A Public Sector Journey to Operational Excellence

Applying Lean Principles to Public Policy 

Written by Thessa Roy, Office of Process Improvement Intern

Author: Dr. Kate McGovern, MPA, PhD

ISBN 978-1032445441

January 29, 2024

Introduction

In her book, A Public Sector Journey to Operational Excellence: Applying Lean Principles to Public Policy, Dr. Kate McGovern examines continuous improvement (CI) and public administration from a multidisciplinary lens for the purpose of improving operational efficiency of governmental institutions at the federal, state, and local levels of government. She places a strong emphasis on Lean Management principles and techniques that are traditionally used in the private sector, but have also proven successful in improving government policies, programs, and services at  a number of state agencies across the country. This book is based on Dr. McGovern’s experience as a Lean trainer and practitioner at numerous colleges, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. 

Section I  The Foundation of Continuous Improvement and Operational Maturity

In the 1980s the term lean was coined by MIT researchers, James Womack, Daniel Jones, and Daniel Roos who were studying the success of Japanese auto companies, such as Toyota. “Lean” was the term used to describe the success of the Toyota Production System’s (TPS) ability to produce quality products with fewer resources. However, continuous improvement did not start there. It began in the 1930s with statistician Walter A Shewhart’s concept of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) used to standardize quality management. W. Edwards Deming took the concept a step further by emphasizing the importance of comparing the final state to the original state, which creates a feedback loop for iterative improvements. John Womack founded the Lean Enterprise Institute in the 1980s and is still today dedicated to the advancement of lean thinking and practices.


Lean is not only beneficial in the private sector but also in the public sector. As proposed and seen by Dr. McGovern, the application of lean principles in government agencies can be used to advance government operations. Specifically, as modeled in Level Three Government, a White Paper by John M. Bernard, author of Government That Works in which he describes three stages of maturation for state government operations: 1) reaction-driven; 2) results-driven; and finally 3) social-good-driven. Dr. McGovern asserts that a government wide application of lean methodologies will not only reduce inefficiencies caused by bureaucratic red tape for all citizens, but will inspire public servants to work collaboratively for social good.


Kaizen, which means “change for the better” in Japanese, is a term coined by LEI to describe a structured improvement project. Kaizens are initiated and taught by lean practitioners to implement collaborative improvement of processes through a combination of CI and project management tools.


Kaizen begins with a charter that provides the scope, key stakeholders, and the steps to be taken to reach a successful conclusion. There are numerous tools that can be used during the project including process mapping, pareto charts, the 5 whys, fishbone diagrams, A3s spaghetti diagrams, and Suppliers-Inputs-Process–Outputs-Customer diagrams (SIPOCs). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also provides a helpful reference called the Lean in Government Starter Kit. 

Diagram of the continuous change process of Plan, Do, Check, Act.

Walter A Shewhart’s concept of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)

Section II  Leaning Government Operations

Next, Dr. McGovern expounds on the opportunities for leaning the design and operational functions of government by breaking bad bureaucracy, creating standards for lean regulation, and moving governments from reaction-based to results-based. The states of Arizona, Ohio, Washington, and New Hampshire highlight how states have and can implement lean initiatives, programs, and policies for greater efficiency.  


The primary components of developing a results-driven government requires support from the governor, explicit expectations specified for agency directors, and a central CI office within the office of administration headed by a Chief Performance Offices (CPO) or a similarly titled executive. 


In Ohio, staff are trained in Lean and Six Sigma.  At the time of printing, LeanOhio staff had trained 70 Black Belts, 240 Green Belts, and 600 camo belts resulting in 400 projects conducted between 2011 to 2021. These projects provided measurable results that helped improve customer satisfaction and remove inefficiencies.

Section III  Leaning Government Policy

While Dr. McGovern recognizes the challenges to Leaning governmental design and operations; she and other scholars in the field, like Jim Womack, author of Lean Government, agree that public policy is the most difficult to lean. Dr. McGovern discusses the complexities of incorporating lean in the political and administrative functions of public policy. 


Unlike the private sector, state governments must increase efficiency while also implementing new policies and programs to meet the needs of the constituency and determine which programs to cut due to budget constraints. These conditions often lead to reaction-driven solutions that overburden staff, increase regulations and mandates, and are slowed by complex chains of command. Dr. McGovern posits that implementing Lean principles in policy making reduces waste by providing evidence-based programs that are developed using such processes as the PDCA methodology to reduce process variations that lead to waste.


Two examples of policies that have led to poor outcomes according to McGovern are the United States’ response to Covid-19 and the current state of the U.S. health care system. Covid-19 called attention to inconsistent data collection methods in identifying the extent of contagion. As quoted by Dr. Irwin Redlener of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness “... If we had just been disciplined about employing all these public health methods early and aggressively, we would not be in the situation we are in now.” (McGovern 128) Ultimately, a lack of consistent data led to poor decision making on the part of policymakers. In the case of the U.S. health care system and according to Dr. Michael Fine, Rhode Island’s former Director of Public Health Services, “[It] is an organized set of services and products made to the entire population and designed to achieve a predetermined set of outcomes.” (McGovern 131) This has resulted in “a hodgepodge of overpriced monopolies whether for profit or not for profit” resulting in a waste of approximately $1 trillion dollars per year according to economist Jeffrey Sachs.


Dr. McGovern argues that such policy shortfalls could be mitigated by adopting lean processes in decision making which might include (but not limited to):

Section IV  A Lean Future State

Lastly, Dr. McGovern envisions the potential of a government that espouses excellence in lean operations and public policy. She draws a picture of  how the governments can use CI to move from its current state of reaction-driven to results-driven and eventually social-good driven. To start, each state government could incorporate the PCDA method to ask better questions about the quality of their processes and policy making and then share that information with all states so that processes can be standardized to improve efficiency and prevent variance and confusion in solutions as witnessed with Covid-19. Another solution provided by McGovern is the leaning of governmental structures that vary from state to state and that are bogged down by agencies with overlapping jurisdictions that complicate data collection and cross-jurisdictional comparisons. Instead, she suggests that administrators, customers, and stakeholders mitigate this problem by forming a kaizen to streamline processes to minimize wait times and foster accountability.  These are just a few of the many practical suggestions that Dr. McGovern offers.


These lean processes would move current government systems to what is called “results driven.” The next step to social-good driven government is a matter of systemization. By making the processes “systemic” these processes could spread from government agencies to communities and society at large to solve such problems as homelessness, substance abuse, racism, child abuse, and mass violence.

Conclusion

Leaning government processes, policies, and programs is a heavy lift for any agency, but Dr. McGovern lays out a checklist for practical steps forward. 


Checklist For Robust Public Sector CI Initiatives  

(McGovern 205)