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- Monday morning, I sat between Lancaster Commissioner Dennis Stuckey and Timi Kirchner of Stevens & Lee, for the Keynote, Michael Hoffman of Igniting Performance, and when he told us to stand up and greet five other people as if we were at a family reunion, we looked at one another with a discernable “UH oh” and a quick glance around for the closest exit. But by the end of the session I was wiping tears from my eyes from laughing so hard. I think we all needed the relief (who really wants to listen to more about how bad things are?) and the message, which was about relationship building and caring about others as a mark of leadership. Especially when we feel we are at the center of a tornado, which these days, is not so unusual. Think about making relationship building a priority!
- Met an interesting person in the exhibit area names Mike Baker, of GOV DEALS. He described his business as an EBAY for government. Cool! For those who are working on GOING GREEN, this is a good resource. www.govdeals.com.
- I was also impressed by another consulting group, Delta Development Group, Inc. (www.deltaone.com) that can provide local government with a host of services, but right now they are helping government get and comply with the reporting requirements for economic stimulus monies. And they can also help you leverage your IT which is critical in this time of restructuring and “resizing”. John Mizerak was the person I spoke with and very helpful.
- Did you know that it is possible to utilize merit hire systems other than the State Civil Service Commission? At a breakout session, we heard from DPW and others close to the developments in this area. Although still in initial stages, this is worthwhile to investigate as it is critical our human services programs secure a more efficient and effective system for hiring and promotion. Kristin Woellner is a contact person at CCAP (www.pacounties.org) if you would like more info. You can also download a report on the status of civil service at this site http://lbfc.legis.state.pa.us/reports.cfm (look under Oct 2004).
- Unsure of which session I should attend next, I followed a friend to the Offender Rehabilitation session, and WOW, was I impressed! Pittsburgh is doing a lot of things right these days, and the County is no exception to this rule. The Jail and Human Services staff formed an integrated team to coordinate better re-entry and transition services to reduce the burden on the jail system, and the results have been so impressive they are soon to be a Center of Excellence.
- In the last session I attended Michael McDavid, Regional Director of Penn State Cooperative Extension, walked participants through the Center for Leadership Studies, Situational Leadership assessment tool. We learned that each leader not only has a primary style of leadership but has different degrees of adaptability to other styles. As leaders, we must adapt to a variety of styles and match our style to the needs presented by the situation.
- C.S. McKee hosted another awesome barbecue Tuesday evening that was accompanied by the No Bad Ju Ju band. What a great dance band!
- Survey feedback one of the most obvious ways to collect qualitative data but can be time intensive on an ongoing basis. There are a number of user friendly on-line survey packages that will collect and analyze your data for you. My favorite is www.surveymonkey.com. They offer a basic free version, but if you are going to do some serious surveying, you will want to upgrade.
- Think about ways to make survey feedback more accessible to your customers. Can they call and opt for a phone survey to report a service problem? Can they log onto your web-site and complete a survey?
- Yes, yes, it is true, social media have already had a huge impact on customer service. Why not be the first in your niche to launch a twitter site and encourage your customers to find you there? What is nice is that complaints must be written in 140 characters or less! Customers like interaction and fast response. No one is better at this then Twitter. Think about it.
- Digital Cameras! Capture expectations on camera. Take pictures of what things should look like when they are at their best (parks, facilities, nicely done brochures and mailings, service with a smile). Use the camera on periodic basis to capture problem areas. Or take pictures of certain areas on a quarterly basis on compare against the benchmark. Use them for discussion in team meetings and keep them in a log so you can refer back to previous quarters and assess trends over time.
- When examining financials, keep asking, “What do these numbers mean? What definitions guide us? What is it we most want to know?” Invite others who work less with the numbers to ask questions and help you see the less obvious gaps in information, or assumptions that may be a hindrance to your effectiveness in reporting.
- Get in the habit of asking questions that encourage measurement. At the end of a team meeting, ask: Where are we at currently? What is our total expected achievement within six months?
- Think of goals in terms of hierarchy; some are super-ordinate to others and each goal sustains higher order goals.
- Goals have outcomes in their own right, and are not seen as a means to other ends.
- The team may begin with as many as 50-70 goals but the task of the group is to arrive at fewer, maybe 15-20 goals. Some of these goals become strategies and others will merge into an inclusive goal statement.
- Goals are inter-related; goals support other goals; goals relate to different parts of the organization and work together as a system to support each other.
- The meaning of a goal arises from context, for instance, the issues and emergent themes that might have been surfaced in a SWOT analysis.
