ryan.Hess@StuderEducation.com.

Studer Education partners with education systems to achieve measurable results that produce positive outcomes in student achievement, employee engagement, support services, and financial efficiencies and productivity. The goal of our work with school districts and executive leaders is to provide students with a great place to learn, teachers with a great place to teach, and parents with confidence that their children are getting a great education. Visit us online at http://studereducation.com. Studer Education is a division of Studer Group and a recipient of the 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Got Message Optimization? Define Strategic Actions

15 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by in How to Lead..., Our Partners, Who's Engaged?

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One of Shakespeare’s most famous quotes is one short line that “encapsulates the central struggle and tragedy of the play Romeo and Juliet” (II, ii, 1-2):

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

Message optimization? Absolutely! The play’s central message is delivered in a few words, which then became a “most famous quote.” In a recent blog, Brady writes:

Optimization implies choosing better options over less desirable options. Without constraints… it is very difficult to make the best optimization decisions.

Brady just happens to be writing about setting a budget line-item, but the idea is transferable to how we think about reaching a departmental or organizational goal. As leaders we are challenged to think about optimization in the way we define and commit to strategic actions. In education, this means whether we’re leaders of a school or leaders of facilities, bus transportation, or food services, our school/department goals align to our district’s goal of “increasing student achievement.” So, where does optimization fit? It’s getting leaders and employees to think a different way about how to achieve the goal. Here’s an example my colleagues shared recently from Ms. Ruth Ann Kiley-Wiedmeyer, Director of Food Services for the School District of Menomonee Falls (WI):

When I talk with the youngsters in my life they tell me that “Taco/Nacho Day” is one of their all-time favorite school cafeteria meals. So what happens when it is no longer cost-effective to deliver this favorite menu day? This is the question the Food Services department in the School District of Menomonee Falls recently addressed. In order to keep this favorite menu day the Food Services team needed to think differently about how to deliver the Taco/Nacho Day menu more cost effectively.

SDMF grab and go lineAs a first step, the Food Services team reviewed the costs and processes of Taco/Nacho Day. In doing so, they found that one step in the day’s process, scraping cheese off of food trays, was very time-consuming and therefore not cost-effective. Ms. Kiley-Wiedmeyer and her team reviewed the costs for each step in the current process and the day’s process costs after placing an alternative step in the process—purchasing throw-away paper “boats” to place the taco/nacho items in—which eliminated the time-consuming (and costly) step of scraping cheese from the food trays. The result? Annual savings of $40,000!

By optimizing a process, Food Services saved money which goes right back to educating the kids that these employees see and serve every day. Thinking differently and engaging with one another in systems improvement challenge us as leaders and employees to learn, grow, create, and perform better by constantly striving to become better and better at what we do. The end results are that we think about ways to improve that we may not have thought about before and we optimize processes that may lead to costs savings that may be re-purposed to achieving our organization’s mission.

Studer Education

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Brady, Robert. (September 9, 2014). How To Set A PPC Budget blog post for Search Engine People. Available online at http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/howto-budget-ppc.html.

Discussion of Shakespeare quote accessed 9.15.2014 from eNotes here.

Photo credit of “Grab and Go” food line to School District of Menomonee Falls. Available here. Photo credit of Ms. Ruth Ann Kiley-Wiedmeyer to SDMF. Available here.

KileySpecial thanks to Ms. Ruth Ann Kiley-Wiedmeyer who is Director of Food Services for the School District of Menomonee Falls (WI). The Taco/Nacho Day example highlights her leadership and the work of her team, and their engagement in saving the district thousands of dollars that can be re-purposed to meet the instructional needs of students in their school district.

Our mission at Studer Education is to help education systems achieve measurable results that produce positive outcomes in student achievement, employee engagement, support services, and financial efficiencies and productivity. Our goal is to help school systems provide students with a great place to learn, teachers with a great place to teach, and parents with confidence that their children are getting a great education. Follow us on Twitter at @StuderEducation and visit us online at http://studereducation.com. Studer Education is a division of Studer Group, ranked for the sixth straight year on the Best Small and Medium Workplaces by Great Place to Work® and a recipient of the 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.