It Starts With Helping

I don't think there are many problems out there that can't be solved. To me, every challenge is just a puzzle waiting for its pieces to be put together, and that’s the part of my job I love most.

I've spent about nine years working my way through operations, client experience, and process improvement roles. I didn't set out with the intention of becoming a data analyst. What happened instead is that I kept ending up in situations where something was more difficult than it needed to be, and I couldn't leave it alone. This has led me to amazing experiences (and results) like rebuilding company onboarding processes, building dashboards for accurate and consistent reporting, training peers on new systems, and implementing new software to help communication between teams.

None of the work that I helped with was about my personal career growth, although it helped. It was about noticing my coworker was struggling with something I could fix and fixing it. Whether the work is internal or external, my philosophy is that the best change starts with wanting to help. 

I really believe that's the foundation of any successful process improvement or change initiative. It's easy to think of this work as being about the tools like the new software, the updated dashboard, the redesigned workflow, but the tools are never really the hard part. The hard part is getting people to trust that the change is actually for their benefit and not just being done to them. Starting with trust by solving the challenges faced on a day-to-day basis and genuinely wanting to make things easier is a much better approach. When you start from helpfulness instead of efficiency for efficiency's sake, people can tell the difference, and they engage differently because of it. They ask questions instead of staying quiet. They tell you what's actually broken instead of what they think you want to hear. It can ultimately be the difference between change that lasts and an “improvement” that never fully gets implemented.

Being able to help and solve problems is what pulled me toward process improvement and change management in the first place, and it's why I'm excited to be doing work here at PPI. It’s a place where helpfulness is the start and making things easier for public servants is the result. 

Leina Gilster is a Data Analyst at Partners in Public Innovation who specializes in process improvement and change management. With nearly a decade of experience across higher education, real estate, underground utilities, and marketing, she brings a versatile, problem-solving approach to operations, client experience, and analytics. Outside of work, she enjoys the same challenge of creating through crocheting, sewing, and baking.