- Organizations typically have 5 -12 goals as a primary focus .
- Strategies are the means of achieving the goals. Some are usually related to resolving key strategic issues; others address future concerns and new aspirations, or the development of new distinctive competencies.
- Strategies are considered in light of the goals they are trying to achieve.
- Potential (initial) strategies may number 30-60, but eventually are reduced to somewhere around 10 – 20.
S.B. 107 Pennsylvania Pay in the Public Eye
September 24th, 2009Apparently, the legislature is not in the mood to object to making public employee salaries even more transparent. A client recently asked me whether I knew the status of S.B. 107, [here] titled the “Governmental Salary Act” which requires Commonwealth and local agency public employers to post annual salaries of all employees on the internet. Local governments will be required to post current salaries on their local website and send a link to the page to the State Treasurer’s office. I inquired at my Senator’s office, Jeffrey Piccola, and learned from Kirsten Kenyon, a member of his staff, that while most bills are on a hold until the budget is passed, she suspects this one will be passed in the fall session.
In response, I am sending the following comments, and hope you will consider echoing them to your state representatives.
I have long been an advocate of transparency and believe compensation professionals in both private and public sector agree employers should be accountable in two basic ways: One, the how of setting pay, and two, associated ranges which provide the minimum and maximum pay rates, or pay ranges, for job classifications. This information meets the test of integrity and accountability, the two key factors in recruiting the best candidates. It also signals to the public and relevant stakeholders that the employer is acting responsibly.
After all, whether public or private, stakeholders care about the same thing: does this organization use a fair and equitable pay system? If it does not, then no one wants to work there, or invest in market shares, or support tax increases, whatever the case may be.
Posting specific compensation rates does not accomplish the test of whether pay is fair and equitable. Specific pay rates do not tell us what factors govern the setting of pay or how the job is valued compared to others in the organization or in the job market. For example, the public is largely unaware that professional municipal managers with graduate degrees are a dying breed (though they will not appreciate my metaphor) and as a result they are commanding ever increasing salaries because they are so few. Will the public posting of salaries reflect education levels and years of experience? Has anyone fashioning this bill thought about what it will be like at public meetings if a handful of the public decide to protest pay rates of individuals. This strikes me as irresponsible policy!
The bill states that nothing in it is intended to interfere with the duty of a public employer to provide pay information under the Right-to-Know Law. Unlike the proposed legislation, the Right-to-Know law provides a reasonable process and procedure for requesting specific pay information that allows an employer to understand who is requesting what information and for what purpose. Although it may seem to be a minor detail, it is important in our political process that a measure of due diligence, as well as, due process, be incorporated into the laws we make.
CCAP Conference Round Up
August 12th, 2009Home again, after a successful CCAP (County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania) conference at Seven Springs Pennsylvania, with some great memories and new contacts. Everyone has a different experience and perspective, but here are some of the highlights for me:
This is a small glimpse, there was plenty more to recommend this conference. The annual fun run/walk, the golf event, great hospitality rooms (thanks especially, Kimball Associates and Benecon!) informative sessions on funding opportunities through the ARRA and economic development. And as always, legislative and legal updates
Hats off to the CCAP staff-
Look forward to seeing everyone at the next conference event!
Performance Matters
August 8th, 2009
Repeat Performances are hard to ignore
Working Toward a Performance Culture – Part Three
August 7th, 2009PERFORMANCE MEASURING TOOLS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
So you think your management group has developed some realistic, inspiring goals. And they have followed through with some strategies that will move the organization forward. Now, you come to the part where performance measures are needed, and the end is in sight.
Temptation sets in to rush through this step. Somewhat ironic is the fact that most of us start out with the idea that what is really needed are performance measures and then months and months later, after painstaking work on mission, vision, goals, strategies, FINALLY we are ready to establish performance measures, and resistance sets in. We may have grown weary, but worse, we may feel we have run out of ideas.
Certainly, one way to combat this is to keep performance measures in focus throughout the process of setting goals and developing strategies. But another way is to set aside time to brainstorm about creative ways to approach performance measure. Remember, performance measures are best if they tap into qualitative and quantitative approaches. Either way, in order to measure, you must first develop feedback.
So, here are a few approaches I recommend you play with:
ACHIEVEMENT SCALE
0% >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 100%
What other creative performance measures have driven your organization to move in a new direction?
Working Toward a Performance Culture – Part Two
August 7th, 2009Strategies – What’s the Big Deal?
