Animal Welfare Quality Assurance Case Study Example

The return on investment is. I don't even know if I can quantify it totally, because we're in a business that it can be risky. There's risk in many things that we do, and if we're not helping ourselves and trying to control some of that risk by providing the guardrails for our employees, shame on us.

Hey, it's Dave from System Hub, and from time to time, I love to check in with some of our clients and get a little bit of an update on how they're traveling as they systemize their business. And we've got a great client who's been with us for quite some time, the Humane Society, particularly the Pikes Peak region. And they've been System Hub users. And I've got Julie and Alex here, perhaps just to start. Julie, if you could maybe introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about the work that you guys do and your particular role.

Sure. I'm Julie Justman. I'm the vice president of operations for the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak region. We are a private nonprofit in the United States, in Colorado, and we serve the Front Range of Colorado, so multiple communities. We have multiple facilities, and currently we have around 255 employees. And we provide animal sheltering and animal control law enforcement services to cities and counties in multiple regions near us. So we are on the law enforcement side, but we're also on the humane animal care side, receive animals from our public that need help with animals. We also have veterinary services that we provide not only to our shelter animals, but also for the public. So we have a lot of moving parts and pieces to our. To our organization as well as different locations.

Yeah, perfect. And, Alex, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the position you fill?

Hello. Yes, I'm Alex. I am relatively new to the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak region, but my background in adult learning and leadership is vast. Former high school teacher, actually. But what I am truly doing right now is the professional development program manager in offering our staff opportunities to continue to develop themselves in growth patterns across our organization, no matter what that continuum looks like. So to support all of the operations trainings as well as all of the foundational trainings that HSPPR offers.

Perfect. And, Julie, I'm wondering, I know you've been a System Hub user for some time. I'm curious if you've always seen yourself as a systems and process person or if there was something that kind of made you realize, oh, we have to get something in place. Like, obviously, being a larger organization, I'm imagining process was already intertwined with a lot of the work that you do.

Yeah, it was. We already had standard operating procedures, but there were pretty, they were pretty spread out. We didn't have a centralized way of storing them, really good way for updating them and dispersing them when they were either created or updated. So we were looking for a much better way to do that than just SharePoint or files on, you know, in Word documents and things like that. So that's. I would say I've probably been process oriented because of before in this becoming in this position. I worked for 20 years on the animal law enforcement side. So you have, you have a lot of rules around that and a lot of processes that have to be followed for legal reasons. So I guess in my career I've had to be focused on having processes very, very clear, very tight and able to be distributed in an easy manner to your team.

How did you come across System Hub? Was it a referral or a Google search or. It's been so long now you might not remember.

It was a. I had been searching on the Internet for quite a long time for a product that was user friendly, but also one that we could afford. We're a nonprofit, so we don't have a huge budget especially we had no budget for this type of software platform. So we were needing something that was affordable and something that we felt like the, the employees could easily learn and hopefully easily adopt and start using.

And at the start, like if you've had some processes around. So I think some team members would have already been exposed with it. But I'm wondering if there were any sort of challenges up front. I know as you introduce change and trying to get team to follow process, sometimes there can be friction. I'd love to know if there are any initial hurdles or challenges as you're trying to get the team on board with this idea of a processed approach.

Well, I think many of them had already been exposed to the need for processes. However, getting them to adopt a new software platform change is difficult for people. So we actually instituted a committee to work on transitioning what we already had into System Hub. But another piece of that that we wanted to make sure that we were doing in the process was updating and getting our processes really clean and tight, making sure that they were written, written well and that they were consistent across locations. So there was another complicating factor to. It wasn't as if we could just upload that. I suppose we could have just uploaded them to System Hub, but we wanted to clean them first and get them really tight. And so it's been, it's been a process because that work is also very hard. On top of getting somebody to adopt a new software platform, going through with, you know, just a fine tooth comb on these processes is hard work. And then trying to get it to continue through the year, which it's, you know, we have busy seasons. Our workflow ebbs and flows and goes up and down. And to have it, it's hard to stay consistent and get consistent progress. And we're still in the process of getting all of this done. We're still not finished. So it's been a journey for sure.

