South Jefferson County News

The City of Brighton is pleased to announce that its Performance and Leadership Academy is now open to external applicants who work for government or non-profit organizations. The academy is a five-week program that teaches participants LEAN skills for identifying, analyzing, and solving pain points in their day-to-day work. Lean is a way of thinking about creating needed value with fewer resources and less waste. The academy also empowers participants to lead from any seat, build winning teams, and deliver exceptional customer service both internal and external. Graduates will receive their black belt in process improvement.

“The Performance and Leadership Academy is a huge win for the City,” Budget & Performance Manager

 Kayla Barber-Perrotta said. “Not only can we point to a substantial dollar and cents impact with more than $100k in projected annual savings identified in the first year, but we are making great strides in addressing turnover and strengthening organizational capacity. At the end of the day, the program resonates with employees because the lessons learned matter to them on a personal level. We are giving them tools to understand the pain points they face in their daily work as well as tools to implement real solutions. This isn’t the type of training that sits on a shelf as reflected by our graduate’s innovations. They have been able to reduce response times for victims of crimes, improve the front-desk experience for customers, reduce back-and-forth on inspections, and so much more.”

Brighton’s Performance and Leadership Academy began in May 2022 as a way to reinforce the city’s core values and promote a positive culture for employees while also providing employees with the tools to make data-driven decisions and improve their own work. In addition to completing the coursework, students are required to complete an innovation project within one year to graduate.  To date, 10 employees have graduated and developed performance and process improvements that are saving the city approximately $103,294 annually. Another 30 will see their innovation projects implemented in the coming months.

“This Performance & Leadership Academy has positively impacted all of my leadership and supervisory decisions,” Victim Services Manager Kim Messina said. “This academy allowed me to see that everyone in the class has similar issues and that our problem was not unique but rather solvable utilizing what we learned.  Utilizing what we learned truly impacts the greater good of the organization.  I feel so strongly about the positive influence this academy can have on all staff that I have strongly encouraged every member of my unit to attend.” 

Participants in the academy attend four-hour training sessions each Thursday for five weeks. Sessions are held from 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at Brighton City Hall, 500 S. 4th Ave. The cost to apply for external candidates is $1,800. Upcoming sessions can be found here. 

Original source can be found here.