About Process Improvement Challenges

Process Improvement Challenges are the primary method through which employees are empowered to improve the university. These challenges must address one or both of our two parallel critical metrics – operating cash and student retention.

Operating cash is an indicator of our financial health. This is the cash used to pay our bills (e.g., payroll, utilities, etc.). It is not tied to a particular use unlike financial aid, restricted gifts, and most construction. The household analogy would be a checking or savings account. Most organizations (and households) maintain a certain level of operating cash in reserve (savings).

Our Board of Governors has expressed a desire to maintain a minimum reserve of 15% of total revenue. Employee may view historical levels of operation cash, by visiting the operating cash graph (coming soon) or view the university’s current level of operating cash by visiting the University Financial Dashboard. In order to “keep the doors open,” there will always be some emphasis on the financial stability of Missouri Southern.

Student retention reflects our Stage 2 emphasis on student success. Retention is emphasized in our new mission to educate and graduate knowledgeable, responsible, successful global citizens and specifically in our strategic plan subgoal 1a: Update and implement the strategic enrollment management plan to yield 2,000 freshmen and transfer student headcount and a 66% fall-to-fall retention rate by 2023. Student success is the core purpose of our institution.

It is important to note that challenges can impact our critical metrics in indirect ways. For example, an academic unit may design a challenge to increase touchpoints with their advisees. This would, hopefully, have an indirect effect on student retention because students who engage more with their discipline are more likely to continue in that discipline – i.e., be retained.

When improvements are made to the university through challenges and we achieve our two parallel critical metrics – operating cash and student retention – the Board of Governors may approve a Lion’s Share cash stipend for university employees. We were fortunate to receive a Lion’s Share in 2017, 2018 and 2019. However, Lion’s Share distributions are not guaranteed and it is possible the university’s financial position may limit distributions in the future.

Developing and conducting a process improvement challenge is a five-step process:

Select a metric. This metric must impact one or both of the university’s critical metrics; and, the unit(s) conducting the challenge must be able to directly affect the metric.
Select goals for the metric. Ideally, the unit has some historical data to establish a baseline for the chosen metric. Our Empowering U Research subcommittee desires this baseline data so we can empirically establish the effectiveness of challenges, identified as the challenge impact. Post-challenge data collection on the chosen metric is also necessary. Multiple levels of goals should be established if multiple rewards are to be given for the achievement of those levels. This helps maintain engagement. Reward funding is available from the Empowering U Process Improvement Challenge subcommittee through the challenge application process.
Select time frame and participants. Challenges will typically run between one and three months. This is so there is enough time to impact the chosen metric. In addition to overall duration, the timing of rewards and goal levels must be determined. This includes the development of a check-in schedule based around the time frame and incremental goals. Rewards are received when incremental goals are achieved. Participants will typically be the members of a unit on campus.
Design a theme. The challenge should have a creative theme with a visual/visible dashboard to track the chosen metric through the multiple check-ins.
Evaluate and celebrate. All participants win or lose together. Wins should be celebrated! In certain cases, a Challenge Recap Form will be requested which allows the Empowering U Process Improvement Challenge subcommittee to update the Empowering U challenge database and share lessons learned.

For more information on how to conduct a challenge, visit Empowering U Training. If you or your department would like assistance developing a process improvement challenge, please contact the Empowering U Committee at empoweringu@mssu.edu. Members of the Empowering U Process Improvement Challenge subcommittee are also available for in-person consulting services if needed.

To formally submit a process improvement challenge for approval and request funding for rewards, visit Challenge Application.