I know particularly with larger organizations and you guys like, you span across, across quite a few regions and got great numbers of team members. There's always the challenges. You're kind of operating at that level that systems can introduce red tape and extra bureaucracy and that can create some resistance for team members. Is there, is that something that you're either mindful of or thinking about to try and find the right balance between. Well, what is enough process to get the result that we want without also going too crazy the other way and then making it so over systemized that, you know, team members are constricted in doing great work.

Right. I think it is a balance to make sure that they have the framework to do the job that we're asking them to do and that the process actually supports what they're doing, while at the same time making sure that they have some autonomy when it comes to certain areas of the particular process. They're empowered to make decisions that they feel are best for either the animal or the person, the customer that they're helping. It is a hard balance to strike. And you have varying levels of need in process in our organization, because we do. So we have different scopes of work. I mean, the law enforcement side is probably going to be the most restrictive on the process side. And then our customer service side is going to probably have more, you know, those people are going to have more autonomy because we're trying to make sure that we're serving our customers well and you know, getting to. Yes, so to speak. And sometimes that is not something that you can script out in an sop.

Yeah, that makes sense. And I'm curious, Alex, how you build this into some of the training? Obviously you do a lot of the professional development with the team. How have you introduced process into either the recruitment, the onboarding and just the professional development of the team? Like have you got any particular strategies or Things that you've done?

Yes. I actually think my favorite place that we house some of our professional development, I guess activities or places of information is we've integrated our library into System Hub. And so we actually have a library here based on professional development which kind of concludes the onboarding process of now. We want you to continue to have opportunities to grow and so I facilitate a library across several campuses. But we actually house that library of check ins and checkouts and how those align with our current credits and courses that we, that we have through System Hub. And so it's actually a check in checkout process that we can do by highlighting buttons red and green in the System Hub platform. In the System Hub platform. And that really helps me keep track of, you know, when folks come in and they're interested on XYZ and then we're able to keep kind of metrics on that as well. And so that's the follow up to a lot of our onboarding process. But in and of onboarding that is a central hub for our SOPs, for our trainings, for our pathways after we get to initially meet with our new hires. This is really kind of our vein line of now because we have a breadth of departments and a breadth of knowledge across those departments. Where do you specifically fall and what is most critical for your development as you enter XYZ pathway? Through our organization and so getting to blend that professional development development while, you know, housing all of our library materials, all of our continuing education credit materials in System Hub, we're also able to provide those trainings and those SOPs for departmental kind of specific trainings that you need in early on in that onboarding process.

Is there. It sounds like you've got a well defined onboarding process and different team members are probably going to have different tracks. Is there anything like, I think just going through that is going to show someone, ah, this is a process driven organization because they'll feel it from day one, they'll experience it, they'll get exposed to SOPs and, and that's part of the exposure. Is there anything else I'm curious that you've built into the onboarding that references specifically? Hey, we're a systems driven organization here and we have process or have you managed to drop that in at any other places in that recruitment and onboarding process?

I'll take this one. Alex.

I was going to say Julie. Yeah, yeah, thank you.

Around the same time that we were onboarding System Hub, we had decided as an organization, we wanted to make sure that employees knew that Professional development was very important to us. So that's why we have the, the second tab in System Hub to have that whole lot resource library for them to, to access. But at the same time we, we implemented a policy that there's requirements, there's CE requirements. Depending on the level of staff member you are, you have a certain number of hours that are required annually that you will complete. Of course their initial training counts towards that minimum any, you know, shadowing any. It's very broad. We allow books, webinars, online courses, in person training, all of that can count. And System Hub allows us not only to house the SOPs on the one tab but on the other tab they can access all of, There's a whole lot of information in there that they can choose from, pick and choose from to meet their CE requirements. So I would say that that was one way that and when we are onboarding new team members that's made very clear that that's an expectation. Actually the procedure for the CE requirements and the expectations is all housed on the side with the sop. So that's you know, one area that I did not expect to use System Hub for. But it absolutely has turned out to be extremely valuable in that way.

