VFT – Value For Time
Talk to us about our unique approach to Public Sector improvement. The concept of VFT recognises that involvement, understanding the real purpose and having a common goal are the fundamental foundation to a successful lean and kaizen transformation in the Public Sector.
VFT started as a bespoke model for how Lean and Kaizen in the Further Education Sector. We have now applied in other areas of Public Sector work also.
We have supported the FE sector, Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice and Local Authorities.
Lean And Kaizen in the Public Sector
We are all aware that there is acute pressure in the Public Sector from Government-set efficiency targets. Many organisations are rising to the challenge by adapting their workplace and processes using Lean and Kaizen Thinking. It is a customer-focused philosophy which aims to eradicate waste of all descriptions.
Public Sector Lean and Kaizen Thinking started in the NHS in the late 1990’s and in recent years, four of the biggest central government departments: HMRC, DWP, MOJ, MOD, have all introduced lean working to at least part of their business operations.
What is Lean and Kaizen Thinking?
The Audit Commission who is charged with protecting the public purse defines it as;
- Lean and Kaizen thinking provides a way to do more with less, while coming closer to providing customers or users with exactly what they want.
- It focuses on creating value and capacity rather than eliminating jobs in the name of efficiency. The methodology eliminates waste while improving performance and quality as flow and capacity increase.
Unquestionable Results
- Reducing average benefit claim times from 140 days to 12 days without any major investment in ICT.
- Magistrates’ court: 30% increased case throughput resulting in increased revenue, lower costs and improved service.
- Reducing the time to produce an assessment of special education needs from 17 weeks to 4 weeks.
- In a FE College Employer training department they were able to manage twice as many training contracts with the same staff.
Strong medicine for tough times
Is it a quick simple solution? Unfortunately, no. It needs long-term commitment from staff at all levels to work.
In the early days of introducing lean to the public sector, the trade unions were not convinced that lean principles were right for their sector and their members. However, as their knowledge and understanding of lean increased, their concerns became more focused on how each of the departments was introducing lean rather than whether or not the principles were relevant.
However, far from exploiting workers, Lean, especially in its public sector guise, can transform the employee experience for the better if they truly are involved. If community and delivering a public service is important to you then delivering better value and an improved service is fulfilling.
Real Involvement is Key
Stephen Parry director of See Business Differently and visiting fellow of the Lean Enterprise Institute believes that; "Lean resides in the workforce, not within an organisation's group of specialist or central change teams, its with the ordinary people who serve ordinary customers day in day out using simple techniques to create brilliant processes on behalf of customers continuously."
Principles for Success
For lean and kaizen to be a success it is clear that the organization has to adopt some important principles;
A focus on customer needs
A systems perspective of behaviour within complex organisation
A focus on waste reduction
Employee-led continuous improvement (kaizen)
Management style to move from a “command and control” to one that allows front-line staff to take much more responsibility
Don’t copy and paste lean for manufacturing develop your own tools
Delivering Better Value
Daniel T Jones the author of The Machine that Changed the World and Lean Thinking and the Chairman of the Lean Enterprise Academy comments that;
“Lean thinking is the way the public sector can follow private sector service delivery organisations in steadily improving the services they deliver without any additional resources. Given this change in mindset, and the similarity of much of the work being done, there is no intrinsic reason why productivity growth should be any different in the public sector than it is in the private sector. Indeed, the opportunities are probably greater in the public sector over the next few years.”
Team Integra Ltd,