The Quality Quest

As the 10th annual National Conference on Federal Quality wrapped up Friday, management expert Rosabeth Moss Kanter told federal executives and managers that the mantra for the quality movement has changed from "do it right the first time" to "do it better the second time."

In order to deliver better quality service to their customers, agencies must foster innovation, but realize that innovation does not always lead to immediate success.

"We need organizations with the imagination to innovate, the professionalism to perform and the openess to collaborate," she said Friday.

Kanter's keynote address put the finishing touches on three days of intense quality training, networking and idea-swapping. Although official attendance numbers have not been tallied, 967 participants had registered for the conference at the Sheraton Washington Hotel as of June 25.

Franklin Raines, director of the Office of Management and Budget, kicked off the conference with a luncheon address that stressed the need to restore public confidence in government. On Thursday, the U.S. Army Infantry School and Center at Fort Benning, Ga., was awarded the President's Quality Award for excellence in quality management. Throughout the conference, agency representatives shared their management improvement techniques with one another and learned from motivational speakers, including Boston Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Benjamin Zander.

Curt Smith, director of the Federal Executive Institute, which organized the conference said the show went smoothly. "Managers and executives gained a sense of where things are as well as a fair amount of hard knowledge," he said.

Participants said they were equally pleased.

"This is the 10th conference, and I haven't been here for five years, but I was blown away by the number of participants," said Pat Malone, a senior program analyst for the U.S. Department of the Navy. "Apparently the quality movement is still alive."

John Leitch, a retiree from the General Accounting Office and an examiner for this year's Presidential Quality Award, has been to all 10 Federal Quality Conferences, and said this year's was the best ever.

"The speakers were uniformly better," Leitch said. "There weren't so many peaks and valleys."

Leitch said, however, that some participants criticized the exhibitors for being too focused on helping large agencies and ignoring small offices.

Ken Heller, a Justice Department policy analyst said some presentations lacked the depth he expected.

"The frustration I had was little comments like 'this is hard and that is hard, but you have to do it'," he said. "It's easy for presenters to say communication is important, but the tough part is how to do it."

Conference speakers expressed a common theme: the quality movement is shifting its focus from processes to customers.

"It's a scary time to be a manager in the federal government but also an exciting time," Kanter said.