DC Water Innovation Program Taps into the Hidden …...DC Water Innovation Program Taps into the Hidden Strength of the Workforce WEFTEC 2015 Saul Kinter, Andy Le, Sudhir Murthy, Biju
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DC Water Innovation Program Taps into the Hidden Strength of the Workforce WEFTEC 2015 Saul Kinter, Andy Le, Sudhir Murthy, Biju George (DC Water), Claire Dixon, Gage Muckleroy, Jeremy Stone, Seth Yoskowitz (GHD)
DC Water Innovation Program Taps into the Hidden Strength of the Workforce
WEFTEC 2015 Saul Kinter, Andy Le, Sudhir Murthy, Biju George (DC Water),
Claire Dixon, Gage Muckleroy, Jeremy Stone, Seth Yoskowitz (GHD)
Presenter
Presentation Notes
What is DC Water Past year, innovation program planning and initial starts Shared Ideas Program. Not Strategic Innovation Program. Accessible to everyone, from the emergency sewer response team to the General Manager Tap into workforce Speaker intros: Andy, Saul, Seth (Principal Consultant in charge of GHD’s business consulting unit)
Why Innovate?
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Presentation Notes
Reasons Against: Government enforced monopoly Regional control Necessity product Reasons For: Increasing Rates for Infrastructure Investment + Declining consumption + Increasingly stringent regulatory demand Public stewardship + Professional pride + Attracting new talent to the organization
Innovation Pioneers
Presenter
Presentation Notes
I think you should think about moving the body text into your notes and just have What is Innovation? With a few logos Big industrial organizations innovating in ways other than technology Specifics: P&G with opened innovation portal to customers (and more), Toyota empowering their technicians to stop the assembly line (kai zen), GE through their 6 sigma Gainsharing and managed competitions; mixed track record – king county WTD adopted the Bright Ideas program (Robert Tovar)
Where Are The Utilities?
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Utilities have a reputation for not innovating. Government in general has a reputation for not innovating We are known for being bureaucratic, siloed, extremely risk-averse. BUT, this isn’t automatically bad and there are good reasons we are the way we are. We protect public health and that’s not something that can be risked. However, that means we’re not naturally innovative. And the challenge that was posed by our desire to innovate and the direction that DC Water’s leadership wants to take is to find a way to keep the fully appropriate attitude to protecting public health and meeting our permit while opening the door to risk, new ideas, and innovation. How do we build an innovative without destroying our protective culture? Many people want to innovate <Possibly cite Mintzberg’s archetypes>
Business Goals
Business Strategy
Shared Ideas Program (SIP)
Products & Services (P&S)
3 Campaigns
Gates & Phases Approach
2
3
Front-End Innovation
Facilities
Gates & Phases Approach
4
SIP
Inno
vatio
n St
rate
gy
P&S
Inno
vatio
n St
rate
gy
Eng.
Inn
ovat
ion
Stra
tegy
Gates & Phases Approach
Quick Wins
Commercial Focus
Ratepayer Focus
1
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Multiple paths to innovation, some of which preexisted the formal innovation program at DC Water. <Could include Innovation Paradox on large vs small organizations> All-of-the-above approach. Top-down and bottom-up. Facilities/R&D helps implement new technology at DC Water (apply to our local environment) Product and service development is revenue-focused, example ART SIP is the empowering, all-employee program built on the model from industry. Visual is representation of each process, square is stage, diamond is gate. FEI is link to strategic plan
Business Goals
Business Strategy
Shared Ideas Program (SIP) 3 Campaigns
2
Front-End Innovation
SIP
Inno
vatio
n St
rate
gy
Gates & Phases Approach
1
Presenter
Presentation Notes
The reason why we called it the shared ideas program was to give it a friendly and accessible name that was understandable across the organization, from the guy digging a ditch to the guy signing a check. We’re focusing on SIP because it’s my area of direct responsibility and something I’m passionate about Andy is intimately involved in his role as dig comm mgr, comms crucial to SIP and digital part will be clear in a bit
What Does Success Look Like?
• Culture • Quality of service • Cost savings • New revenue • Safety • Sustainability
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Workshops and interviews informed the next three slides
Implementation of fresh ideas that provide value to
customers and employees.
Our Definition of Innovation
FITR Principles
Flexible Inclusive Transparent Responsive
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Presentation Notes
Grew from best practices/lessons learned at GHD and King County Also past issues at DC Water and staff concerns raised during program development Flexible: when changes need to be made, we’ll make them Inclusive: up and down and across departments. Union involvement. Range of skills, literacy levels, computer comfort; designed program to allow everyone to participate Transparent: Response: every idea gets a response
SIP Platform • Employee-accessible
website and mobile app • Idea database and
discussion center • Digital breakroom:
discuss frustrations and consider solutions
• Cross silos
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Breakroom = place where employees go to express frustration Maybe mention procurement process and selection of Qmarkets Mention transparency here: everything is visible on the tool
June-Sept Campaign #3
Oct–Jan Campaign #1
Feb-May Campaign #2
Structure
• 2-4 Challenges • Fixed start and end date • Joint selection process • Shared funding pool
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Implementation of our principles Campaigns Fixed start and end date: keeps the energy, helps us be responsive, and helps us demonstrate results (helps to be responsive) Challenges (what it is, how it works, etc) – vary the subjects to help be inclusive Firehose $500,000 funding Target 1 year or less projects <FEI>
Roles
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Collaboration either informally through a discussion or through platform Moderators = Shepherds of the process
Running a Challenge
Expand Idea
Select Gate
Publish Idea Screen Gate
Draft
Offramp to CIP
Quick Wins
Parked Moderator Deletion
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Example of criteria: value/chance of success
Hurdles to Innovation
Disruption can be disruptive. - Probably Yogi Berra
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Ease with technology Flavor-of-the-month Engagement Too much too fast Disruption Leadership support Good ideas are out there, everywhere
Information Accuracy and Completeness How we do we improve the quality of our records, enable and incentivize front line staff to input clean data, and support a living, useful database?
Building Ownership a How do we vest all employees with a sense of ownership in DC Water’s mission, equipment, and processes?
