11 minutes

Examine one workforce process

One process, walked end to end as the person going through it, with each step's barrier, the people it stops, the owner, the first fix and a date when somebody checks.

What you’ll be able to do

Complete a barrier review of one workforce process you touch, naming each step, who it stops, the owner of the step, the first fix inside your own authority, and the point at which somebody checks.
Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: Which one do you take, and where do you start?
Draft a barrier review for one workforce process for your work, including process and whose experience you are walking, step and what it screens out, people stopped and the owner of the step.

Walk it as the person going through it

Reviewing a process means reading the procedure and looking at the form. Walking it means following what actually happens, in order, from the position of the person it happens to: somebody outside the agency who has never seen a state job posting, a new employee who does not know anyone yet, a staff member who needs something in order to do the work and has to ask a supervisor for it.

Barriers in workforce processes cluster at five points. Finding out: does the opportunity reach people who are not already inside, in words they can read, with enough time to act? Getting through: can a person complete the application with the tools and hours they have? Being selected: does the process measure the work, or does it measure familiarity and recall speed? Arriving: is the person set up, told what good looks like, and introduced to people who matter? Staying and growing: is work assigned deliberately, is supervision time protected, and does what a person needs arrive without a month of explaining?

At each step, write five things: the step, what it screens out, who it stops, who owns it, and the first fix. Then add one line the whole review depends on — who checks, and by when. A review without that line becomes a document. A review with it becomes work.

A barrier review for one workforce process

One page that turns a walked process into a change somebody owns. Copy the five fields, repeat them for each step, and fill them from the walk rather than from the procedure.

Process and whose experience you are walking The route a staff member takes to request an adjustment they need in order to do the work, walked as somebody who has been in the unit four months, has no relationship with human resources, and would rather not tell their supervisor why.

Step and what it screens out Step two, the first conversation: the only documented way in is “talk to your supervisor.” This screens out anyone whose need is private, anyone whose supervisor is part of the difficulty, and anyone who does not yet know the request is legitimate.

People stopped and the owner of the step Staff with non-apparent conditions, staff early in a probationary period, and staff who have had a request go badly somewhere else. Owner: the unit manager for the local practice; the department's human resources office for the formal route.

First fix inside your own authority Write the route down in plain words — where to go, what is asked for, roughly how long it takes, who sees it — publish it where the unit actually looks, and name a second contact so the supervisor is not the only door. Costs an afternoon and no budget.

What belongs to a formal office, and who checks The decision itself, the medical information handled, and the overall timeline belong to human resources; send them the route as walked, including how long it took. Check: the unit manager reviews at the agreed point and reports what changed to the whole unit, including what did not change and why.

Copy the five fields, repeat them for each step of your process, walk the process this month, and send the completed review to the owners you named.

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First fixes that need nobody's permission

Write the duty each posting requirement protects; delete the ones with nothing beside them.
Name the equivalent experience that counts, in the posting, in words a panel can apply.
Send interview questions in advance and say how long the interview will run.
Put one panel member from outside the hiring unit on every panel.
Publish what a new employee gets in week one, and check the day before they start that it exists.
Say plainly, in the first week, what good work looks like in this unit.
Announce training budgets, temporary assignments and upcoming postings to everyone on the same day.
Hold the one-on-one. Move it rather than canceling it, and say why.
Write down the route for requesting an adjustment, with a second contact who is not the supervisor.
Stop asking staff to represent a community on top of a full workload; pay community advisors instead.

Five points where a workforce process stops people

Finding out

Does the opportunity reach people who are not already inside the agency, in plain words, with enough time to prepare an application?

Getting through

Can the person complete every step with the tools, hours and support they have, including a keyboard, a screen reader, a phone and a shift that ends at six?

Being selected

Does the process measure the work described in the position description, or does it measure familiarity, recall speed and comfort in an unfamiliar room?

Arriving

Is the person set up on day one, told what good work looks like, introduced to people who matter, and given somebody to ask the obvious questions?

Staying and growing

Is work assigned deliberately across a year, is supervision time protected, does growth travel through channels everyone can reach, and does what a person needs arrive without a month of explaining?

Fix your own step before you write the report

What you can change

You control the steps inside your own authority: the wording, the window, the panel, the first week, the assignment, the standing meeting, the second contact.

What to watch for

Do not send the whole review upward and wait. A review that travels up without a change attached reads as a request for permission, and it usually receives one at about the speed you expect.

Your next step

Make one first fix in a step you own before the agreed review point, tell the people it affects, and hand the rest to the owners you named with the review attached.

A barrier review of onboarding finds that new staff often wait weeks for the software they need. Which entry is a complete review line?

Barrier: equipment delays. Fix: improve coordination with the units involved.

Barrier: at step four, software requests are submitted after the start date, so new staff wait weeks and some cannot use the standard tools at all. Stops: every new hire, and anyone whose tools must work with a screen reader. Owner: the hiring supervisor for the request, the service desk for fulfilment. First fix: submit requests when the offer is accepted and confirm the day before the start date. Check: the unit manager reviews the next three starts at the agreed point.

Barrier: new staff are not proactive about requesting what they need. Fix: include a reminder in the welcome message.

Barrier: onboarding is inconsistent across the division. Fix: propose a division-wide onboarding standard for leadership consideration.

Try a situation

Your unit agrees to examine one workforce process. Four candidates are on the table: the posting and selection for the two positions the unit fills each year; onboarding for new staff; the way stretch assignments are handed out; and the route a staff member takes to request an adjustment they need in order to work, which nobody in the unit can describe from memory. You have about six hours of your own time and no budget.

Which one do you take, and where do you start?

Take the posting and selection, because hiring gets the most attention and any improvement there is visible across the division.

Take the request route nobody can describe. Start by writing what actually happens now, step by step, from a staff member's first mention of a need through to the decision and whoever tells them the answer.

Take all four at a high level, so the unit has a complete picture before committing to any change.

Carry this forward

Walking a process is not the same as reviewing it. Reviewing means reading the procedure; walking means following what actually happens, in order, from the position of the person it happens to.
Workforce barriers cluster at five points: finding out the opportunity exists, getting through the application, being selected, arriving and getting set up, and staying and growing.
A complete line names the step, what it screens out, who it stops, the owner, the first fix and the check. A line without an owner and a date is an observation, not work.
Most first fixes are small, free and inside somebody's existing authority. Processes stay broken mainly because nobody has ever walked them.
Some of what you find belongs to a formal office: classification, compensation, accommodation decisions, discipline and complaints. Route those plainly, and keep doing your own step.
The review is worth more than a report if it ends with one changed step. Publish what you changed to the people it affects, including the parts you could not change and why.

A scenario about choosing which of four processes to examine, a completed barrier review you can copy, a list of first fixes that need nobody's permission, and a knowledge check on what makes a review line usable.

Pick your process this week, block a half day, walk it in order, write the review, make the first fix in the step you own, and put the check on a named person's calendar.

Your next step

Which workforce process will you walk, and who will ask you what you found?

Name the process and the half day you will block for it

Name the colleague who will ask you about the result, and when

Write the barrier you expect to find before you start, then check whether you were right

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Mark this lesson complete

Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.