Building High Performance Government Through Lean Six Sigma: A Leader's Guide to Creating Speed, Agility, and Efficiency

by Mark Price, Walter Mores, Hundley M. Elliotte

Private Sector Strategies for Public Service Leaders

No corner of the government or public sector has been spared from budget turmoil in recent years. Among budget cuts, increased requirements, and new threats and challenges, governments typically balance the scales through (1) increased funding and/ or (2) rationalizing services or service levels.

This book gives you a third option. It’s called high performance, and it’s been implemented in the private sector—with great success—for more than two decades. This hands-on guide, written by the global consultants from Accenture, shows you how to apply these business principles in any public organization. Learn how to:

Improve the outcomes you deliver— while lowering the cost to deliver them.

Streamline your operations—by increasing speed, agility, and efficiency.

Build a high-performance “anatomy” to strengthen your organization.

Manage assets, decrease risks and losses, and deliver true excellence.

Featuring case studies from the public sector, including federal, state, local, agencies, bureaus, and departments, this unique guide takes you inside government organizations, where high performance “anatomy” is already making a difference. You’ll discover low-cost techniques deployed by the Naval Air Systems Command and the IRS, as well as high-performance solutions for problems as diverse as homeland security, disaster response, health care costs, and dwindling resources. High Performance Government provides a proven method for adapting to the “New Normal” of lower budgets by showing you how to do even more with even less—creating a learning, working environment that reacts to change. This is how the top companies in the world increase productivity and profits through any market conditions.

From Wall Street to Washington and Main Street, real success is driven by execution excellence. This book gives you the solutions you need to lower cost and create a leaner more efficient organization.

Praise for Building High Performance Government

“Building High Performance Government is a fast read with a big message. It explains how the inevitable downsizing of governments at all levels—federal, state, local—doesn’t have to also mean fewer or lower-quality services. This book highlights viable strategies already in use today to create better alignment and greater productivity in government.”


—Graham Richards, Former Mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana

“Every level of government is experiencing a budget crunch these days, and that always results in slashing services. This book can help public sector leaders find another option—how to deliver on their core mission at a much lower cost.”


—Sean O’Keefe, CEO , EADS North America, former Administrator of NASA, former Secretary of the Navy and former chancellor of Louisiana State University (LSU)

“A solid read for federal, state, and local government leaders wondering how to ‘do more, without more.

Genres: Government, Nonfiction, Business

209 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 22, 2011

Reviews

[LAMONT D · Rating 5 out of 5]

GIVEN THIS BOOK BY MY NEIGHBOR WHO WORKS FOR A GOVERNMENT AGENCY AND IS INVOLVED IN THEIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES. A VERY GOOD GUILDELINE FOR ANYONE IN THE PUBLIC OR PRIVATE SECTOR THAT HAS A VOICE IN IMPROVING THEIR PROCESSES AND HAS A HAND IN STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR THEIR ORGANIZATION. I LIKE THEIR TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS PRESENTED THROUGHOUT. THE AUTHORS HIGHLIGHT VARIOUS PHRASES TO CALL ATTENTION TO IMPORTANT IDEAS (EXAMPLE: OPEN INNOVATION - WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO GET THERE). I WISH THEY HAD INCLUDED MORE REAL-LIFE EXAMPLES OF THE CONCEPTS WORKING IN THE WORLD TODAY. AMAZINGLY THIS BOOK IS PROBABLY STILL RELEVANT THOUGH IT WAS WRITTEN BACK IN 2011. A LOT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEN BUT MOST LIKELY THE PRINCIPLES DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK WOULD STILL WORK. NOT EXACTLY SURE HOW LEAN SIX SIGMA TIES INTO EVERYTHING BUT THEN AGAIN I AM ONLY A WHITE BELT HAVING JUST LEARNED ABOUT THE CONCEPT AT MY NEW PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT.