Giving Thanks to Denver’s Next Line of Innovators – Cohort #81 (Mt. Meeker)

With Thanksgiving soon approaching, I would like to give thanks to Black Belt Cohort #81 for being my first cohort as a Black Belt Liaison. It was a jam-packed week full of amazing people from inside and outside the City of Denver.

Cohort 81 Group Photo — Congratulations to Cohort 81 (In alphabetical order): Michele Acklin, Marcus Danko, Debbie DeLue, Neil DeSouza, Charlie Garcia, Dusty Jones, Brittney Largent, Sarah Lower, Erin Mays, Maurice Murray, Feven Netsanet, Whitney Nettleton, Ginabeth Pearson, Katherine Pease, Paul Riedesel, Judy Rigg, Carol Rolfe, Chris Rutan, Tori Soler, Mikel Stone, Brian Westerfield, and Joe Zamora.

A total of 22 individuals attended November’s training representing the following organizations:

Back of the Napkin Visual Thinking
City of Boulder
Community Planning & Development
Denver Human Services
Denver International Airport
Department of Environmental Health
Department of Finance
Denver Police Department
Denver Public Library
Denver Sheriff Department
District Attorney
Kaiser Permanente
Office of Economic Development
Office of Human Resources
Parks & Recreation
Public Works

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Throughout the week the cohort took part in a variety of lectures, discussions, and activities centered around process improvement and change management. Some highlights of the week include:

Gemba Walking with Public Works Right-of-Way, the City Attorney Office, and the Office of the Medical Examiner where we observed their processes and put our Gap Analysis skills to the test.
Discussing how to implement innovations in their processes and creating a culture of innovation in the workplace.
The Denver Parks Simulation which challenged the cohort to use everything they learned during the week See it, Say it, and Solve it.
Ignite Presentations where each participant shared 3 innovations with their cohort, coworkers and supervisors.

Black Belt week is an engaging week of training where City of Denver and external employees can come together to bond, engage with new ways of thinking, and learn new skills that they can bring to their teams in order to deliver positive, impactful changes this holiday season.

Posted on November 14, 2018 0 By natepeakacademy Black Belt Posted in Black Belt

natepeakacademy

Nathaniel is a Process Improvement Analyst with Denver Peak Academy. Before joining the team full-time, he spent time interning at the City and County of Denver and the City of Miami. While in Denver, he assisted Peak Academy with facilitating and innovating the training curriculum. With Miami, he worked in the Strategic Planning Office assisting with projects for the three-year strategic plan and the Miami Innovation Academy. Through his internship experiences, Nathaniel built a strong love for process improvement and public service.
Nathaniel grew up in Aurora, CO and received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL), majoring in English and minoring in Public Relations.