Systems-Wide Approach to Overhauling Government

Governor Pillen’s Systems Approach to Improvement

Objectives:

Nebraska is running government like a business. The specific objectives of this initiative are to:

• Significantly improve the quality and outcomes of government services for the people of Nebraska.

• Shrink the size of government by repurposing unproductive resources and improving operations to produce higher quality at a lower cost.

The Systems Approach:

Focus on Fundamental Customer Needs & Expectations

The fundamental needs and expectations of our customers are the driver in developing efficient and effective systems. Organizations are often too busy trying to satisfy oversight functions and secondary needs of their customers without delivering on their fundamental needs. The Systems Approach helps shift the organization’s focus and energy back to the customer and their fundamental needs, which drives improved outcomes, and also, improves stakeholder satisfaction.

Refocusing on the fundamental needs of the customer also allows for an opportunity to evaluate existing resources. Resources dedicated to unproductive uses can be repurposed to further improve customer outcomes or be given back to the taxpayer.

Fix the System, Not the Individual Parts

When considering the Systems Approach to improvement, it’s helpful to think in terms of the ‘whole being greater than the sum of its parts.’ Every system has interconnected processes, policies, functions, and resources that must all work together to achieve outcomes for the customers they serve. The systems approach considers the connections between all of these parts and identifies and improves the system constraint - the resource that is dictating the productivity of the entire system and its outcomes.

The Benchmark For Success

True improvements must result in better outcomes for the primary customer—not the bureaucracy. The success of Nebraska systems will be evaluated based upon their ability to improve the following system-level measures:

1.  Quality - The degree to which we are successful in producing a desired result for the customer. Often quality indicators are accuracy, reliability or achieving intended outcomes

2.  Throughput - The demand or volume of work completed by the system (or people served).

3.  Cost Operating Expenses - The sum of total costs associated with producing quality throughput

The Systems Approach seeks to improve all three of these measures at the same time, creating a triple win for Nebraska citizens.