Frequently Asked Questions

UMB ELEVATE is UMB's Continuous Improvement initiative. It is designed to empower faculty, staff, and leaders to identify opportunities to simplify processes, reduce unnecessary barriers, improve service, and achieve better outcomes. Through tools, coaching, facilitation, and training, UMB ELEVATE helps build a culture of innovation, collaboration, continuous learning, and problem-solving across the university. 

Higher education is becoming increasingly complex, and UMB faces growing demands from students, faculty, researchers, regulators, and funding agencies. UMB ELEVATE helps the university work smarter by elevating employee ideas, improving processes, strengthening collaboration, and supporting our ability to achieve strategic priorities and deliver exceptional service. 

By empowering employees to improve the way work gets done, UMB ELEVATE helps faculty focus more on teaching and research, supports staff in delivering exceptional service, strengthens operational effectiveness, and advances UMB's mission in education, research, clinical care, and community engagement. 

No. 

UMB ELEVATE is focused on improving processes, not eliminating positions. The primary goal is to reduce unnecessary work, improve service, eliminate frustration, and create capacity for higher-value activities. The focus is on making work better, not reducing staff.

The goal is the opposite. 

UMB ELEVATE seeks to eliminate unnecessary steps, reduce duplication, decrease rework, and solve recurring problems. While some improvement efforts require participation, the long-term objective is to make work easier, more efficient, and more rewarding.  

Employees may participate in several ways:

• Share ideas and suggestions
• Participate in improvement projects and initiatives
• Attend training opportunities
• Help test and implement solutions

Participation opportunities will be announced as the initiative expands.

Everyone can contribute. 

Many of the best ideas come from employees who perform the work every day. UMB ELEVATE is built on the belief that those closest to the work are often best positioned to identify opportunities, solve problems, and create meaningful improvements. 

Examples may include: 

• Administrative burden 
• Process delays 
• Complex approvals 
• Duplicate work 
• Customer service challenges 
• Communication gaps 
• Inefficient workflows 
• Data and reporting challenges 

The initiative focuses on improving the processes and systems that support faculty, staff, students, patients, and partners. 

Not necessarily. 

Ideas will be reviewed based on impact, feasibility, resource requirements, alignment with university priorities, and anticipated benefits. Some ideas may require testing before broader implementation. 

Learning is part of the process. 

UMB ELEVATE encourages testing, measurement, and continuous learning. Not every idea will produce the desired result immediately. Teams will use data and feedback to continually refine solutions and identify better approaches. This reflects UMB's Core Value of Innovation and Discovery, which emphasizes continuous improvement through learning from failures and embracing new ideas and approaches. 

Managers are expected to: 

• Encourage employee participation 
• Support innovation and improvement efforts 
• Remove barriers when appropriate 
• Help sustain successful changes 
• Foster an environment where ideas from everyone are welcomed and valued 

Leadership support is essential to creating a culture of continuous improvement. 

Projects will generally be considered based on: 

• Alignment with strategic priorities 
• Stakeholder impact 
• Service improvement opportunities 
• Operational challenges 
• Resource implications 

Priority will be given to opportunities that create meaningful impact and support UMB's mission. 

Yes. 

Training opportunities will be available to help employees build improvement, problem-solving, and leadership skills. UMB ELEVATE is committed to developing internal capability and empowering employees to lead positive changes. 

No. 

UMB ELEVATE is designed for employees at all levels, regardless of prior experience. Training, coaching, tools, and facilitation will help participants build the skills needed to contribute effectively. 

The UMB Green Belt Program is one of the primary ways employees can develop process improvement and problem-solving skills through UMB ELEVATE. 

While UMB ELEVATE represents UMB's broader commitment to innovation and continuous improvement, the UMB Green Belt Program provides structured training and hands-on experience to develop expertise in cohorts of employees who can apply those principles to real UMB challenges. 

UMB is investing in Green Belt training to build internal expertise and equip employees with practical tools to solve problems, improve processes, enhance service, and support strategic priorities. The training also establishes a common improvement framework and shared language across UMB, enabling teams to approach challenges using a consistent, data-driven methodology that can be applied across schools, units, and functions. 

UMB Green Belt training may be appropriate for employees who: 

• Lead projects or initiatives 
• Manage services or processes 
• Supervise teams 
• Want to improve operational effectiveness 

Participants should be willing to apply their learning to a real improvement opportunity that benefits UMB. 

UMB Green Belt graduates will help: 

• Lead improvement initiatives 
• Facilitate problem-solving discussions 
• Apply data-informed decision-making 
• Support process improvement efforts 
• Mentor colleagues 
• Build a culture of innovation and continuous improvement across UMB 

These employees will help expand UMB's improvement capability and elevate impact throughout the university. 

Success may be evaluated through measures such as: 

• Improved service 
• Reduced process delays 
• Better customer experiences 
• Employee engagement 
• Reduced rework 
• Achievement of project objectives 
• Adoption and sustainability of improvements 
• Financial Savings (cost avoidance, cost reduction and revenue generation) 

UMB ELEVATE emphasizes measurement, accountability, and documenting outcomes. 

UMB ELEVATE supports the Strategic Plan's United for Impact vision by helping build a fiscally responsible institution where resources, systems, and decisions are aligned with UMB's mission, core values, and strategic priorities. Through continuous improvement, collaboration, and data-informed decision-making, ELEVATE helps teams optimize processes, reduce inefficiencies, enhance service, and maximize the value of institutional resources.  

It means everyone has the ability to contribute to positive change. 

UMB ELEVATE recognizes that employees across the university bring valuable experience, expertise, and ideas. The initiative creates opportunities to elevate those ideas into meaningful improvements that strengthen UMB and advance its mission. 

UMB ELEVATE focuses on building a long-term culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Rather than temporary fixes, it emphasizes sustainable solutions, employee engagement, data-informed decision-making, and institutional learning. 

UMB ELEVATE is about empowering people to make work better. 

It is not about assigning blame or adding bureaucracy. It is about elevating employee ideas, improving processes, strengthening collaboration, and advancing UMB's mission through continuous learning and innovation.