First of all, thanks and welcome to everyone who has signed up to be a part of 3B’s talent community! There will be a section of each newsletter especially for you, so be sure to scroll down for relevant information.
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3B Program Spotlight: “Mystery Shopping” for Federal Court Units
Courts contracting with 3B for this program can customize what they would like 3B to evaluate in order to identify hidden pain points, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies, or address quality-of-service concerns. 3B will conduct an initial meeting with court unit leadership to understand what they would like to get out of the process, understand areas of particular concern, and explain how the program will work.
Based on this discussion, 3B will provide a checklist of actions and items that it will evaluate, outlining processes to be used and data/metrics to be collected.
3B will then provide 1-3 people (depending on scope of activities to be evaluated) to act as court "customers" or stakeholders at public touchpoints (or across silos within an organization).
Once tests and evaluations have been completed, 3B will review its findings with leadership in a follow-up meeting, then provide a written report.
Court units can opt to follow up with training programs, presentation(s) for staff, and/or periodic follow-up assessments to gauge improvement.
The benefits of this approach for the private sector are well established. Mirroring the approach for the public sector has been advocated by people like Marina Nitze and Nick Sinai in their book Hack Your Bureaucracy, and benefits of the approach have been recognized by the GSA Centers of Excellence.
It's a truism that you don't know what you don't know. As a court-unit leader, you don't want to be the last to know about any potential issues with the services you are providing. Our mystery shopping program can help proactively identify potential issues, highlight what you are doing well, and shine a light on areas where there are opportunities for improvement.
Example areas that this program can assess:
*Customer Service
*Accessibility
*Consistency
*Compliance
*Public/Citizen Experience
*Accuracy of publicly posted information (including alignment of posted information with actual practice and court needs)
*Quality control
*Hand-offs between individuals, departments, or partner agencies
*Pro se Processes
*Public facilities, signage, parking, security, etc.
Reach out to 3B to learn more about how this program could benefit your court.
*3B’s website will soon feature a new page of highlighted service offerings. Stay tuned!
Recommended Reading:
Hack Your Bureaucracy by Marina Nitze and Nick Sinai
Recoding America by Jennifer Pahlka
Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manual Pais
What books would you suggest as recommended reading for federal judiciary employees? Let us know!
Upcoming Events of Interest
Sept. 16-18: National Center for State Courts’ Court Technology Conference (Register for in-person or virtual attendance by Sept. 8)
Do you know of an event or conference we should highlight? Email us at thirdbranchsolutions@gmail.com and let us know!
Community Corner
Recently posted in our talent community (login required):
Provide a photo and bio to be featured as a service provider on 3B’s website
Submit details of your existing programs or presentation to be featured on 3B’s upcoming “featured programs” page
Information about open calls for proposals for speaking opportunities
Get Connected
Join 3B’s talent community https://www.thirdbranchsolutions.com/community
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/third-branch-solutions/
Join our growing community of current and former fed courts employees: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13327000/
Email us: thirdbranchsolutions@gmail.com
Schedule a free consultation: calendly.com/thirdbranchsolutions
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