Hiring Should Never Be Over a Year: Utilizing Lean Six Sigma Principles for Swift Hiring in Law Enforcement
How did I get involved with process improvement?
In 2017, when I transitioned positions in my division, I took on a myriad of new responsibilities, from tracking hiring to policy development and a lot of "catch-all" responsibilities. As I progressed in this position and took on more and more responsibilities, I noticed many of the processes I inherited were cumbersome. They took too long to process, including hiring and onboarding new special agents.
This went on for a year until my agency offered a Lean Six Sigma course, and I took it, opening my eyes to a new process improvement method. Lean Six Sigma is a strategy businesses use to streamline their operations and work processes by eliminating unnecessary steps. It also ensures everything else is running smoothly and on time. It's all about making things work better and faster with fewer roadblocks.
The Drive for Change in Law Enforcement Hiring
In law enforcement, particularly for critical roles like special agents, the traditional hiring approach has been marked by inefficiencies. This often led to a prolonged recruitment process lasting over a year (even years!), hindering the agency's ability to promptly fill positions. As a result, candidates, unwilling to endure such delays, often pursued other opportunities, perpetuating the cycle of recruitment challenges and making the hiring team go back to square one.
The Untimely Hiring Process
The hiring and onboarding of special agents have long been plagued by flaws and inefficiencies. To address this, I sought to enhance hiring efficiency by implementing Lean Six Sigma methodologies. However, achieving this goal required gaining management buy-in, which often involved navigating challenging egos.
Employing Lean Six Sigma
Lean Six Sigma isn't just about individual efforts; it thrives on teamwork and collaboration. It's crucial to assemble the right mix of people with the right skills and perspectives, each bringing something unique to the table. For this collaboration, every team member must be fully on board, believe in the mission, and be committed to making it happen. Without everyone's buy-in, the journey toward improvement can be much more challenging. While one person might take the lead, the team's collective effort drives success in Lean Six Sigma.
We actively leveraged digital tools to expedite paperwork and reorganized schedules to reduce wait times. It's important to note that improvements don't always have to be complex; many processes can be enhanced with simple adjustments, ensuring each step is completed timely and effective. A key aspect of our approach was establishing a monitoring system, which is not necessarily robust but effective, to sustain these improvements and ensure ongoing efficiency through continuous review and necessary adjustments. Additionally, we assigned at least one person, with a backup, to track candidates as they progressed through the process, ensuring that no step was overlooked and that all candidates were efficiently managed.
Of note, the process is different for each agency and the players involved, from Human Resources to outsourced hiring databases to those in the process who simply refuse to collaborate or maintain timeliness.
Reflections on Success and the Importance of Leadership
This hiring process achieved substantial improvements, significantly reducing the overall hiring timeline from over a year to months, enabling us to keep high-quality candidates engaged and interested. However, the process highlighted two essential ingredients for success: the unwavering support of management and the strict adherence of all employees involved in the hiring process to the process. Without these, the risk of reverting to old, inefficient practices loomed large, potentially derailing our progress.
A Reflection on Management's Role
Reflecting on this process, a nuanced challenge regarding management's engagement emerged. While management's support was indispensable, a hands-off approach until problems surfaced presented its own set of obstacles. This stance, often stemming from a trust in the Lean Six Sigma team's expertise, meant that managers were sometimes distant from the day-to-day details of the process improvements. Though rooted in trust, such distance occasionally hindered swift problem resolution, underscoring the need to balance empowering specialists and ensuring engaged, hands-on leadership to navigate and quickly address issues.
How Does It Work
As a Lean Six Sigma champion, I spearheaded a focused initiative to address these challenges head-on. The approach was systematic and data-driven, aligning with the core principles of Lean Six Sigma to eliminate waste and improve process efficiency. The steps included:
Define: We began by defining the specific inefficiencies within the hiring process for special agents, setting clear goals to reduce the overall timeline without compromising the quality of candidates.
Measure: We detailed the existing process, identifying bottlenecks and areas where candidates experienced unnecessary delays. This is key and needs input from as many employees involved in the hiring process as possible.
Analyze: Through a thorough analysis, we pinpointed the steps that contributed most significantly to the extended duration of the hiring process.
Improve: Strategies were then implemented to eliminate or streamline these steps. This included introducing digital tools to expedite paperwork, restructuring interview and written assessment schedules to minimize waiting times, and assigning employees to track the process and keep it moving along.
Control: To ensure the sustainability of these improvements, we established a monitoring system to oversee the revamped process and made adjustments as necessary to maintain efficiency.
Just Some Of What We Found
One (of many) of the biggest obstacles we encountered in our quest for rapid hiring was the inefficiency of relying on email exchanges, which often led to messages getting lost or delayed. Coordinating the schedules of the hiring panel and aligning them with the availability of candidates proved to be another significant challenge. Additionally, the hiring manager's process of reviewing and approving the certification list and obtaining approvals from management at each level further delayed the hiring timeline. These hurdles highlighted the critical need for streamlining communication channels and decision-making processes to ensure a more efficient and timely hiring process.
Achievements and Reflections
The initiative to streamline the hiring process for special agents brought about significant improvements. We substantially reduced the hiring timeline from a year or more down to less than 120 days. We enhanced the candidate experience by keeping them informed at each step, ensuring that high-quality candidates remained engaged and interested. The success of this process improvement project highlighted the importance of leadership and accountability in driving and sustaining change, including having management buy-in.
The experience taught us a critical lesson: the hiring process for law enforcement should never exceed a year. In a competitive talent landscape, efficiency and agility are both advantageous and necessary. By applying Lean Six Sigma principles, we demonstrated that it is possible to meet the critical needs of law enforcement without sacrificing the quality of hires.
Note: Besides Lean Six Sigma, various other process improvement methodologies are available. Total Quality Management (TQM) emphasizes continual enhancement and customer satisfaction. Agile methodologies prioritize iterative development and collaboration. Kaizen focuses on incremental improvements, while Theory of Constraints (TOC) identifies and addresses bottlenecks. Each methodology offers distinct approaches and tools to optimize processes and enhance organizational efficiency. Finding the right process for your agency and having someone capable of leading the change effectively is crucial.