Chapter 7 - Strength in Numbers

One of the reasons I put this book together was to share the excitement I had with my own journey towards helping others, and reducing our impact on the environment. My excitement was fueled in large part by my experiences with two volunteer groups, and one benefit consulting company.

The first group is the Sustainable Development Division³³ of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). The group was established in 2011 by John Corliss³⁴. Although I’m not an Industrial or Systems Engineer by education, I was impressed with their drive to embed sustainability into these disciplines, and they were one of the few organizations promoting sustainability along with process improvement. I decided to start helping out by becoming the webmaster for the division, and I started attending the board member call-in meetings once per month. They also host numerous meetings and networking activities during the annual conferences. I’ve been fortunate to speak on Lean Six Sigma and Sustainability topics at every annual conference since 2013.

I’d like to tell you about two wonderful people I met through the division.

Joel Brock³⁵ has been using his Industrial Engineering skills to help local animal shelters run more effectively. In addition to applying his skills to the cleaning and feeding processes for the animals, he’s also gained valuable leadership and job experience, learned about new industries and processes, has made great connections in the community, and has learned new skills. He often reminds us about the many opportunities within nonprofits, such as board leadership, strategic planning, volunteer recruiting and management, paid staff positions, grant writing and fundraising, campaign development, community outreach and event management. These experiences can give you a competitive advantage when pursuing new work opportunities (within or outside your current company). You can learn more about Joel’s experience in a 2017 IISE webinar³⁶.

Kate (Fisher) Groot³⁷, a consultant with Nationwide Children’s Hospital³⁸, helped setup the first community service project for IISE. Volunteers attending the annual conference sign up to help a nonprofit located in the area of the conference. Not only is the work rewarding, but it gives volunteers a chance to network with other like-minded conference attendees. The first event was a beach clean-up in Puerto Rico. The project is usually held the day before the conference starts, and volunteers help the nonprofit organization with whatever project they deem important. After the half-day event, the volunteers make observations and provide feedback on how the volunteer work could be done more efficiently. I helped organize the service project prior to the 2016 annual conference in Anaheim, California. We helped build furniture and unpack donated dishes at the Habitat for Humanity Restore³⁹.

The next group I got involved with is Lean Portland⁴⁰, a volunteer group of Lean and Six Sigma consultants in Portland (Oregon), which was established in 2012 by Matt Horvat⁴¹. The group started small, with just a few consultants and one nonprofit. Over the past few years, it has grown to dozens of active consultants, more structured meetings, and more defined roles and responsibilities. The short-term goal is to make meaningful impact with dozens of nonprofits. In the long term, I am hoping to help spread the program outside of Portland. The team has twice-monthly meetings, a monthly happy hour, and regular meetings with the nonprofits. Having a large team of resources is essential, to ensure there is no breakdown in support for the nonprofits when life gets in the way (which happens often within a volunteer group).

Setting up a local Lean and Six Sigma volunteer consultant group might be a good option for you, especially if you are hesitant to get started on your own. Lean Portland started out as a LinkedIn Group, and grew from there. Contact me if you are interested in setting up a similar group in your community, or visit the Lean Portland website⁴² or LinkedIn Group page⁴³ to follow our progress.

The third group I’ve been involved with is the Sherpa Sustainability Institute⁴⁴. Holly Duckworth and Andrea Hoffmeier have taken their passion and experience for process improvement and sustainability, and developed a program called Continual Improvement for Social Responsibility (CISR). Along with online training, they have developed a support network of coaches to help individuals follow a structured process to make an organization more socially responsible and sustainable. I was one of the first coaches in the program, and highly recommend you check out their program offerings (even if you don’t have a strong Lean or Six Sigma background).