There’s An Idea For That!

With a focus on providing better solutions for citizens and improving service delivery, a new team is busting silos and finding better ways to save money and serve citizens.

The City of Saskatoon’s Strategic Plan calls for a renewed focus on “Continuous Improvement” as a way for Saskatoon to become “the best-managed city in Canada.”

An integrated team of 25 employees representing divisions across the City – self-titled the Innovation League – is answering the call.

“We needed a program to build capacity,” says Kim Matheson, Director of Strategic and Business Planning. “We needed to be able to provide tools that could help with performance improvement and help teams turn ideas into action.”

In her quest for tools and techniques, Matheson came across the Innovation in a Box training program implemented at the City of Mississauga. Her Mississauga counterpart reported that the innovation program has been incredibly successful, particularly because it is employees themselves involved in idea creation and problem solving as part of the process.

“We jumped right in,” says Kim. “We introduced the program to 140 of our Managers and Directors. We followed that up with a two-day boot camp and brought in employees from different levels of various departments across the City of Saskatoon.”

The program helps to focus teams on idea generation, making it easier for them to frame problems and explore creative solutions. Together, employee teams identify the principal issue, then continue to ask questions throughout the process that keep them focused on the core issue. Finally, the teams build their own strategic game plans to implement their solutions.

“We give them the tools; they provide the ideas and solutions,” says Daniel Tkatchuk, Building Capacity Lead. “No matter the problem, there’s an idea for that!’”

Take as an example the construction of an interchange, which requires involvement from a number of divisions in the city at different stages (e.g., Neighbourhood Planning, Major Projects, Construction, Design, Public Works, Transportation). The new approach brings stakeholders together at the beginning of the process, helping them to understand the downstream impact of their decisions and actions. The result is that problems and barriers are identified in advance and projects are done more quickly and efficiently, saving both time and taxpayer money.

“It’s been pretty incredible,” says Kim. “It has really brought teams together, provided opportunities for collaboration across the City, and brought people together who may not have worked together in the past.”

Matheson’s team will focus on bringing divisions together to make strides toward greater efficiency, saving and improvements to service. It’s all part of a City-wide effort to deliver programs and services that are better for both citizens and the City’s bottom line.

For more information, email innovation@saskatoon.ca or contact the Strategic and Business Planning Division at 306-975-2503.