[The following news item appears in the October 1993 edition of
_Quality_Progress_.]

       U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY LEADS DEPARTMENT'S QUALITY INITIATIVE

     It would be hard to find a cabinet-level secretary more
involved in quality improvement than Hazel R. O'Leary of the U.S.
Department of Energy. Since being sworn into office on Jan. 22,
1993, O'Leary has committed herself to leading the department's
quality initiative. To put her words into action, she enlisted
the help of two of the nation's leading quality corporations and
has used the information tool of the 1990s--the video town
meeting--to speak to a wide departmental audience.

     A historic step for the department was arranging six days of
quality improvement training, three in July and three in August,
for about 60 of the department's top scientists, scholars, and
policymakers at Motorola University (officially known as the
Motorola/Milliken Quality Institute at the Galvin Center for
Continuing Education in Schaumburg, IL). It was the first time
that a government agency had come to learn at Motorola University
(the facility has hosted 50,000 people since opening in 1988). On
hand to mark the occasion and participate in the sessions were
two of the nation's leading quality advocates, Robert Galvin of
Motorola and Thomas Malone of Milliken & Co.

     The purpose of the Motorola sessions was clearly stated in a
binder given to session participants: "The objective of the
six-day session is to begin the process of building an expanded
Department of Energy management and leadership team that is
dedicated to meeting the expectations of its stakeholders and
customers by providing quality products and services in a timely
manner and at a reasonable cost."

     At the opening session in July, Bill Wigglehorn of Motorola
said the task before the Energy Department was especially chal-
lenging because the department has customer groups as small as a
handful of physicists and as large as all U.S. taxpayers.

     O'Leary told the department members that among her top goals
were building trust and confidence and convincing long-time
employees that quality isn't an initiative that will go away once
the present administration leaves office. "My vision is that we
need to understand quality tools so that we can reach our goals,"
she said.

     To get the quality message beyond the top rank of the
agency, O'Leary has made use of the video town meeting format
that became popular during the 1992 presidential campaign. In
May, she appeared via satellite to 4,500 department employees
gathered at 20 sites to discuss the department's quality ob-
jectives and answer questions. In July, O'Leary was joined by
Vice President Al Gore for another satellite presentation to
department employees.

     At the April telecast, O'Leary told the audience that the
key elements of the department's initiative are leadership,
communication, customer satisfaction, management tools (planning,
empowerment and teamwork, training, continuous improvement, and
measurement), and results. She also vowed to spend a full
four-year term as secretary to implement quality. "I'm on for the
long haul and won't leave in the middle," she said.

     During the July telecast, Gore related the Energy
Department's quality work to similar efforts that are part of the
National Performance Review, the Gore-led project that seeks to
reinvent government. "Since the earliest days of this administra-
tion," said Gore, "the Department of Energy has been helping to
lead the way in identifying new ideas and new approaches and
efforts to bring what the private sector has called the quality
revolution into the federal government."

     Gore also praised O'Leary for leading the department's
quality effort. "Your secretary, as you know very well, has been
one of the leaders in this whole process," Gore said. "I don't
know of any other member of any other cabinet who has taken the
time to spend three full days in quality management training."

     O'Leary has had significant private- and public-sector
experience to prepare her to be a quality leader. Before joining
the Energy Department, she was executive vice president of
Northern States Power Company (NSP), which provides power to
parts of five Midwestern states, for 2 1/2 years and was presi-
dent of NSP's Gas Utility for the month prior to being named
energy secretary. She served as a presidential appointee to the
Energy Department during the Carter administration and to the
Federal Energy Administration under President Ford.

     Following the opening session at Motorola University in
July, O'Leary met with a group of reporters to discuss the Energy
Department's quality process. She was asked how she intends to
prove her quality commitment to department personnel. O'Leary
said she committed herself to improving the department during her
Senate confirmation hearings and sincerely challenged the report-
ers to determine whether she fulfills the commitment. "Your job
is to track us," she said. "I hope you will do that."