The UCLA Administration Leadership Forum was created to gather leaders from across all eleven departments in Administration together as one team. At the inaugural forum in 2018, a team from UC San Diego introduced continuous process improvement (CPI) concepts to assess and eliminate waste in operational processes and create efficiencies throughout the organization. This inspired departmental movements to start CPI efforts across UCLA Administration.
This year’s event, held at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center and attended by approximately 550 Administration leaders, showcased the CPI efforts implemented by six departments: Central Ticket Office, Environment, Health & Safety, Events & Transportation, Facilities Management, HR Payroll Center, and the UCLA Police Department. Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck opened the event with a brief review of the UCLA Administration mission, vision, and core values and the importance of continuous process improvement in Administration’s service function to the campus.
The attendees also benefitted from hearing from the Forum’s keynote speaker, the newly appointed Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Emily Carter. EVC/P Carter has been speaking to different campus organizations, and the Forum was an excellent opportunity for share her perspective and hear questions from Administration. She emphasized her great respect for the work of Administration and the need to incorporate the hub-and-spoke model for key Administrative services. A hub-and-spoke model arranges service delivery using a central anchor (hub), which distributes information or services through various routes (spoke). An example for Administration would be a central Human Resources hub, which provides direction to various channels throughout campus. In her vision, the hub and spoke model would be different than the current distributed model where there are some central functions, but they are not necessarily working harmoniously together.
Her keynote also addressed sustainability, continuous improvement, future of cities, diversity and inclusion and the analysis and use of data in driving decisions.
The Forum received positive feedback and many individuals have communicated interest in bringing CPI to their departments. Thank you to the following individuals who assisted at the event: Jesse Alberti, Robin Bell, Gina Biri, Devron Carter, Todd Conover, Jessica Doty, Jahaira Duarte, Zandy Eckrich, Alyssa Leiva, Carlos Montoya, Amanda Ogden, Lance Patacsil, Anna Rodrigues, Dave Wiedeman, Stephanie Youngblood and Gerrie Zvara.
