Department of Revenue News Release

The Missouri Department of Revenue has announced its Process Improvement Teams, a new program aimed at creating a process improvement culture across the Department, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the customer experience. The Department is in the process of selecting three pilot PI Teams, comprised of staff from the Taxation and Motor Vehicle and Driver Licensing divisions.

“The Department of Revenue is committed to continuously improving in all areas and at all levels; a key part of this commitment is identifying and taking action on opportunities to make our everyday processes more efficient and cost-effective,” said Department Director Joel Walters. “The PI Teams program leverages the Department’s greatest resource, its employees, to further streamline our processes and find creative solutions to challenges so that we can better serve our customers. I’m confident these groups are going to come up with some fantastic ideas.”

During the course of the program, which is expected to last about three months, employees on the pilot teams will become Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt certified and actively participate in weekly team meetings in which they will provide project updates and exchange best practices. They will be required to maintain logs of process improvement initiatives to quantify return on investment (ROI), document best practices and process improvement tactics, and preserve the lessons learned. Their participation will be evaluated by their team lead and division leadership.

“One of the Department’s Strategic Management Priorities is tying recognition and rewards to transformational results,” said Department COO Ken Zellers. “We believe in investing in those employees whose ideas and actions lead to positive transformation within the Department, which is why employees selected for these teams will receive a temporary salary increase during their service.”

The Department is also reimbursing a total of 300 employees for the cost of becoming Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt certified, even if they do not participate on the Pilot PI teams.

Added Mark Godfrey, director of the Taxation Division: “Our employees are a wealth of knowledge and experience, and we need to honor their efforts and recognize their contributions that enhance our overall effectiveness.”

Candidates for future PI teams will have to become Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt certified and be sponsored by a bureau supervisor, manager, administrator or director before applying to the program. These candidates will have to present their project ideas to panels of bureau supervisors, managers, administrators and directors. Ideas will be evaluated on their estimated feasibility, measurability, cost and ROI. Based on those evaluations, the panels will then select the candidates who will comprise the next round of PI teams, which is expected to start at the beginning of 2019.

“I’m excited to get this program started because it provides our employees with a new opportunity to grow and really encourages them to think outside the box,” concluded Jackie Bemboom, director of the MVDL Division.

The Department of Revenue’s Strategic Management Priorities placemat for FY 2019 can be found on strategicchange.mo.gov.

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