Reviving a Sagging Government: The Transition by Tom Glenn The transition to a new administration after twelve years of Republican governance will be challenging. The federal apparatus has been wounded by two successive administrations which sought to render parts of the governmentþthose managing education, pro- grams for the poor, and the environment, for exampleþineffective. To make the transition successful will require a systematic and sensitive approach designed to pinpoint process weaknesses and to listen thoughtfully to those who make the government work, the federal employees. Two major obstacles stand in the way of a successful transi- tion. The first is the frustration and demoralization of govern- ment employees (except for those in defense, foreign affairs, or intelligence). The second is the unparalleled ineptitude of political appointees brought into government during the Reagan- Bush year, a large number of whom have now þburrowed in,þ that is, become career employees. Both problems are the worst I have seen in my thirty-four year career in the federal government. The management has been so bad for so long that alienation, sloppy work standards, and poor work habits are pandemic. Failure to address these obstacles will hobble the transition. The systematic approach I propose to loosen the paralysis (it will only be a start: reviving the government will take years) is to construct a transition plan based on the idea of quality. Sketched out below are the Seven Steps used with singu- lar success by many public and private sector organizations to evolve from mediocrity to excellence: Step One: Assess "Assess" means getting a measurement of the government in two aspects: quality and climate (or culture). The best way of measuring quality is to benchmark departments and agencies against the criteria of the two national quality awards (the Baldrige Award and the President's Award for Quality Improvement) presented each year by the President to the finest quality corporations and government organizations in the United States. Assessing the climate means listening to the voice of the work- ers. The best way to hear themþthe best assessment methodþis to start with interviews of government employees, follow up with a written survey, and finally refine the resulting data with focus groups. Use of any one of these three tools alone is faster and less expensive but also less effective. Throughout, because of the atmosphere created during the past twelve years, anonymity for the respondents is a necessity. Step Two: Educate The new leadership needs to decide how it will arrange for its own education and that of the workforce to reshape the federal culture toward quality. I urge that the resulting educa- tion plan be based on the principles and practices of Total Quality Management, namely: Three Principles:  Customer Focus  Continuous Improvement  Leadership and Empowerment Eight Practices:  Top management leadership and support  Obsession with the customer  Strategic planning  Quality assurance  Employee training and recognition  Employee empowerment and teamwork  Measurement and analysis  Quality results Step Three: Identify Customers and their Expectations This step includes identifying the customers, internal and external, and establishing the degree to which their expectations are being met. "Customers," in this context, means citizens, tax payers, beneficiaries of specific government programs (for example, patients in VA hospitals), the workers in the federal system, the Congress, and others. The Transition Team needs to (a) establish who these customers are, (b) determine what their expectations of government are, (c) compare government performance against the expectations, (d) negotiate with the customers to reach an agreed-upon level of performance the government will commit itself to work toward, (e) systematically improve the government apparatus to reach and exceed the level of the agreed-upon level of performance, and (f) start the entire process again by seeing if the customer base has changed. The recurring cycle is called þcontinuous improvement.þ Since the beneficiaries will always want more than the tax payers will be willing to pay for, negoti- ation and compromise are clearly necessary. Over time, and as the Transition team completes its work, this continuous improvement process will have to be undertaken by the departments and agen- cies themselves. They will need education (step two) before they can carry out the process. Stated in political terms: the government exists for no reason other than to serve the people. We need to find out what the people want and try to give them what we can. Step Four: Create a Quality Infrastructure Create a federal Quality Council. It will have four func- tions: to establish quality policy for the government, to provide resources for quality improvement, to charter teams and quality boards to study and improve government processes, and to act as a r“le model in quality performance. The Quality Council should consist of not more than eight people (a larger number leads to inefficiency) who are the leaders of the government. It should be chaired by the President. The council should meet no less often than once a month, and nothing but quality improvement should be discussed at the meet- ings. Step Five: Create a Vision I was a brand new government employee when President Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country!" I was more inspired and worked more self- lessly during those years of the Kennedy vision that I did under any other president. His vision of a great nation crafted by people working together, helping one another, moved us deeply. We need a vision that will spark us by a glimpse of all that we can be. The vision, to inspire the followers, must reflect their values and aspirations. The assessment step described above can be used to capture a cross-section of employee concerns and needs. One way to find the elements of the vision is for the leaders to ask themselves and government employees questions that expose the sacred values of the government and the people working in it. One way to get at those values is to ask four questions:  What is unique about us?  What does the world need that we can provide?  What are our sacred values?  Why am I proud to work for the government (or this agency or department)? When the vision is finished, every leader from the President on down will need to repeat it at every opportunity to the followers (government workers) so that they can see the genuinely great things they can do for their country if they work to bring the vision to fulfillment. Step Six: Write the Government's Quality Policy The Quality Policy should be a brief statement, not more than a paragraph or two, that gives all government employees the principles they need when they are faced with a choice between quality or þgood enough for government work.þ Every member of the Quality Council should sign the policy statement, and all govern- ment workers should receive a copy showing the signatures. After the policy is issued, all members of the Quality Council will be expected to support the policy actively, rewarding those who adhere to it and withholding rewards from those who don't. A good example of a quality policy comes from Motorola, arguably the finest corporation in the U.S. today: Dedication to quality is a way of life at our company, so much so that it goes far beyond rhetorical slogans. Our ongoing program of continued improvement reaches out for change, refinement and even revolution in our pursuit of quality excellence. It is the objective of Motorola, Inc. to produce and provide products and services of the highest quality. In its activities, Motorola will pursue goals aimed at the achievement of quality excellence. These results will be derived from the dedicated efforts of each employee in conjunction with supportive participation from management at all levels of the corporation. Step Seven: Construct a Strategic Quality Plan Draft a brief, blunt plan for institutionalizing quality in the government. The plan results from (a) comparison of the customer expectations and the negotiated and agreed-upon customer requirements with the current level of output quality; (b) translation of those expectations and requirements into measur- able performance standards (e.g., "Answer 85 percent of all telephone questions to the IRS within six minutes"); (c) specify- ing the series of actions necessary to improve the performance so that expectations and requirements can be met; and (d) crafting a road map that shows who will do what by when to make the improve- ments a reality. For the plan to succeed, the Quality Council will have to arrange for regular quality audits, comparing the goals in the plan with the progress in measurable terms. For the planning system to have any meaning, the plan must drive budget- ing, rather than the other way around as is now common practice. For government employees to make the plan work, they will have to be involved in its construction and refinement. None of this will have much effect without forceful leader- ship from the top. Not management. Leadership. That means, among other things, the appointment of officials who know how to lead. Good leadership must include (a) great competence in the field to which the appointee is assigned; (b) the ability to listen to the followers; and (c) an understanding of the difference between people and things. An agency or department leader, in other words, must have a sense of reverence for people, a great respect for the facts, and a firm grasp of the difference in the way one must deal with people (using purpose and meaning) and things (using facts and data).