"Lean" Strategies Help Local Governments Improve Processes, Slash Operational Costs

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Dec 09, 2014, 02:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Property tax caps, anti-tax sentiment, and an uneven housing recovery coupled with impending cost pressures will make it difficult for some local governments to balance their budgets and return to the 6%+ increase in growth experienced before the economic downturn, according to a recent report by Moody's Investor Services.

To aid local governments in tackling cost reductions through process improvements, the ICMA Center for Management Strategies has partnered with the Ohio-based not-for-profit TechSolve to help local governments streamline operations and decision making to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

The ICMA/TechSolve partnership will provide information, training, and technical assistance to local governments that can empower managers and their staffs to identify and eliminate the inefficiencies in their processes and systems, which may frustrate employees and slow productivity. Such proven, "lean" process improvements contribute to specific issue solutions and long-term, enhanced organizational performance.

"Our research has shown that one of the top priorities for local government is reducing operational costs without compromising service delivery," said Cheryl Hilvert, Director for the ICMA Center for Management Strategies. Hilvert said that the "lean" process improvement strategies delivered by TechSolve are specifically aimed at helping local governments drive higher performance while enhancing employee morale.

Catawba County, North Carolina, recently worked with TechSolve to address employee morale and the productivity of its tax collection efforts. The county not only reversed a decade-long decline in the rate of collections, it also recovered 17% from the low point of collections. Employee morale improved as a culture of employee-generated process analysis and improvement took hold. (Read the full Catawba County case study here.)

"We are excited to be partnering with ICMA on this important initiative, which will bring information, training, and technical assistance on LEAN process improvement solutions to local governments," said David Krings, Director, Non-Profit and Local Government Solutions, TechSolve, and coordinator of the ICMA/TechSolve partnership. "Our proven method of training staff to utilize these techniques has assisted local governments in making needed changes to improve their productivity and address inefficiencies that frustrate employees and the public."

About the ICMA Center for Management Strategies
ICMA's Center for Management Strategies provides a suite of services—research, training, and technical assistance—to support local governments in the successful adoption of innovative approaches that can increase their organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The Center works with its research partners—the Alliance for Innovation and Arizona State University—as well as subject-matter experts from around the globe to identify, research, and disseminate resources regarding emerging, leading, and trending topics in local government management. Topics include: citizen engagement, collaborative service delivery, high performance organization strategies, priority based budgeting, process improvement, and surveys and data-driven decision making.

About TechSolve
TechSolve was founded in 1982 and uses a unique "train-the-trainer" approach to maximize staff effectiveness. By improving the processes through which local governments deliver services to their respective communities, costs go down while performance and service delivery capacity grows. TechSolve is recognized in its field for its expertise in process improvement and methodology.

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SOURCE ICMA