AMS, Lean and People Systems
Arizona is transforming the way our state government thinks and does business through the deployment of the Arizona Management System (AMS). AMS is an intentional, results-driven approach for doing the work of state government so that every employee, at every level, with discipline, reflects daily on how they did, finds the waste, and decides how to do better going forward with sustainable progress.
The system is based on principles of Lean man-agement and reinforced through the state’s people systems.
Lean creates value for customers by removing waste from business systems and processes. Waste exists in many forms such as excessive inventory, over processing, waiting and defects. To learn more about the types of waste identified by Lean, see the video tutorial on the AMS website entitled TIMWOOD https://ams.az.gov/timwood.
In our transformation model, AMS and Lean are integrally related. We could have deployed AMS without Lean, and conversely, we could have adopted Lean without a management system. Several states, including our own, have used Lean to complete projects that have dramatically improved business operations. What sets Arizona apart is that with AMS, we are systematically sustaining progress so no backsliding occurs after achieving results.
The main components of AMS are performance management (to visualize how we are doing and identify gaps in expected performance,) problem solving (to get to root causes of under-performance and counter-measure to close gaps,) and leader standard behaviors (to coach, mentor and lead staff through AMS implementation.) See the AMS one page handout in the Agency Toolbox https://ams.az.gov/resources that lists core elements associated with each component.
To achieve Governor Ducey’s vision for Arizona to be the number one state, it’s expected that every agency and every employee will strive for continuous improvement so that organizationally and individually we get better, faster and more efficient at delivering value and mission outcomes. The state’s people systems approach, as informed by AMS, emphasizes continuous improvement in each phase of the employee life cycle – everything from how the state attracts, engages, inspires and reinforces the workforce to do more good for Arizona.
As steward of the state workforce, the Human Resources Division within the Department of Administration is leading the design, development and direction of Arizona’s people systems. To meet the challenges associated with their responsibilities, they have identified several strategic initiatives for FY 2018 including to strengthen core HR capabilities across the enterprise, support agencies in engaging their employees in vital mission work, and become a recognized employer of choice so the state recruits and retains key talent.
