1. I N S I D E T H I S R E P O R T
1 Strategic Plan
2 Organization Assessments
3 HR Processes
4 Other Projects, 2015 Plans
5 Performance Improvement
Services
Larimer County, 200 West Oak Street, Fort Collins, CO 80522
https://sites.google.com/a/co.larimer.co.us/larimer-county-quality
Performance
Improvement
Annual Report
2014
2014 signaled a year of implementing strategy. The Larimer County Strategic Plan was in full swing, with Goal
and Objective teams forming, storming, norming and now performing. In addition to shepherding the county’s
Strategic Planning process, the Performance Improvement team launched several organization assessments to
set the foundation for Larimer County’s goal of a continuously improving government.
Larimer County Strategic Plan
Last year was devoted to developing a community vision and a Strategic Plan
for Larimer County. This year meant putting the plan into action. There was a
lot of work done behind the scenes to make this happen, most notably by the
the 30 gracious individuals who agreed to be Goal Stewards and Objective
Leaders.
Performance Improvement contributed by acting as sponsors of the strategic
planning process. Leading the “Planning our Future” team (consisting of Linda
Hoffmann, Deni LaRue, Bob Keister, David Koons & Daniel Pace) Performance
Improvement helped by setting up a structure to manage progress using a
modified project management process refined by the Community Development
team.
Then, through targeted training of goal and objective leaders, strategic teams
were set loose to define and create plans for how they will achieve the Larimer
County community vision. These plans and other documentation are contained
in a shared Google structure that allows easy information and status mining as
well as the opportunity to learn from what other teams are doing.
Quarterly reviews with the county manager
and goal stewards have become an exciting
sharing of progress, and we are seeing the
fruits of a collaborative process already. You
should see some posters on the Strategic
Plan placed around the county in the next
year.
Be sure to read the article on Page 2 to see
how Performance Improvement is working to contribute to one of our goals of
being an organization that has “continuously improving processes.”

2. Page 2 Performance Improvement
Organization Assessments
Elections, ASD, ComCor, Facilities, Information Technology,
OLTC, Child Support, Imaging, HUB
Tied to the Larimer County Strategic Plan Goal 6: “Larimer County government
operates with…continuously improving processes,” is the notion that you need
to understand your current state in order to effectively plan improvements.
Organization Assessment came into being in order to provide a quick view into
the supporting system as well as to identify a “norm of excellence” that the
county as a whole desires to achieve… That is, ensure we have the
organizational foundation to enable efficient and effective services.
In order to do this, we developed categories of organization operation based
on Carnegie Mellon’s “capability maturity model” adapted for government.
This assessment is NOT a grade, but a method of identifying what type of
organization is appropriate to your service. For example, if you are operating
in a legal environment, a great deal of process rigor and documentation is
needed, whereas if you are managing the maintenance of a building, you might
not need that level of thoroughness. The result of the assessment is to identify
your category and then help plan out changes that would result in greater
capacity or efficiency.
Here is a sampling of the areas we look at. Note we’re not focusing on
technology but rather taking a system view to understand people and process
foundations desired. For more information, contact David Koons or Daniel Pace
to schedule an organization assessment for your department.
• Organization design (how people are aligned, do people know the
expectations of their job and have the skills/knowledge needed)
• Customer knowledge (understanding the expectations of people who
receive services)
• Business fit (strategic focus of the business/service)
• Design of processes (how processes are designed and automated)
• Metrics (measuring the business & processes)
• Process (processes documented and accessible, specific ownership)

