Give me the Badge of Power and a Process Map and I’ll eliminate the US deficit:
For people that don’t know me, I’m a fairly easy person to get along with. Not very much disturbs me, except when it comes to waste, redundancies, and lack of pure old common sense.
All this talk this past week about the US Fiscal Budget has me really disturbed, so much, that I’m embarrassed. Do you actually mean to tell me that for the past couple of years we are spending more than we are bringing in for a loss of approximately 1 Trillion per year? Consultant or no consultant, it’s clear that this is not only a recipe for disaster, but the officials that run our country need to take “Budget 101” and “Adhering to the Budget 201.”
How did this happen? Who is responsible for this?
I often wish I had a Government role that came with a Badge that I could flash around that gave me power over everyone! But let me be clear, I do not want the President’s job. I’ll let the President be President and attend all the fancy dinners and be the Face of our Country. After all, I don’t need this; I am a person with solutions, a person of results, and a person who likes a challenge and is not afraid to roll his sleeves up.
If I did have this job of power, Badge in hand, the first thing I would do is personally fire those that had any involvement and or knowledge of this up side down budget. I mean, why would anyone disagree with me here? Do you actually feel comfortable knowing that these Government officials run our country, but yet cannot make even the most basic decisions correctly? I hope not. They certainly do not meet the standards that I would want in any members of my team and I think you would agree.
If the government were a business, this would not happen! Decisions would be based only after looking at the budget, determining the Return on Investment (ROI), and the systems and processes it effects. And if you didn’t, guess what, bye bye. No sympathy from me; it’s not your budget, it’s ours, the “People,” the actual “Shareholders” and “Stakeholders” of this Country. Officials under me will be accountable and measured by how much waste they eliminate and how much value they create.
I’m not going to sit on my laurels anymore. Remember, I’m a person of ACTION. The first thing I’m going to need to see when taking on this initiative is a business process map from each Federal Agency defining each process, frequency, and the amount of effort of each task. Worried about your job and all of the (laws that protect you), you should be, remember, I have the badge; the Badge of Power. Give me a reason to maintain an inefficient process and or an employee who is mediocre at best and I’ll most likely let you go, that is of course unless you have a good reason.
I want full transparency, a risk register, no politics, no pork barreling, just plain old numbers. I want to be able to pull up my dashboard and view the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) from each agency and hold them accountable. While we’re at it, I want employee performance measures and bonuses—Give me a reason to reward you; give me a reason to keep you. If we don’t need you, well guess what? Last I checked, this was still an employer’s market. I have a great pool of candidates to choose from. If you want any favor from me, you better start thinking about efficiencies from a total process point of view instead of just your defined role. And please, stop hiding behind the laws that protect your position, because guess what? After I fire those that knowingly allow our expenditures to exceed taxable revenue, I will personally repeal the law that protects you. So you better be prepared on the value you create.
I know this is a challenge, but I’m prepared to do it. Give me the Badge! Call it my Civic Service but give me a nice performance value contract, and I’ll close the budget, increase efficiencies, and performance.
These are My Two Cents! What are yours?
If you want my Badge of Power, leave an Issue with a Solution below on how you would make steps to balance the Federal Budget. This will be fun!
The argument for Lean Six Sigma and a Project Management Office in Government
After writing lasts weeks entry on how we can balance the US Fiscal Budget through the use of process improvement and lean management, I was excited to read this article asking elected officials to take the Pledge to go through Lean Six Sigma training before entering office.
Why are business leaders requesting that officials undergo lean management? Because it works! If it has worked in business organizations, why wouldn’t it work in Government?
Lean management has proven to be effective in the business world to eliminate process waste and defects while increasing through-put and project margins. Six Sigma, when designed and applied correctly to Government processes will result in substantial savings and quality for the American People. Pilot studies on Lean Six Sigma projects have proven to be successful on a local level of Government, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Why would it not work on the Federal Level?
Although this Pledge takes a step in the right direction, this alone is not effective.
In order for lean management to be successful across all agencies of the Federal Government, several measures must be taken, outside of simply requiring our officials to go through training.
Changes must be made within the organizational model and legislation approval in order for this to be a success. Draft approval would be required of this group of advisors before it enters the budget committee. The elected Board of Advisors’ responsibility would be to insure that each piece of legislation contains a strong business case and a cost estimate. After the board determines that the draft contains a strong business case, then the legislation can walk it over to the budget committee before it goes to the House where elected officials have full transparency over what they are voting on.
To continue with this, elected officials will be be required to report to their constituents on their vote with a detailed explanation. Evidence of a business case made in favor of the constituents and a log of the affected parties will be transparent. Transparency mediums would be promulgated by those in the community, keeping the officials honest. Transparency and accountability would help officials from “pork barrel” politics and allow them to focus on services that are within budget and have a substantiated value proposition. In it’s current state, transparency is diluted. Constituents do not have full transparency behind the actions officials approve.
In addition to this organizational change, change needs to be made within its operational model in order for Lean Six Sigma’s implementation to be extremely effective. The Project Management Institutes (PMI), Project management Office (PMO), is a good model to adopt. PMO’s have been widely accepted in business organizations to manage a portfolio of projects and measure performance. An effective PMO will implement, promulgate, and standardize the lean management principles. Management teams will be trained, measured, and rewarded by how close processes come to perfection.
Candidates are now being asked to support the Lean Six Sigma Pledge. I encourage you to do so as well. If lean business organizations can realize cost savings through lean management, the government has an abundance of fat and pork that can be eliminated. Let’s make sure the Government as a whole goes through lipo suction before Rome falls! What do we have to lose?
Just my two cents.
