Opening Keynote
The LSS Opening Keynote Monday moring was delivered by Betsy Kinter, Director of Field Assistance for the Internal Revenue service. The presentation was excellent and a real eye opener.
The IRS had come under significant fire from Congress about their performance in the late 90s particularly about their customer service and their ability to measure their performance. They began a process based on Six Sigma to modernize their operations.
Several thoughts struck me as smart about their approach.
First, they were not in a mad rush with lots of horn blowing to launch a great new, save the world, program. Their approach was well planned, steady, based on a long range plan of development based on demonstrated results. It is obviously difficult to initiate a large scale cultural shift in such a large organization, and their approach is succeeding.
They also were smart up front about establishing "line os sight" metrics and responsiility so front line workers and senior executives and everyone in between understood expectations and how their performance both mattered and would be judged.
Food for thought
Russ