3. Performance Improvement Page 3
Recruitment/Onboarding, Learning Management System
Early in 2014 HR was notified that ADP would no longer support the
recruitment module (Virtual Edge). This combined with gaps in meeting
expected functionality, HR requested support in a process review. As a result,
we engaged with HR to walk through what the ideal or best process would be,
so they could evaluate current process for improvement and have adequate
documentation to evaluate and transition to a software best aligned with
recruitment processes and services.
Recruitment for Larimer County desires to achieve these results:
• Hire the best candidates (put the right people in the right places)
• Ensure hiring practices meet legal and governmental requirements
(reduce or eliminate after-recruitment issues)
• The process is connected (there is a simple flow through connected
processes/applications)
• The process is easy to use (and inexpensive)
The result was that HR was able to go through the discovery process to fully
understand their needs and then translate that into meaningful interaction
with a new system provider, iCims. The new tool went live on December 9,
2014, and is successfully being used by hiring managers.
Learning Management (e.g. training) is currently a dispersed function with
elements of county-wide HR training, county-wide technology training, and
department-specific training. Some areas use a scheduling tool developed at
the county (if you’ve ever scheduled a class on the Bboard). Unfortunately,
there is no active record of student training/certification other than course
attendance for those classes taken through the Bulletin-Board or captured at
the department level. The tool as developed is operational, but with limited
functionality and the risk of becoming obsolete as the Larimer County web
design changes.
Patsi Maroni (HR) and Kasie Tisue (IT) met with Performance Improvement to
talk through the process and determine what is needed for the county. The
result was a mapped process and a set or requirements that will help in looking
at a Learning Management solution, focused first on ensuring we maintain or
improve training class scheduling and creating a training records database. We
should hear more about this in the upcoming year.
HR Processes
“The good news is, we had
some knowledge ahead of time
that the software may no longer
be supported, and have been
diligently working for the last 4
months at documenting current
and ideal process (with the
support of Process Analysts),
and gathering requirements to
assure the new software will
meet the County's job posting,
applicant and on-boarding
needs.” --Bridge Paris, Asst.
Dir HR
Division/Office Division/Office Division/Office Division/OfficeDivision/Office
Larimer County
County-wide Training:
> Hard Skills (general technology, job
skills)
> Soft Skills (leadership, management,
communication, etc.)
>New Hire Orientation (county)
Division or Job Specific Training:
> Hard Skills (specific technology, job
skills)
> Soft Skills (department-specific)
>New Hire Training (role-specific)
Learning
Management
System
All employee
training record
class
scheduling
Employee record;
Optional: class scheduling
Optional future
functionality: E-Learning
and Testing development

4. Page 4 Performance Improvement
We believe fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation
within the Larimer County organization is one of the most important things the
county can do as we move forward into the future. Local governments are
being asked to be more transparent, more accessible, efficient and lean. In
order to support the county’s quality and improvement needs, we are looking
forward to another year of contribution.
Here’s what’s on tap so far for Performance Improvement:
• Finish the Information Technology Strategic Plan
• Work with Finance on mapping out their financial management system
as they make plans for a future system replacement
• Continue delivering Organization Assessments as part of the county
strategic plans for continuously improving processes.
o Human Services: Child Care Assistance Program
o Human Services: Child Protection, Red Teams
o Finance Division
o Human Services: Accounting
o Human Services: Office on Aging
o Human Services: After hours CYF (Children, Youth & Family)
What’s In Store for 2015?
Performance Improvement, Improving
Other 2014 Performance Improvement
Business Improvement and Quality Coaching
The articles in this report give a flavor of what Performance Improvement’s
involvement is in the county. Other things we actively worked on during the year
were:
• Continuing work at the Sheriff’s office, we met with a select group of folks
in Patrol to review their current area designations in Larimer County.
These areas help define coverage for Patrol officers. In these sessions, we
looked at crime data, geographical data, and historical data to determine
whether it makes sense to redefine the boundaries with the goal of
providing better coverage in the county.
• Information Technology is in the midst of redefining itself to be a customer
focused organization. This strategy will take a while to fully implement,
but the team, with help from Performance Improvement, is looking at ways
to develop written agreements with customers, called Service Design
Packages. In the next few months, we are helping IT with a Strategic Plan
that will identify a growth path to providing transformative relationships
with IT customers over the next few years.
• We delivered a module on performance improvement to the LEAD 3.0
Training Program, coordinated Personify Leadership training for the
Sheriff’s Office, and even helped produce the “It’s a Wonderful County”
video.
• In addition to helping coordinate the Larimer County Strategic Planning
process, we are also active members of several Goal/Objective teams,
such as Customer Satisfaction and Operations.

