Ronald Archer
My Reflection and Evolution With the Office of Process Improvement
By Ronald Archer, Innovation & Improvement Intern
May 13, 2022
It was October 5, 2021, the first day of my internship for the Office of Process Improvement (OPI) at Colorado’s Department of Transportation (CDOT) headquarters. I came with an open mind, ready for every opportunity and challenge. I was also excited to meet my team. At 8 A.M I entered the lobby, and I was met by Gary the Director of the Office of Process Improvement, my intern buddy Mariah, and OPI fellow Ginger. We took a lovely picture in the lobby next to the “Welcome to Colorado” sign. I was a little nervous but also excited. Afterward Gary took me on a tour of each floor, and I met many people who I would later form relationships with during my internship. I received my laptop, gained my credentials, and I was ready for work. By the end of the first day, I had met my entire team and realized that I was quite lucky to be working with a great group of people.
Within the first few weeks I was brought up to speed on projects that I would be involved in such as the Better Together series and Concept to Project (C2P). I also enrolled in a process mapping PB&J simulation course and New Employee Orientation (NEO) with fellow intern Kourtnei. The experience from both said courses would serve as the basis of future endeavors in course improvement and facilitation during my internship.
At the end of November 2021, I attended the Change Management Practitioner course. My new employee orientation experience was the foundation for our change management project, which intended to bring awareness to new and existing employees about the resources and services offered by OPI. We also wanted to empower each person to be continuous improvement (CI) agents, armed and empowered with information to share, practice, and improve their environment. Exposing employees to Continuous Improvement through programs like Lean Everyday Ideas (LEI) and focusing on CDOT’s culture from the onset, would help to accomplish our objectives. After several months, and combined efforts from the Office of Employee Development (OED), we are on the verge of implementing our improvement to the NEO course!
On March 2, 2022, Kourtnei and I jointly taught part of the PB&J process mapping course. It was the first time OPI co-facilitated the PB&J Process Mapping course. It was a great opportunity to test our teaching skills. Corey Niemeyer, who teaches this course regularly, allowed us to take the wheel and teach the course from our own perspective using the given material. This was a very rewarding experience. There is a plan between OPI and Corey to continue this co-facilitation in the future.
As my internship continued, I was handed over the Better Together series from Stacy, a fellow intern. It was quite a fun and challenging project. The aim of this project was to share CDOT’s Strategic Policy Initiative (SPI), values, and 10-year plan to the CDOT family with fun and interactive activities that show how this applies to their daily life. The challenge for this project has been designing activities that can be applied digitally or in-person, thus working across various work modalities. Better Together is now in the activity testing phase with the program launch planned for June. I have handed this project off to Stephen and I am excited to see what is to come.
I have a background in continuous improvement, so process improvement came naturally to me. I think to myself as I look at the world, what would we do without continuous improvement? What is the point if we don’t use this lovely tool? I enjoyed working with Roxane on improving our process for mailing change management course materials. We implemented a system with a checklist and visual management of the materials needed for each course to streamline the process and eliminate redundancies. With some refinement and a sprinkle of technology, this process will become even better.
Prior to my internship, change management (CM) was a part of continuous improvement that I was not very familiar with, though I learned quite a bit when I was taking the change management for practitioners workshop! I used this knowledge to implement the NEO course project. Also, I went from a student in the CM course to producing the CM course. I was able to see how the course was taught and what happens in the background to make things run smoothly. This entailed monitoring the facilitator guide, moving class participants to breakout rooms, directing questions, managing time, tracking, and producing the jeopardy game, and so forth. I could see the passion in Michelle as the CM facilitator from the way she taught the course and the stories she told of the challenges with implementing change. I realized how instrumental change management was in continuous improvement and in the world of acronyms, you cannot have CI without CM.
Throughout my internship I was encouraged, empowered, and challenged. This took the form of taking on new projects, interviewing various people I did not know, leading meetings, helping others, communicating ideas, sharing issues, and having fun. I felt fortunate to work with a great team of people. The newer members of the OPI team have picked up the baton and they are running. This can be seen in Bekah’s management of the OPI website, Kayley’s preparation to take over the Innovations Challenge, and Stephen now leading the Better Together series.
My experience in the Office of Process Improvement gave me a little bit of everything. It is like having a sampler platter. The OPI sampler platter included conducting interviews, editing videos, writing charters, managing projects, and producing courses and webinars. Teaching classes, going on project tours, training new employees, producing newsletters, and participating in CDOT Regional Roadeos were also part of the internship experience. In the Office of Process Improvement, new skills are learned, your talents are exploited and so are your weaknesses, all for the better.
Gary and Michelle set the bar with their leadership style. They allow you to run with ideas, take on projects and guide you accordingly. They are open to feedback and new ideas. The mix of their experience and the fresh perspectives of interns is a winning combination that fuels improvement.
As I move on to the next chapter of my life and my career, I will cherish the relationships that I have formed with my OPI team and CDOT. This experience was priceless. I will take what I have learned and share, practice, and improve my environment as a continuous improvement agent both personally and professionally.
I will end with an excerpt of a poem that is applicable to the Office of Process Improvement.
Passion for service, live with a purpose
They are in your corner, your boxing trainer
They are great managers, that’s a no brainer
Fights for their team, sometimes behind the scenes
Will not stand for employees being disrespected or being mean
Leadership starts from the top,
It trickles down and it should not stop.
OPI allows you to roam, take charge and hone, your skills, trip up, learn, you know make some spills.
OPI is open and supportive, it does not sugarcoat it.
There are many more qualities that could be noted.
Set the tone and people will hear it,
Lead by example and people will share it.
CDOT is lucky to have you
OPI exemplifies the CDOT excellence value
OPI is a present to those with new skills and avenues.
And for this I say thank you.