What is the Accelerator?

What is the Accelerator course and community?

The Accelerator is an introduction to a structured problem-solving course and community. As Accelerators, we grow our ability to create change by creating change. With guidance, coaching, and experiential education, Accelerators use a mix of process improvement, human centered design, and other methods as we work on projects to improve outcomes for Montgomery County. Too often we think we are stuck in miserable processes and systems. The Accelerator is premised on the belief that the best people to fix those processes and systems are often the people in those processes and systems themselves. Power, as Martin Luther King Jr articulated it, is the ability to create change. Accelerators create change and grow our capacity to create more change towards just, human, liberating futures.

The Accelerator course begins with selected applicants from across Montgomery County government coming together for a three-day workshop intensive. During the three-day intensive, we form a cohort and learn from each other and existing Accelerators who join to facilitate the intensive. We practice methods from mapping processes and root cause analysis to observation walks, brainstorming, and measuring change.

Having practiced the Accelerator tools during the intensive, Accelerators then bring change to our departments and those we serve. Within a week of launch, the new Accelerator cohort ignites change projects by each presenting three projects each Accelerator identified. We share why change is needed, the current state, and the future state we hope to bring about. Over the next few months, we work to analyze the gap between the current state and the future state, surface assumptions, develop theories of change and brainstorm solutions to test those theories. We build and execute action plans, measure our results, and capture learnings.  During this time we are supported by peer mentors, a thriving online community, regular coaching hours, Open Innovation events, and additional learning sessions.

Accelerators reconvene within six months of each launch intensive at an Accelerator Commencement and Innovation Showcase where we showcase our change and learnings so that it can spread. This is an opportunity to learn from each other’s successes and celebrate persistence through the inevitable failures along the way. In creating change through a structured problem-solving course and creating community, Accelerators build power to shape our processes and systems to better meet our communities’ needs.

Having completed our initial projects, Accelerators continue to grow our impact and grow our Accelerator community. We organize chapter clubs and peer mentoring initiatives. We design and facilitate peer learning circles to explore concepts like no-code technology, growth mindsets, empathy as a change tool, community organizing within organizations, and change management. We organize within their departments to share the tools we find most valuable, like Library Accelerators practicing processing mapping with their whole department during a staff learning day and Procurement organizing a one-day department wide Accelerator session. Accelerators are just getting started. A core group comes together for monthly work sprints where we are working on projects including developing a Climate Change Accelerator, adapting problem solving tools to operationalizing racial justice, building a fellows program to improve the constituent experience, and launching Leadership+Management Circles to improve leadership in MCG. Together, we are exploring the potential for future ways of working within our government that recognize our power, center humans, embrace complexity, and act informed by experience. Accelerators slow things down to speed things up – we start, small, and scale.

Accelerator Projects

So what do we do?

Our Accelerator colleagues are creating change for those we serve. In HHS, Patricia is reducing friction for families of children with disabilities scheduling appointments for services. In OCP, Shaun reduced compliance paperwork for businesses while improving protection for those businesses’ customers.  In ABS, Jocelyn reduced administrative burden for alcohol license renewals to save businesses money and the County staff time. Jocelyn was able to use the tools to adapt her process in the pandemic and was recognized with a NaCo award. In Behavioral Health, Leon improved the case management system to reduce frustration while improving contract compliance. In DEP, Sharon built a better way to onboard new colleagues like Barbara, who then worked with Sharon to improve business recycling in the SORRT program. Their colleague, Ana, improved how DEP translates information for their website to ensure non-English speakers can benefit from environmental outreach programs like those being made more engaging by Larissa. Larissa is also working to improve how DEP updates its websites so people have complete and accurate information about energy saving initiatives.  In TEBS, Susanne reduced errors on county websites owned by multiple website owners across many departments. Kim is one of those website owners and she changed how DOT updates its website to free up time for managers and reduce missing data. Elsewhere in DOT, Tiara reduced missed preventative maintenance across the fleet while increasing camaraderie. In SEPH, Judith made it easier for those experiencing homelessness to get dental services. In OHR, Brian made it faster to send offer letters to top candidates so we can hire talent, while Karen halved the time we were spending training interview panelists increasing the pool of interviewers. As new employees came onboard, Shirley worked to improve the New Employee Orientation program and James and Anita reduced massive amounts of paperwork for course instructors while improving feedback’s impact on trainings. Accelerators work to improve the employee experience so we can improve the constituent experience, like how Sam used Accelerator tools to improve the eTelework system reducing confusion and clicks for thousands of employees. Sam also used Accelerator tools to rapidly deliver results for a Council mandate on COVID testing for employees. In DOT, Melissa partnered with Finance so that residents could pay for services online. In Libraries, James sped up the sorting of books to get them back on shelves, Nalani improved the call experience for patrons calling for Library services, and Adrienne worked with staff to make Libraries more welcoming and increase personal connection. Many Accelerators are promoted to new jobs like how Jessica improved the processes for election judges then moved to the County Executive’s Office and improved processes to make it less likely for constituent communications to fall through the cracks and get constituents the answers they seek. This mirrored a project Heather led in the DOT Director’s Office to eliminate wasted staff time and improve issue resolution and tracking for resident inquiries. In DHCA, Berenice is applying her own experience struggling with housing to improve the intake process for new clients. While they might also have other identities, like Department Director, Income Specialist, Administrative Assistant, Librarian, parent, organizer, and advocate, in their role as Accelerators, our colleagues are creating change.