5. Performance Improvement Page 5
Performance Improvement
David Koons & Daniel Pace
The following services are available to Larimer County Divisions and Elected Offices. As
resources are limited, there is a prioritization process for requests. If you or your
organization would like more information, please contact David Koons or Daniel Pace.
Organization and Performance Improvement Assessment
An analysis of your business/organization/service can be done at several levels of rigor.
• (CMM) You need a high-level understanding of your organization and process maturity in order to (a)
align with the county’s overall vision for organization capacity and (b) to develop plans to improve
organization effectiveness and thus improve your business.
• (BPI) You need a good understanding of your organization’s “current state” and a detailed plan for
making improvements. Is your structure giving you the best value? Do you have the right people in the
right places? Are your processes efficient, and which ones need to be redesigned? Can there be some
level of automation to further facilitate your business? This service involves detailed research, a series
of discussions with a representative sample of the organization leveraging the collective knowledge and
experience of your people, and a thorough analysis of what changes could make the greatest impact.
• (BPI Training) If you have people in your organization capable of performing some of these analysis
tasks, then we provide a series of workshops to give them the tools and knowledge needed.
Change Management & Leadership
Making plans are only as good as your ability to make the changes needed to facilitate improvements. Change is
difficult, and sometimes you need outside help to move things along. With a combined industry leadership
experience of over 40 years, we can work with your leadership team and organization to help facilitate change.
This involves coaching on change management, one-on-one discussions to help leaders improve their
capabilities, and developing change management plans based on ADKAR methodologies to help reduce
resistance to change.
Strategic Planning
We help you craft your organization’s strategic plan and get you on your way to managing its execution. A series
of workshops lead you through developing or revisiting your organization’s Vision, Mission and Charter, detailing
your customer’s expectations, crafting a series of Goals and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic,
Time-bound) Objectives that will help you achieve your vision. We also help you organize, assign owners to
objectives and coach leaders in the basics of project management so that you have more than a plan, you have
your operation’s playbook for the next few years.
Targeted Process Improvement Workshops
If you’ve been through the BPI analysis either with us or on your own and you’ve identified a process that you
want to improve, then we can facilitate workshops to redesign that process. We help you chart the process’
“as-is” (what it is today) and then analyze it for changes and develop the “to-be” (what it needs to be). We can
then help kick-start the effort by coaching your staff to develop project charters, proposals and plans to begin
the process of reengineering.
Performance Improvement Services

6. Performance Improvement Page 5
Performance Improvement
David Koons & Daniel Pace
The following services are available to Larimer County Divisions and Elected Offices. As
resources are limited, there is a prioritization process for requests. If you or your
organization would like more information, please contact David Koons or Daniel Pace.
Organization and Performance Improvement Assessment
An analysis of your business/organization/service can be done at several levels of rigor.
• (CMM) You need a high-level understanding of your organization and process maturity in order to (a)
align with the county’s overall vision for organization capacity and (b) to develop plans to improve
organization effectiveness and thus improve your business.
• (BPI) You need a good understanding of your organization’s “current state” and a detailed plan for
making improvements. Is your structure giving you the best value? Do you have the right people in the
right places? Are your processes efficient, and which ones need to be redesigned? Can there be some
level of automation to further facilitate your business? This service involves detailed research, a series
of discussions with a representative sample of the organization leveraging the collective knowledge and
experience of your people, and a thorough analysis of what changes could make the greatest impact.
• (BPI Training) If you have people in your organization capable of performing some of these analysis
tasks, then we provide a series of workshops to give them the tools and knowledge needed.
Change Management & Leadership
Making plans are only as good as your ability to make the changes needed to facilitate improvements. Change is
difficult, and sometimes you need outside help to move things along. With a combined industry leadership
experience of over 40 years, we can work with your leadership team and organization to help facilitate change.
This involves coaching on change management, one-on-one discussions to help leaders improve their
capabilities, and developing change management plans based on ADKAR methodologies to help reduce
resistance to change.
Strategic Planning
We help you craft your organization’s strategic plan and get you on your way to managing its execution. A series
of workshops lead you through developing or revisiting your organization’s Vision, Mission and Charter, detailing
your customer’s expectations, crafting a series of Goals and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic,
Time-bound) Objectives that will help you achieve your vision. We also help you organize, assign owners to
objectives and coach leaders in the basics of project management so that you have more than a plan, you have
your operation’s playbook for the next few years.
Targeted Process Improvement Workshops
If you’ve been through the BPI analysis either with us or on your own and you’ve identified a process that you
want to improve, then we can facilitate workshops to redesign that process. We help you chart the process’
“as-is” (what it is today) and then analyze it for changes and develop the “to-be” (what it needs to be). We can
then help kick-start the effort by coaching your staff to develop project charters, proposals and plans to begin
the process of reengineering.
Performance Improvement Services