Innovative. Creative. Not the Dallas Cowboys
Irving, TX is known for the Dallas Cowboys, but as of late, the City has outperformed the football team. The City team of Aimee Kaslik (Performance Administrator), Brad Kearney (Management Analyst), Ryan Adams (Assistant to the City Manager) and Chris Sanchez (Management Analyst) presented the incredible work being done by the City of Irving at a webinar last week. By the end of the hour, we were all feeling a tad inadequate about the performance of our organizations.
Background Check
Aimee Kaslik serves as the Performance Administrator for the City of Irving, Texas. As such, she and her team facilitate process improvements using Lean and Lean Six Sigma methodologies. They work with departments to develop and report on the City’s strategic plan, oversee the performance measurement system, conduct resident, employee, and point-of-service surveys, conduct operational reviews, and support the utilization of Malcolm Baldrige criteria. In addition, Aimee has served on the Quality Texas Board of Examiners for the last three years.
What We Learned
Recap: #KaslikKeys – Relive the Perfomance Management Webinar
Irving is in the heart of North Texas. We have strong financial management.
95% of City of Irving staff say City is a good place to work.
One of the areas we can improve the most on is citizen engagement.
Fort Collins and Fort Worth are also involved in similar performance efforts. We copy Fort Collins and they copy us.
City of Irving sees ROI on Six Sigma investment with savings from their performance mgmt efforts.
Goal team leaders are accountable for making sure the strategic goals are guided throughout the year.
Irving has 40 different ways to communicate with citizens.
Irving using Innovation/Quality School to further engage employees across the organization.
“What gets measured, gets done.” – Aimee Kaslik. Aimee shares that a good strategic plan “shouldn’t be written and then stuck on a shelf.”
Most effective approach to make sure strategic plans don’t get stale: spread responsibility across the organization.
Aimee leads a team of three to achieve performance goals. Includes saving money, making Irving more liveable.
“True innovation must be embraced by line level employees,” says Aimee Kaslik
Irving uses “Innovation Roundtables” to identify and address issues.
Irving is miles ahead of other local government in strategic planning and fostering innovation
You need the support from top level managers to have an effective performance management function in a city.
“Important to use the best talent in the organization and to recruit the best employees in Irving.
A key part of what Irving does is align employee work to the strategic plan.
The performance team is at the center of Irving’‘s efforts.
The Irving performance team is part of the financial services function.
New Irving employees receive customer service training their first day on the job.
Irving implemented their first strategic plan in 2007.
“Anybody who steps foot in Irving is our customer.”
“Journey to excellence” for Irving began in 2006. They use Lean and Sigma Six management tools.
Biggest accomplishment for @thecityofirving is our employees. They are best employees on the planet.
Word on the Street
“Learning from Aimee Kaslik and the City of Irving was an incredible experience for ELGL members. The innovation, creativity, and results that Aimee’s work has brought to Irving is impressive. I strongly encourage all ELGL members to review her presentation as it is chock full of helpful information, especially for any organization that is working on or implementing a strategic plan.”
– Kirsten Wyatt, City of West Linn, Assistant City Manager
“Aimee and her team gave a great presentation! I thoroughly enjoyed the best practices she shared as well as the efforts they are taking to improve the City’s performance even more. The videos were awesome, that was an easy way to make the presentation multimedia and each video really added to the message. Thanks Aimee!”
– Ben Kittelson, ELGL Project Manager and Metro Newsroom
“Not only did Aimee and her team have a thorough presentation and answer our seemingly never-ending list of questions, but she was also kind enough to provide us with some additional information following the presentation. Irving continues to be a model community to those of us still in the early stages of performance measurement.”
— John O. McCarter, City of Sugar Land (TX), Management Assistant
“It’s tough not to be jealous of the incredible work being done in Irving. They are leading the way among local governments in running a high performing organization. Aimee and her team were insightful and willing to share their experience both during the webinar and after the webinar. It’s reassuring to know that Aimee is willing to advise other cities’ working to emulate Irving. If only the Cowboys were run as well as Irving……”
–Kent Wyatt, City of Tigard (OR), Senior Management Analyst
Supplemental Reading
Using Data to Drive Customer Service
City of Irving Our Customers – ASQ
City of Irving Malcolm Aldrige Award