Strategies convey the way we get things done in organizations. Everybody has them, but the question is: can we explain them? Are they transparent, intentional, and based on shared understanding? Whether we refer to ourselves, our team, or our organization, without attention to strategy, default patterns hold sway and no real change is possible.
Only when we can detect default strategies can we begin the process of change from old patterns to new ones. If we blank out the order we have imposed on our surroundings, and attempt to see the chaos of ever merging, diverging, converging patterns of interactions, communications and activities, we might begin to appreciate the value of adapting and reacting to the environment in new ways. Only when we take the time to consider “old ways” versus “new ways” can we detect the difference and measure results.
Without supporting strategies, goals fall flat and are immune to measurement. Strategies relate to how we define and establish costing systems, or configure and apply management information systems to our business model. Strategies are also the way we tap wisdom at the workplace, and the “rules of thumb” that implicitly inform our decision-making.
When strategies are identified, defined, and understood in the context of the highest goals, they lend themselves to the process of feedback and measurement. So, strategies are the link between goals and outcomes that keep us engaged, talking to one another, debating, evolving ideas, and moving forward.
Next Time: Performance measure opportunities you might have missed.
Working Toward a Performance Culture – Part One
August 4th, 2009Goals and Strategies – Do You Know the Difference?
If you have worked on development of goal and strategy statements you know the challenge of distinguishing between the two. The definitions are deceptively simple (and I rely on the classic work of Eden and Ackermann, Making Strategy to guide me). A goal is what you intend to do, and a strategy is how you intend to do it. If you are working toward a performance-based culture, you know that goals and strategies (or similar constructs) inform what measurements you will establish. Often organizations blur the two or completely disregard the second [I will address that issue in an upcoming post about performance measurements].
By way of example, in meeting with a client recently, the team arrived at a draft goal of building institutional knowledge for long term sustainability. Although this was not something emphasized in their mission and values, it certainly was tangential to their aspirations expressed in part by, “enhance livability and economic vitality. “ Eventually, as the team becomes clear about what they mean by their goal statement, they will go back and re-visit their mission and vision statement to see if it needs refinement to better express the goal aspiration. This leads to another important point about the process; work on mission and vision statements feeds into work goals and strategies, and vice versa. The process is iterative, not linear.
Once the team began looking at strategies to achieve the goal of building institutional knowledge, the team came up with “break down department silos through open information” and here they met the conundrum. Although we were working on strategies, this felt and sounded to the team like a goal. Certainly this statement supports the goal, but it also feels and sounds pretty potent by itself.
And here is the key point: In fact, when groups generate goals and strategies, it is not always possible to distinguish between the two until the group constructs a hierarchy of goals. Some statements will be core, or central to the mission and vision. Other statements will be subordinate, or supporting, but may still be goals in their own right. Only by distinguishing how goal and strategy statements relate to the mission and to each other does it become possible to develop a system of goals and strategy that reach both horizontally and vertically within the organization.
So, here are some tips for differentiating between goals and strategies that may be helpful in your quest:
GOALS
STRATEGIES
WAL-MART Settles on Wage Hour Matter
July 26th, 2009WAL-MART – Settles Wage Hour Claims
Wal-Mart continues to deny any wrong doing with respect to a class action suit brought by employees in the State of Washington alleging they were denied meal times and rest breaks and were forced to work off the clock. Despite their insistence of innocence, management decided to pay out $35 million rather than go to court. [Huffington Post provides a nice summary.] This does not help their image, but anyone familiar with wage hour regulations might understand how they got themselves into a pickle.
Workplace policies that state work should not be performed during the meal break, or during off work hours often do not reflect what is actually going on as vigilant employers will report. I recall my early days in the workplace when a husband of an office assistant called the wage hour and complained that his wife was working overtime without getting paid. The wage hour investigators arrived and audited the company from top to bottom. Employees did not know, in most cases, why certain questions were being asked, but since time records did not accurately reflect what the employees were telling the investigators, the end result was a settlement that was largely due to poor enforcement of policy.
Here is a word of clarification and a word of caution regarding this case: first, the State of Washington requires employees be provided a meal and rest break. This is not the case in many states (including Pennsylvania) and so this aspect of the case relates to Washington labor law. At the federal level, the Fair Labor Standards Act requires only that a break be counted as time worked if it is interrupted. A safe policy is a minimum of 30 uninterrupted minutes for meals. In addition, rest periods of 20 minutes or less must generally be counted as time worked.