I think having a front and center obviously is part of the onboarding and a lot of people use systems and processes when they first start a new role. Sometimes the challenge then becomes also once you're then into the day to day operations and you're following, is there anything that you do to try and keep the systems and processes front and center? Like I don't know how tasks are assigned out or if you're using QR codes out in the field where people scan it to get to systems that are related to, you know, different processes or things that are going on in the organization or if team members have System Hub open, love to get an idea of how do team members access the system or think about the system at the time at which they would need it.

Well, we have, we have an intranet SharePoint site. It's not a true intranet, but it's actually a tab, a button on our intranet page so it's easy access for them to get to. And our supervisors and managers are pretty well versed in. If somebody's asking a question and they know that that information can be easily found in an SOP that the staff member already should be familiar with, they point them right back to System Hub to find that information for themselves rather than, you know, we want to make sure that they're Very good at navigating that system. So we continually point them back to it.

Yeah, I love it. And Alex, do you have any tips or thoughts on things as you kind of move into this role that you want to roll out? Like do you have any ideas or big changes or things that you want to work on or initiatives around the systems and processes side of things or even just the professional development of the team?

I will say that onboarding just about two months ago now was made extremely effic through the system side of System Hub. And knowing that all of kind of my job duties and how to go about even just, you know, right logging into something that your predecessor has logged into, that information was housed in a very accessible way through System Hub. And so I'm very thankful for the onboarding process that I myself was able to go through. Very seamless and very integrated into I would call it. It's just a hub of information for us. This is where we, this is kind of our go to for when and where we need to know how to do something. And then the better part is in my opinion, of course with development is the training part and going above and beyond, you know what those systems have introduced you in your, in your job role too. So I'm partial to that. However, my onboarding experience was made extremely fluid and again I came from a public education background into a nonprofit professional development background. A lot of transferable skills. But to be able to onboard and feel confident and competent was extremely in line with that psychological well being need that I had. And that was made possible through System Hub. So I'm very thankful for that. Some things that, you know, I always have questions and I always want to continue to build on the platform that we have now. You know, something as simple as, you know, the last updated tab and then really getting your staff to understand when that last update really shows and how to keep systems up to date and within the past year I think is just a training course in and of ourselves that we need to focus on a little bit more to bolster our end is annual I guess kind of revamps or even just annual check ins on our systems because that last updated displays very nicely. But when's the last time that you've actually checked in on that matter? When's the last time that you actually updated that system trainings or the sop? So as I just digest this wealth of information, I see some things come along like you know, specifically like man, we need to update these more often. Maybe we need some reminders on this how do we schedule a calendar for reminders on this? Because when you look at our organization, excuse me, our organization, we have a very vast amount of departments and then along with that come their own. Like Julie had mentioned with, you know, animal law enforcement just itself. That's a very. I don't even know the right word for it. That is a, that is a whole depth of knowledge that I have yet to divulge into. But when we look at all of these different departments that we have and really making sure that managers are comfortable and confident, knowing when they need to update their SOPs, when they need to send employees to certain SOPs, slash trainings, or when they need to move above and beyond is something that I would really like to focus on. Is that that tracking and updating piece think for our organization is what a lot of our departments are really just looking for maybe a little bit more support in. Because the things are there.

Right.

It shows you. When you've updated, it shows you those kind of things. But when you are in a organization that is constantly just for the people working for the mission and sometimes putting some things on the back burner, I want those things to maybe be a little bit more accessible to the front burner when we have time, I guess is kind of what I'm going with there.

Well, it kind of speaks to something Julie mentioned earlier, which is kind of you get on the path and it's a journey and you don't really come to an end. You're always kind of working on it. I think this building a systems culture is that constant and never ending improvement as you kind of on that journey. Julie, have you started to see any changes in the organization? Like it's a lot of a push at the start and you guys already had some systems and processes in place. And for a lot of small businesses when they're first introducing it, there's this hump you have to get over. It's meeting all that resistance up front and the team members who push back and don't want to change and hey, why have we had to document our process? And then you kind of get over the hump and it starts to become a bit of, hey, this is how we do things here. And I'm curious to know if, yeah. If you've seen any changes in the organization as you've really dialed in the process.

