July 2017 Newsletter

DMPS Lean Leadership
Continuous improvement tools are important but will have minimal impact if a culture of respect and empowerment of employees is not fostered. Organizational leaders must begin the transformation to becoming Lean Leaders. Des Moines Public Schools is utilizing Lean Leadership to build coaching skills in leaders and create teams that collaboratively problem solve, improve and perform. We want to recognize our recent graduates of Lean Leadership.
Note: Not all leaders are pictured.
Continuous improvement tools are important but will have minimal impact if a culture of respect and empowerment of employees is not fostered. Organizational leaders must begin the transformation to becoming Lean Leaders. Des Moines Public Schools is utilizing Lean Leadership to build coaching skills in leaders and create teams that collaboratively problem solve, improve and perform. We want to recognize our recent graduates of Lean Leadership.
Note: Not all leaders are pictured.
Business and Finance
Nick Lenhardt Jessica Buchheit Emily Truitt Judi Martens Denise Roorda Emma Knapp |
Human Resources
Anne Sullivan Sheila Mason Tiffany O'hara Cathy McKay |
Operations
Jamie Wilkerson Mel Green Darrell Gierstorf Amanda Miller Dan Warren Connie Broich Todd Liston Mark Mattiussi |
Office of Schools
Jake Troja Allyson Vukovich Jason Allen Eleanor Shirley |
Superintendent's Office
Mary Grinstead Brooke Jacobson |
Change is Hard, Lead Change Anyway
Leading change is not an easy thing to do. However, the world needs change agents. Ken Miller, author of We Don't Make Widgets and Extreme Government Makeover, provided the following reasons why changing is hard and why you should do it anyway.
The Paradoxical Commandments
1. The reward for doing good work is more work. Do good work anyway.
2. All the money you save being more efficient will get removed from your budget. Find efficiencies anyway.
3. There is no time to think about improving what we do. Make time anyway.
4. Employees may fight the change every step of the way. Involve them anyway.
5. The future is unpredictable and largely out of your hands. Plan anyway.
6. The press only cares when something goes wrong. Share your success stories anyway.
7. If you develop your people they will move on to better jobs. Train them anyway.
8. Your ideas will at best make someone else look good and at worst get you ostracized by your co-workers. Share your ideas anyway.
Leading change is not an easy thing to do. However, the world needs change agents. Ken Miller, author of We Don't Make Widgets and Extreme Government Makeover, provided the following reasons why changing is hard and why you should do it anyway.
The Paradoxical Commandments
1. The reward for doing good work is more work. Do good work anyway.
2. All the money you save being more efficient will get removed from your budget. Find efficiencies anyway.
3. There is no time to think about improving what we do. Make time anyway.
4. Employees may fight the change every step of the way. Involve them anyway.
5. The future is unpredictable and largely out of your hands. Plan anyway.
6. The press only cares when something goes wrong. Share your success stories anyway.
7. If you develop your people they will move on to better jobs. Train them anyway.
8. Your ideas will at best make someone else look good and at worst get you ostracized by your co-workers. Share your ideas anyway.
Just Getting Started?
Continuous improvement is a simple four step process. PLAN: Set a target for improvement DO: Implement that plan CHECK: Ensure the implementation is going well ACT: Make this the new standard Need help? Contact Emma Knapp. |
Shout Outs!
Excellent work Christi Donald, Connie Sievers, Joel Etienne, Vicky Bennett and Jeremy Schwennen in streamlining the concurrent funding process! Teachers of concurrent courses will now have budgets available the first day of school.
Chris Holm and Joel Etienne are at it again! A 20-minute meeting to improve the Certified Annual Report (CAR) upload process has lead to 68 hours (at least) of time savings.
Chris Holm and Joel Etienne are at it again! A 20-minute meeting to improve the Certified Annual Report (CAR) upload process has lead to 68 hours (at least) of time savings.