Over the years, governments have been adopting Lean management principles to cut waste and inefficiencies to improve service delivery to citizens. As this transformation unfolds, it is becoming apparent that governments still have a long way more to go in their journeys.

As with any new implemented principle or process, there are identifiable challenges and learning outcomes that can aid in improving the process over time. The same holds true for Lean.

Craig Szelestowski, Canadian Government Executive contributor, President and Founder of Lean Agility Inc., and a notable leader of Lean government, identifies four major issues that governments face today – program delivery, measuring results, strategies to clear backlogs and transformation. These challenges will be discussed at in depth over two days at the Lean Government Summit 2019, which will be held on January 24 and 25 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.

The event will feature speakers from within Lean government addressing the top issues of current and aspiring Lean government practitioners. Some of the highlights from the agenda include:

Ken Miller, Lean Government Thinker and author of We Don’t Make Widgets and Extreme Government Makeover will delve into the consequences of misusing measurement for incentives and motivation, by highlighting examples from the United States. He will address how to use measurement as a flashlight, not a hammer, increasing flow and thereby doing more good. He will also address how to free up 40 per cent or more of your capacity by reducing failure demand.

Renée Smith, Director of Lean Transformation, State of Washington will talk about how it’s time to decrease fear and increase love at work. After all, we are human. Building a loving, human-centered workplace creates the conditions to give and be and do our very best.

In her presentation, Michelle St.-Pierre, Manager, Regulatory Applications and Systems, Health Canada will reveal how in only eight months her team accomplished what could not be done in 4 1/2 years by delivering a working software with minimal bugs and happy clients. Hear about learning outcomes on how by applying the Lean approach to software development, work can be done 80 per cent faster while delivering a better product.

In another session entitled, 70% Faster and Happier Clients – Lessons from the Front Lines, Nadia Vallières, Director, HR Business Transformation, Human Resources Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and Alain Pelletier, Director and Business Partner, Human Resources Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada will share how they were able to go an average of 70 per cent faster in their core HR processes by building not only better processes but also visible and invisible enablers of these processes.

The two-day program is packed with many other innovative and interactive sessions on going beyond processes, developing higher trust, problem-solving with Lean A3 Management method, reducing backlogs, applying Lean to social services, the relevance of Lean in the digital age, and many more insightful sessions.

Seats are filling up quickly, to learn more about this event or to register, go to http://leanagility.com/en/leangovernmentsummit_2019.