You know, I think I have. In the aspect of there, we no longer have to wonder, I wonder where that file is or where that SOP is. It's, you know, it's in System Hub. Now it may not be, have been updated recently, but at least it's in one system spot. So, you know, managers and supervisors definitely can point their team members to one place rather than nobody knows where something is or what, you know, what SharePoint drive is it sitting on things like that. So that's been a culture change. I think one thing that has helped the adoption of System Hub is, and I think most employers have been struggling with this throughout the United States is turnover. Right. And I think it's easier when somebody has been introduced to it from, from the day one rather than when you're trying to have some of your senior employees who've been with you many years change, change how they're seeing them. So because we've had a high amount of turnover in the last couple of years, like many other businesses, I think that that has been, it's been helpful in that way of getting people to understand that this, this is what we use and them adopting it is easier I feel. But I mean that's, we wish we didn't have such high turnover, but this is where we're at. I think that that's been a change that has been helpful in adoption for System Hub.

One thing that I find particularly around just as you deploy systems in business and once you start to see some good results from it, especially like you said, if you've got a brand new team member and that's all they've ever known and this is how we do things here, there's no resistance from, from team when that happens. I think as you start to put some of these things in place, I'm wondering if you could imagine a world where you didn't have systems and process in place. Like now that you're involved in the Humane Society or really any business or any endeavor that you ever approached, is this now an automatic thing for you to go, well sister, systems and processes are the way like I, I find it very hard to unseen now. Like if I look into businesses that don't have process now I'm just like, oh wow, how can you not have processes and how can you not start it? I'm just curious to know if that's a similar perspective that you have or because you've kind of seen now the other side as the business starts to adopt process.

Yeah, I can't imagine not having them. You know, I've been with this organization for 31 years and when I started we were, you know, a team of probably 60 people and not many processes. And I think that without processes it's very difficult to support, especially a growing team, properly because if they don't have a resource, if their supervisor is not right there and they have no other way to reference what to do when they are either confused or they're not sure, or they're questioning or have no idea, it makes it very difficult for them to do a good job or feel comfortable that they know where to get the information. And I think that anytime you have an employee that doesn't feel competent or at least doesn't know where to get the information that they might need, that's in many cases an employee that's probably not going to stay. I mean, no human being wants to continually feel lost in the job that they're doing or unsupported or they have no idea they're just flying by the seat of their pants every day. And while we can't, you know, set up processes that control behavior or it's hard to guide human behavior, what we can do is make sure that we are supporting our team members and how to do the tasks. And I think that that's really important for them to feel, feel that they, they know where to get the information and they feel supported by the organization. They're not lost. Lost.

It's interesting because you mentioned earlier being a not for profit and that obviously limited resources. One of the biggest resistances that sometimes small businesses have is just the cost and the time and the effort that has to go into the development of systems and processes. I'd love to know how you think about that because obviously you've got limited resources and sometimes developing of process feels like an investment in time and money and. Yeah, I'd be interested to know your thoughts on that.

Well, I think that you. The return on investment is. I don't even know if I can quantify it totally because, you know, we, we're in a business that it can, can be risky. There's risk in many things that we do. And if we're not helping ourselves and trying to control some of that risk by providing the, you know, the guardrails for our employees, you know, we're, you know, shame on us. We, if there's mistakes made, it can sometimes mean either an animal's life and sometimes a human can be in jeopardy too. So I think that when you look at the potential of somebody becoming injured or there being, you know, maybe a, a task done improperly that results in, you know, an animal losing its life and it shouldn't have, you know, we, the fallout from that is much greater than the investment that we're making on the front end to try and make sure that those things don't happen. Not that they do, but, you know, it's certainly a concern. And that's why we do put the time into the processes so that we are able to serve our customers and the animals. Both our customers are human and animal, so serving both of them the best way possible.