Here we go, the transformation project is underway! But where to start? After initiating a major three-step process (employee acculturation, reduction of hierarchical levels, and restructuring of HR roles), it was necessary to begin with something concrete, fast, and easy to understand: Progrescence.
Facing a staff accustomed to being told what to do, one of Patrick's priorities was to give them autonomy. However, it was also essential to find something that could quickly and easily lead to tangible results, triggering a viral dynamic. Patrick then thought of a tool that intersected these imperatives, although not well-known for its use in administration: Lean management.
The CPAM des Yvelines wanted to adapt it to the entity's culture and activity. It started by renaming this method Progrescence. It was launched in 2012 within a team whose manager volunteered to test it before being generalized to willing teams.
We can operate like the private sector without breaking the system - Patrick Negaret
On the agenda: hunting down waste, eliminating unnecessary tasks, mastering execution times, reducing operating costs, and gaining resources and space.
In 2012, the teams had to first acculturate to Kaizen (continuous improvement principle) and learn Lean tools, such as the 5S method and examples of visual management to concretize Kaizen. These optimization workshops were organized with willing teams and tested, once again, on a voluntary basis. Each person could then pick from the Lean toolbox and make use of its practices. For example, Fabrice contributed to finding solutions for overstock: he managed the archiving of 100,000 boxes (equivalent to 2 semi-trailers) through label indexing and barcode implementation. In 2013, given the excellent results of this approach in 2012, awareness programs were organized for managers (Progrescence Mornings) and functional executives (Progrescence Pass).
Two years later, flash actions took over: these are 2-hour workshops attended by a manager and their team, led by a representative from the Optimization department. The goal of these workshops is to identify and focus on the biggest irritants of the participating teams and find solutions as a team in less than 2 hours. These actions were faster and more flexible than optimization workshops and gradually took over. The results are impressive: the first six flash workshops resulted in saving 6 full-time equivalents!
A meeting charter also emerged in 2014, establishing principles and best practices that every meeting must adhere to for efficiency. A few examples:
- a meeting should last less than 2 hours,
- the number of participants is limited to the essential,
- a detailed agenda must be ready,
- an evaluation of the meeting's progress is necessary for continuous improvement.
As expected, the results speak for themselves: a reduction in the collection time for receivables (amounting to several million euros every year), payment of daily allowances to insured individuals on sick leave, or maternity leave benefits. With better organization, the storage and archiving space in general stores has increased. Most importantly, it allowed team members to speak up and become actors, rather than mere executors, in their daily work processes.
The principles and tools of Progrescence thus infused during these two years. However, this initiative largely relied on frontline managers. To successfully lead this transformation, everyone needs to be on board. That's why the CPAM Yvelines launched a new project in 2015, that of participative innovation, with the aim of involving as many employees as possible.
On to the ID'Nov stage in my next article!