So, we will never know the particulars of the Wal-Mart case since it was settled out of court. But it is very likely that the problem for the company was in part the record of work time. Therefore, be advised that you should have a policy that states employees must leave their work area for meal periods and may not perform work before or after work unless authorized for overtime. However, if you have a policy but look the other way when it continues to occur, you are permitting the work and are possibly treading down the same path as Wal-Mart.
Pennsylvania Enacts Mini COBRA law
July 15th, 2009If you employ 2 – 19 employees in Pennsylvania, you want to be aware of the newly enacted mini COBRA law which entitles employees and dependents of employees to receive continuation of health care benefits in case of a qualifying event. The premium will be paid by the employee or dependent, and coverage may be extended for nine months.
A qualifying event includes:
• death of the covered employee,
• termination of employment (either voluntary or involuntary, but not for the employee’s gross misconduct),
• reduction in hours,
• divorce or legal separation,
• eligibility for Medicare,
• dependent child ceasing to be dependent,
• bankruptcy of the employer.
In addition, the Federal Stimulus package that provides for premium reductions due to lay-offs will apply.
The following link contains a model notice and additional information.
Leadership Lessons from Bridge Over River Kwai
July 11th, 2009What does a WWII movie made in 1957 have to do with leadership challenges today? Grab the DVD and a few friends, and discover (or more probably re-discover) the amazing lessons of this paradoxical drama, based on historical events, that shine through time and cross many boundaries of conventional thought.
If you haven’t seen the movie the basic premise is a British outfit is captured and taken to a Japanese prison camp in southern Burma. Their fearless leader, the British Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guiness) is pitted against Japanese Camp Commander, Colonel Saito. The movie opens with the captured men marching into camp whistling the Colonel Bogey march. The tune has come to be synonymous with courage and esprit de corps and if you were at a pops concert this past July 4th (as was I) you probably whistled it.
From the first encounter, Colonel Nicholson and Colonel Saito face off in a clash of culture. Colonel Saito views the other Commander as a coward for allowing his troops to surrender, but he quickly learns he underestimated the mental toughness of his opposition when the British commander refuses the order for his officers to engage in manual work alongside the other men in a bridge construction project.
Colonel Nicholson cites the Geneva Convention rules and refuses to compromise even at great risk to his own life and that of his officers. When Colonel Saito capitulates in toto, Colonel Nicholson embarks on an ingenious plan to motivate his men by employing his officers to direct his men in building the finest bridge their Japanese counterparts could possibly imagine.
First lesson; the Geneva Convention rules were created to set boundaries for ethical behavior in war time situations. They gave Colonel Nicholson credibility and authority and established him as a leader while the ignorance or disregard for the rules diminished the leadership capacity of Colonel Saito. What relevance do these rules have today given recent events in Guantanamo and can analogies be made to other global concerns where ethical guidelines are absent?
Second lesson; Colonel Nicholson began with a clear mission and vision for his troops, but also conveyed strong values to undergird his leadership. As the project unfolded, he became over identified with the project to the point that he lost sight of strategic advantages or disadvantages of the bridge in a wartime operation. In essence, like a lover, he fell so in love with his project, he lost his head, the consequences of which define the ending of the movie. What were the signs that he lost his way and how might this development have had different outcomes?
Third lesson: Colonel Saito portrays a ruthless commander at the outset, but when he relinquishes power to his opposition, in order to get his bridge completed, he falls under a spell of malaise fueled with jealousy of his opponent’s success and especially the loyalty and respect he receives from his men. Did Colonel Saito demonstrate leadership in a) relinquishing power and b) bolstering Colonel Nicholson’s efforts? What cultural differences in understanding about leadership existed between the men?
This movie is littered with great characters and insights into human nature which can be discussed and debated from numerous perspectives.
What lessons and insights can be added to this list?
2009/2010 Salary Budgets
July 8th, 2009WorldAtWork released its first glimpse of the findings for 2009/2010 salary budgets. [Here] My clients hear me talk about this annual survey because it is a favorite of professionals in the field, and with over 2600 participants, it is an excellent marker when considering salary budgets for the coming year.
So what is the news? Not so good.
Here are some of the highlights:
Salary Budget Increases, by Type of Increase
Actual 2009:
General Increase/COLA: 1.2%
Merit Increase: 1.9%
Other Increase: 0.9%
Total Increase: 2.2%
Projected 2010:
General Increase/COLA: 1.6%
Merit Increase: 2.7%
Other Increase: 0.9%
Total Increase: 2.8%
The survey will be released in early August and participants will be surveyed for an update report in the fall. Stay tuned.
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