Arizona’s state workforce of more than 33,000 skilled problem solvers will achieve far greater results and increase value and efficiency more than what can be achieved if only leaders and managers solve problems. Through the Arizona Management System (AMS), employees are learning standard work for disciplined, practical problem solving as well as tools and techniques that help achieve success.

Standard Work

Through the Arizona Management System (AMS), it is expected that every state employee becomes good at identifying and solving problems. A workforce of more than 33,000 skilled problem solvers will achieve far greater results and increase value and efficiency more than what can be achieved if only the leaders and managers solve problems.

Most problems within state employees’ influence to resolve require three problem solving behaviors of increasing skill:

Just Do Its (JDIs) - For problems with known root cause(s) and obvious countermeasures that can be implemented within about a week. Every employee should be able to resolve JDIs with little or no experience.

The secret to cost savings when printing is preparation and understandiong the myriad of options that are available in the print process.  As you begin, it is always best to start by having a firm understanding of who your audience is and what you are trying to communicate with them.  From there you can determine your course of action.  Three state agencies have internal print capabilities, Department of Education, Department of Corrections and Department of Economic Security.  They have resources that can help you plan your print project, even if you don't print through them in the end. They are a great tool for your planning.  Below are a number of practices to think through as you plan your printing. If you are interested in learning more about the Print Services Project Team and projects you can implement in your agency, please contact Kimberly Siddall at ksiddall@azlottery.gov. 

The Arizona Management System (AMS) is the catalyst transforming how Arizona government thinks and does business. AMS is an intentional, results-driven approach for doing the work of state government so that every employee reflects on performance, reduces waste, and commits to continuous improvement with sustainable progress.  

We reduce waste by first seeing and defining problems that slow us down or otherwise interfere with our ability to get work done. Waste is defined as anything that doesn’t add value from our customer’s perspective. AMS is based on principles of Lean management, which teaches how to reduce waste in our business processes. Lean practitioners identify eight common forms of waste, which can be remembered using the acronym DOWNTIME :

Defects - Creating products that must be revised or changed.

At the risk of stating the obvious, the Arizona Management System is a system, a combination of interrelated, interacting elements that form a collective whole. Just as your body’s circulatory system, for example, cannot function without the heart, veins and arteries each doing its job in unison, AMS  works best when its various components gel.

Visual performance management by itself is good in that it can show us what’s working, but its real value lies in revealing what isn’t. By exposing gaps between actual and optimal performance, AMS enables us to implement countermeasures and rigorously solve problems. 

Likewise, an agency’s employees may dabble in problem solving, but without leaders to set priorities, support disciplined analysis for getting to root causes, and coach, mentor and model desired behaviors, employees may never realize the full extent of their problemsolving ability and apply it to do the most good.

The Arizona Management System (AMS) is an intentional, results-driven approach for doing the work of state government so that every employee reflects on performance, reduces waste, and commits to continuous improvement with sustainable progress.

Operating within AMS, all agencies in the Governor’s cabinet submit monthly scorecards, conduct monthly business reviews, and report progress on agency breakthroughs. 

But what is a “breakthrough”?

Agency breakthroughs represent our most wanted improvements. According to the Government Transformation Office (GTO), which is helping the Governor’s Office deploy AMS in state agencies, all breakthroughs have the following characteristics:

• They align with and are represented by one or more performance measures in an agency’s strategic plan,

• They are expressed as metrics on an agency scorecard,

The annual statewide Employee Engagement Survey begins April 2, and Arizona state employees can once again take the opportunity to provide state leaders insight into how engaged we are in our work.

The Department of Administration has been doing the survey since 2014, and each year, the state has seen slow but steady improvement in the engagement ratio. The ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of “Strongly Agree” survey responses by the sum of “Disagree” and “Strongly Disagree” survey responses. Last year, the statewide engagement ratio was 2.6:1, a slight improvement over 2016 when we scored 2.3:1.

Top performing organizations typically average a ratio of 9.0:1, while average organizations have a ratio of 1.8:1, so our recent scores are encouraging. The news is even better among the agencies that have been fully deploying the Arizona Management System.

Workplace organization means more than keeping our office space tidy and clean. When done effectively, it is a powerful visual performance management tool that lends order, safety and standardization to work flow, which in turn helps reduce waste and lower costs.

A means to workplace organization is “5S,” a methodology popularized in 20th century manufacturing, particularly automotive mass production, to create a clean, organized and visually controlled work environment. Though industrial in origin, 5S methods are readily applicable in service-sector settings, including government agencies. Let’s describe each step and consider its value.

As noted in our previous newsletter, team huddles offer numerous benefits to employees and agencies alike. Chief among them may be the informed, two-way communication up and down the management chain that occurs when management can readily see and gauge staff performance, and employees know they will have their leaders’ support when problems surface.

Agencies deploying the full suite of Arizona Management System core elements are expected to have a defined structure for connecting the various tiers within the agency where team huddles occur. This tiered connectivity ensures that alignment and flow of information occurs seamlessly and continuously throughout the entire management chain, from front-line (Tier 1) teams up to the agency director, and ultimately, the governor. See image below.