The Challenge

WSCC is committed to a providing services for 40,000 workers and 4,000 employers across the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.  The WSCC processes over 3,000 claims annually and conducts over 1000 inspections annually to ensure the safety of the Northern Territories.  To support this initiative the WSCC implemented a Continuous Excellence (CE) Program in June 2013 using Lean methods Value Stream Mapping and Kaizen Rapid Process Improvements (Kaizens).  In 2017, an Internal Evaluation of the program was conducted to identify strengths and opportunities of the current program to improve service delivery.  Propel Solutions was engaged by WSCC to assist the organization with the redevelopment process to ensure that CE events and Kaizens are meaningful and effective.

The Objectives

  • Workshop Facilitation: Propel conducted a comprehensive review of the current processes within the CE Program through facilitating a series of functional and cross-functional workshop sessions with up to 17 participants to uncover opportunities for process improvement.  Our consultants worked with stakeholders to map their current processes into cross-functional process maps.
  • Future State Redesign: Propel designed a future state program to establish a framework for the redeveloped Continuous Excellence (CE) program to work within the business units to have a higher success.  The framework ensured that all staff in the organzition have the ability to participate in the CE Program to support an organizational culture of Continuous Improvement.
  • Development of a CE Toolkit: Propel’s Lean Consulting team worked with stakeholders to develop a comprehensive management toolkit with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure success on daily, weekly and monthly basis. Additionally, the team developed Process Improvement tools to assist the organize to identify, prioritize and install improvements within Business Units.
  • Lean Training Tools and Framework: Propel’s Lean Consulting team developed a training framework to ensure each role had the tools and knowledge required to actively participate in Continuous Improvement. Training tools were developed in multiple formats to accommodate different audiences, learning styles and delivery methods.

The Results

As a result of the engagement, WSCC had a framework for transiting the organization to a culture of Continuous Improvement. Participants of the CE Program were involved throughout the redesign process, beginning the fostering of staff involvement in process improvement. The developed tools provided CE participants with a simplified process to support Business Units with small, incremental improvements to the process.  The organization has a framework from which to measure the success of process improvements and assist Business Units with making data driving decisions.