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Bright Spot: Jeff Walter
Identifying and implementing a positive change is never easy but it’s always worth it. Just Ask Jeff Walter of General Services’ Purchasing Division. He says, “There is an art to […]
Identifying and implementing a positive change is never easy but it’s always worth it. Just Ask Jeff Walter of General Services’ Purchasing Division. He says, “There is an art to finishing a project [and] determining the correct performance metrics is always a barrier. What you want to measure is not always what you can measure.”
In April of 2014, Jeff and fifteen other Denver employees went through Peak Academy’s week-long Black Belt training and were equipped with the tools necessary to identify and eliminate process issues with their teams. After Black Belt training, Jeff hit the ground running to be the first in his cohort to implement and document an innovation known as the Denvergov-Purchasing Website Portal Cleanup.
1. Purchasing’s website before the cleanup
2. Purchasing’s website after the cleanup
This innovation decreased the time customers spend looking for valuable information on the Purchasing website by removing outdated content and making the site easier to navigate. Resulting in an increase in the time customers spend looking at the site’s more valuable information . This innovation resulted in roughly $25,000 dollars in customer time saved per year. But Jeff did not stop there. After he implemented the Denvergov-Purchasing Website Portal Cleanup, he went on to improve the Purchasing Production Board which increased his team’s communication by over 25%.
A year later, he helped his team identify and eliminate process inconsistencies found within the GSFPM Invoicing Process. They worked with over 12 vendors to improve and establish the process’ standard of work, and streamlined approximately 5 of the process’ sub-processes, resulting in a service level improvement of more than 50% and a savings of $70,000 per year in customer and employee time.
Jeff says, “The innovation process and successes are absolutely worth working through all of these barriers and challenges.” Which is why he and his colleagues have identified, actualized and saved over $100,000 in customer and employee time. They believe in the process of continuous improvement.
He says, “We have made wonderful progress with many processes that have saved the city a lot of money for minimal investment.” Which goes to show that the summation of a few and worthwhile improvements can have a vast and positive impact on us all.
JerraudPeakAcademy
Jerraud Coleman is a creative, data-driven, focused, and positive Deputy Director for the City and County of Denver's Peak Academy.
For the past seven years, alongside an exceptional team of continuous improvement professionals, he helps direct, generate, and facilitate process improvement events throughout Denver, Colorado, and the nation.
He trains employees of government, non-profits, and other enterprises (nationally, abroad and at all levels) in the principles and methods of continuous improvement, performance, and change management tools like Lean, the Four Disciplines of Execution (Covey), & PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act/Adjust).
He also works at promoting and sharing the methods mentioned above via blogs, social media, workshops/improvement events, and conferences.
Jerraud believes that "sharing and talking about continuous improvement tools can help enterprises identify and sustain the elimination of any waste or pain point found within any process or system." Thus, resulting in happier customers, employees, and organizations.
Moreover, regarding his work with the City & County of Denver, Jerraud believes in "creating a world-class place where everybody matters matter," primarily through systems-thinking, more productive, valuable, and efficient processes.
Jerraud holds a BFA (in Integrated Arts) from the University of Colorado, Boulder, a Lean Black Belt certificate from Regis University, and a handful of certifications from Coursera in Data Science tools and methods.
Denver Peak Academy 