Fellowship Reflection
By Kayley Smiley, Innovation & Improvement Fellow
January 6, 2023
As I reflect upon my time as a Fellow in the Office of Process Improvement (OPI), I am surprised by how quickly time has passed and by how much I have learned in 9 short months. One of the most memorable things about my first day as a Fellow was how warm and welcoming everyone was. When I arrived at the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) Headquarters, I was quickly greeted by Gary Vansuch and all of the OPI interns. We took a group photo in front of the Colorful Colorado sign in the lobby, an OPI tradition for every Intern/Fellow’s first day. My incredible mentor, Ronald Archer, accompanied me on a tour of the Headquarters building and concluded the tour by showing me my desk. I looked around and noticed signs everywhere that read ‘Welcome, Kayley!’, and I realized what an amazing and supportive team I had just joined.
The culture that Gary Vansuch and Michelle Malloy have created was one of my favorite aspects of working in OPI. Our daily stand-up meetings were a great way to foster community and check in on one another. I always appreciated that these meetings were a time to ask others for help and offer help if needed. In my first stand-up meeting, I was extremely confused by the phrase “I’m available for help and I don’t need any help,” but now I’ve said it more times than I can count.
During my Fellowship, I got to work on some incredible projects. I spent a couple of months as the Project Lead for the 2022 Innovations Challenge. When I was first assigned this role, I had no idea what it would entail. I was lucky enough to lead the project during a rather fun and exciting phase– judging and celebrating! I designed efficient Google Forms that judges used to evaluate submissions, created certificates for the participants, ordered customized road signs for the winners, and lots more. Of course, all of this was done with loads of help from the rest of my team. The 2022 Innovations Challenge taught me the importance of recognizing and supporting ideas and innovations in the workplace. I’m also excited to say that I have two submissions in the 2023 Innovations Challenge… fingers crossed!
In addition to the 2022 Innovations Challenge, I had the privilege of organizing a visit with Dr. Dean Schroeder, award-winning author, consultant, and scholar. Dr. Schroeder was kind enough to make a trip to Colorado to present his findings from his new book, Practical Innovation in Government. Lubna Jamal, a previous OPI Intern, and I hosted the visit with Dr. Schroeder, which had over 30 people from different state agencies and organizations! We led an exciting Q&A session with Dr. Schroeder and also had various attendees share recent improvements and innovations from their workplaces. Not only did I feel inspired and amazed by the findings from Dr. Schroeder’s book, but I also felt extremely fortunate to collaborate with him and Lubna on this event.
A more recent project that I’ve wrapped up is the Project Priority Calculator. As most people can relate to within their workplaces, OPI is constantly overwhelmed with a large number of potential projects. When it’s difficult to decide which projects should be addressed first, some kind of prioritization method is helpful. To alleviate the stress behind choosing projects, I created the Project Priority Calculator. In a nutshell, this is a spreadsheet that calculates the priority level for each project based on a couple of questions. I enjoyed working on this project because it allowed me to combine my coding skills with project management.
During my Fellowship, Gary gave me the opportunity to submit proposals for our team to present at the virtual 2022 Washington State Government Lean Transformation Conference and the 25th Anniversary - 2023 PMI Mile Hi Project Management Symposium. Submitting proposals ended up being one of my favorite assignments because it pushed me outside of my comfort zone. Before this, I had never submitted a proposal for a conference. I’m incredibly grateful that Gary allowed me to take on this task because it allowed me to learn new skills. I’m excited to say that both proposals were accepted! On top of putting together proposals, I had the opportunity to present at three conferences. At these conferences, our team was able to share the progress we made at CDOT during the first decade of Innovation and Improvement, and also hear from other organizations and agencies.
As a CDOT Fellow, there were additional things I had the privilege of participating in. Emily Harp and Brenda Yang worked hard to provide my cohort of Fellows with meaningful experiences and skills that would aid us in future careers. They assisted us with planning field trips to CDOT facilities, organizing panels with CDOT executives, giving a presentation about our fellowships, and even improving our resumes and cover letters when applying for state jobs! I had the opportunity to organize a field trip to the CDOT Sign Shop in Aurora where all of CDOT’s road signs are created. Bernard Cole gave us an excellent tour, and I learned how massive road signs appear when you’re standing right next to them! While at this facility, we also had the privilege of hearing from the Director of the Maintenance Training Academy, Kevin Macvittie. Kevin was kind enough to let us try out the snow plow simulator, which made me realize that my next job will probably not be driving a snow plow.
A year ago, I applied for this Fellowship because I knew that I lacked process improvement and change management skills. I had no problem identifying things that needed to be changed, but I didn’t have a clue about how to actually elicit such changes. Over the past 9 months, I have acquired more change management skills than I ever imagined. Specifically, the 3-Day Change Practitioners Workshop provided me with tools, resources, and the confidence I need to tackle change. Receiving my Prosci Change Practitioners Certification was an incredible experience, and it’s something I’m quite proud of! I now approach problems by first asking how the given issue affects other people, which I’ve learned is one of the most important questions to ask.
As I reflect on my Fellowship experience, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with the whole OPI team. I cannot speak highly enough about Gary and Michelle’s passion for improving the way CDOT serves the public. Michelle continually inspires me with her courage to pursue change even when faced with resistance. Among countless other things, she taught me how to approach projects with a mindset focused on the people-side of change. I can confidently say that Gary was one of the best bosses I have ever had. He leads the Office of Process Improvement in a way that makes every single team member feel valued. I also feel incredibly lucky that I worked alongside so many amazing OPI interns who constantly supported me and pushed me to grow. As a fellow in the Office of Process Improvement, I was always encouraged to share my ideas, pursue new challenges, and most importantly, learn as much as possible.
