Three Feet Under

This is a photo I took of Lynn Fulton, while we worked on a 47-year-old sprinkler system on Denver’s Hale Parkway. Lynn is a maintenance tech for the City and County of Denver’s East Parks Maintenance District. He and I became friends during the past six months as I learned about repairing and maintaining the Denver Park’s irrigation systems and he learned about process improvement during my partnership with the East Parks District.

Peak Partnerships are opportunities for agencies to partner with the Peak Academy to provide process improvement support for an extended period of time. During partnerships, one of my favorite activities is working with the staff during the “Gemba walks.” On this day we were repairing broken sprinkler heads on the medians across from Rose Hospital. And let me tell you, it was tough. The system is old and buried about three feet deep under hard soil and turf. To fix one sprinkler head it takes about an hour and as you can see in the picture above, the lighting in the hole is terrible. Lynn however, is great at what he does.

You see, Gemba walks not only allow us to learn about the work people do through observation and experience, but it is also an opportunity for us to learn about the people who are doing the work as well. In working with him, I have discovered Lynn is thoughtful and deliberate about his work. He creates checklists, mental and physical, so that he is successful at his job. He also goes the extra mile and even uses what is known as a “bubble level” to ensure that the sprinkler heads he works on are watering the parks correctly and efficiently. I’m sure if you ask Lynn what it’s like to work with me, he would answer that I am nosy, constantly asking him questions and untiringly putting things into a new perspective. Peak Partnerships are a great time, I promise!

So to show off Lynn and his hard work, I submitted the photo of him to Project Denver Delivers, a Mayoral initiative to recognize the great work of Denver’s employees. I am excited to announce, he is one of the winners! Please look for it in the Webb Atrium November 21-30, 2016 and join me in celebrating him the 29^th of November at 3pm at the reception showcasing the honorees.