Don’t Get DOGE’d

The Path to True Efficiency in Government

Fix it Yourself!

Billion-dollar spending cuts in Washington, DC make for spectacular headlines… but one-time budget reallocations do not improve efficiency, nor do they enhance services for our citizens.

Even if your agency is not directly impacted by cost-cutting in the Federal government, citizens across the country are demanding greater efficiency in government operations. Public sector professionals are used to the demand, “Do more with less!” But in today’s environment, working harder is not a sufficient solution.

How can your organization reduce costs and improve day-to-day service delivery?

You do not need to be a rocket scientist to:

• Simplify operations by reducing non-value-added process steps… sometimes by as much as 50%.
• Eliminate one-time exceptions and variations that have somehow become SOP.
• Reallocate staff to optimize workflow and customer service.
• Eliminate bottlenecks that frustrate both citizens and your team members.
• Utilize simple, inexpensive automations (e.g. bots) to speed up workflow.
• Update standards to match the realities of remote work.
• Standardize process documentation so that new employees get up to speed quickly.

What kind of results can you achieve?

Over the last 30 years, Orion’s public sector clients have achieved:

• Increased Capacity – State agency was able to process 30% more pensions applications without increasing headcount.
• Faster Service – State agencies in Florida and Ohio slashed processing times by 50-60%.
• Simpler Operations – Ohio agencies average 62% fewer process steps, 71% fewer decision/delay points, and 54% fewer handoffs during execution.
• Improved Morale – Less complexity leads to fewer customer complaints, less stress, and higher employee satisfaction.
• Optimal Resource Allocation – State agency consolidated core process groups from 26 to 8 and redeployed 70 employees to higher-value activities.
• Lower Costs – Collectively, our clients have saved more than $2 billion dollars in annual, recurring expenses.

Now that is government efficiency!

Where Can You Get Started?

It is easy to get caught up in talks of AI and other high-impact technologies. These investments will certainly make a difference but, realistically, will take years to implement. Here are more immediate actions you can deploy this year to improve efficiency:

Launch Process Mapping “Kaizen” Events – Your team knows which processes and business activities cause the most headaches (delays, errors, complaints) on a day-to-day basis. A structured 3-or 4-day workshop can help you quickly eliminate non-value-added steps, unnecessary inspections, and miscommunications that cause rework.

Charter Lean Process Improvement Projects – More complex challenges require more than simply cleaning up workflow. Lean process improvement projects can be executed over several weeks or a few months so that the team has time to map, measure, explore root causes, brainstorm innovations, and deploy processes that are better, faster and cheaper.

Process Documentation & Standardization – Across your organization, there are too many business activities that are performed in different ways by different people. This leads to inefficiency as well as confusion for new employees. It also means your best practices are not being shared among the team. Clarifying how work “should be” performed will make life easier and more efficient for all.

Professional Development – Build a team of internal experts who can be embedded into functional areas so that performance improvement is part of the culture rather than a one-time project. As priorities shift, our agencies will more than ever depend on people who know how to reduce complexity, solve problems, prioritize value-added steps, etc.

Taking the Lead on Government Efficiency

According to Cambridge dictionary, efficiency is the quality of achieving the largest amount of useful work using as little energy, fuel, effort, etc. as possible.” It does not need to mean drastic reductions in workforce, especially when we are able to work smarter and thereby produce more “useful work” and more valuable services for our citizens.

A character on the old Hill Street Blues television program ended roll call with the charge, “Let’s do it to them before they do it to us.” Not to be cynical, but today is the opportunity to take the lead in improving efficiency rather than have someone with less understanding of your operations make the wrong changes. That would be ineffective… and inefficient!

–Paul King