GovernmentExecutive.com

March 25-27 1996

REINVENTION REVOLUTION: REPORT FROM THE FEDERAL-FRONT LINES

In keeping with the participatory nature of the conference, each of the dozen Learning Labs was asked to select a delegate from among its ranks to represent its members (and their views) in smaller, more focused groups. These twelve-person delegate groups, one for each of the three conference themes (People, Partnerships, Performance) met in intensive, nightly sessions with different facilitators to develop consensus recommendations. The recommendations, presented to a panel consisting of various members from the President's Management Council (PMC) and the National Performance Review1, are summarized and listed below. Where appropriate, panel responses to the recommendations are also presented.

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PEOPLE DELEGATE GROUP

Goal: Align People and People Systems with Reinvention Values

If reinvention is to succeed, it is necessary to ensure that government workers are honored and taken care of. In addition, the delegates recommended aligning the various reform initiatives such as NPR, GPRA, and TQM, so that they work in concert. Under such seemingly disparate efforts, managers are feeling overwhelmed in getting their work done, while trying to fulfill the charges of the various reform efforts. Delegates spoke of their perception that NPR has become a "flavor of the month." This perception, combined with high stress from the recent round of furloughs, has created a need to rejuvenate government employees.

Charge, Recharge, or Discharge

People are the key element to successfully reinventing government. The delegates identified a number of issues needing attention by the Vice President, summarizing their recommendations as "charge, recharge, or discharge." The delegates defined "charge" as the mission given by the Vice President to reinvent government, "recharge" as the process of re-energizing government employees for that task, and "discharge" as the way to deal with those who "don't get with the program." The delegates structured their presentation to identify actions that can be started now by the administration, and those that can serve as a downpayment for the future success of government reinvention.

Charge: Practice What You Preach

The delegates recommended that the administration get its political appointees on board. This problem elicited some of the strongest reactions from conference attendees. Several people spoke forcefully of the problems they had encountered getting support for their reinvention initiatives from the administration's political appointees, proclaiming that, "they're you're people, you put them there. Either get them on board, or get them out." Other recommendations include:

• Link Senior Executive Service rank awards to reinvention behavior
  
• Modernize oath of office
  
• Reward pioneers and risk takers
  
• Transfer personnel authority to service provider level
  
• Export successful leaders. Spread the knowledge and experience of reinvention change agents around the federal government. Make it easy for them to move quickly, as a sort of "reinvention strike force."
  
• Enforce accountability

Recharge: Reform or Reinvest

The administration must pursue legislative, regulatory, and administrative reform of the federal human resource management system as a means toenergize the workforce. In addition, the admin istration should identify and/or reward organizations who care: organizations that have succeeded in reinvention should be household names, individuals should have folk hero status, on par with Michael Hammer and Philip Howard, etc.

• Share reinvention savings with reinventors
  
• Provide opportunities to keep people through retraining, cross training, and dual career paths
  
• Manage workforce to budget, i.e. do away with personnel ceilings
  
• Develop "thrival" strategies; that is, strategies to help employees thrive and survive in a downsizing climate.
  

Discharge

The federal government needs a rational approach to managing the workforce during downsizing. Affected employees are not "faceless bureaucrats." Retrain and reinvest in employees who have bought in to reinvention, and provide mechanisms for buying out those employees who have not bought in.

• Provide transition opportunities.
  
• Retrain
  
• Buy in or buy out
  
• Make employee benefits portable
  

NPR/PMC PANEL RESPONSE

Elaine Kamarck was delighted with the presentation, claiming that she liked getting recommendations that "we can actually do something about." She noted that the Vice President and his staff are often unaware of specific problems with political appointees, and urged conference attendees to let them know about who was getting in the way of reinvention. The Vice President, she told the audience, can be strict about "holding his people accountable." In response to the group's presentation, she promised the following:

• The Vice President will meet with his mid-level political appointees to "boost reinvention."
  
• In the administration's second term, political appointees will be chosen not only for their policy expertise but also for their committment and ability to manage reinvention.
  
• The administration will ask OPM to put reinvention criteria into next year's SES presidential rank awards.
  

Additionally, several panelists acknowledged the cyclical nature of enthusiasm for change: it is an ongoing process that will contain high and low points. Nevertheless, they unambiguously reaffirmed the administration's strong commitment to the National Performance Review, and to the idea of reinventing government. The NPR is not a "flavor of the month," but a tangible instrument of change, whose visible results can serve to reinforce, re-invigorate, and reward government employees. Anne Shields of the Interior Department suggested appointing a reinvention "point person" within each agency. She stated that not "two hours goes by without Jody Kusek (the Interior Department's reinvention point person,) asking me what I'm doing about reinvention."

RECOMMENDATION FROM PARTNERSHIP DELEGATE GROUP

Goal: Take Partnerships a Quantum Leap Forward.

The delegates described this period as one of tremendous opportunity to marshall and leverage the resources available for partnerships between all levels of government (federal, state, and local), as well as with the private and not-for-profit sectors. A lot of enthusiasm exists for partnerships among government customers and employees. Agencies such as the General Services Administration, Department of Interior, and Social Security Administration are reporting great successes in establishing partnerships with other agencies, olther levels of government, and other sectors of the economy.

However, significant barriers also exist. Getting senior leadership buy in is a problem. Additionally, the lack of trust between employees in the trenches and mid-level managers prevents a downward delegation of authority from taking place. An absence of statutory authority prevents money and/or personnel from moving across appropriations or across agencies to where they might be needed the most. Contracting regulations and conflict-of-interest laws require agencies to remain at an "arm's length" from potential partners. As one delegate noted, "It is hard to dance at an arm's length."

Partnership with Government Act

The answer for the delegates was in the recommendation for the creation of a "Partnership with Government Act" that would serve as an umbrella statute to authorize alliances and joint ventures with other public and private organizations. This legislation would remove barriers and take positive steps to enable the creation of partnerships at all levels of government, and with the private sector. Additionally the Act would:

• Expand the "Economy Act" to include state and local government
  
• Modify ethics and contracting laws
  
• Allow for cooperative funding of salaries and full time employees
  
• Allow for the acceptance of voluntary services

The delegates also recommended that the White House act as champion and sponsor of a partnership conference in 1996 involving governors, mayors, agency heads, and private sector representatives. The proposed Partnership with Government Act (PGA) could serve as the centerpiece of this effort. The Office of Management and Budget would take the lead in establishing several key mechanism including:

• developing the PGA legislative proposal,
  
• establishing a "partnership clearinghouse" to enable information sharing, and
  
• fostering the use of information technologies to support partnership building.

NPR/PMC PANEL RESPONSE

While supportive of the need to build partnerships, the PMC panel members were cautious about the need for legislation. Their primary concerns were that:

• enacting legislation is incredibly difficult
  
• there are very valid reasons (e.g., the "naked greed" witnessed by Kamarck in her dealings with lobbyists) for some of the contracting and conflict of interest rules,
  
• the degree to which existing laws and regulations truly do preclude desired outcome is unclear.
  

Anne Shields, the Department of the Interior's PMC representative, pointed out that her agency had been able to form new and very beneficial partnerships while working under the most incredibly restrictive environmental laws. The lesson seemed to be that there is often wide flexibility in implementation; what government agencies need is a supportive relationship with their in-house counsel that enables the creative interpretation of the law.

Elaine Kamarck opined that government lawyers need retraining on how to say "yes." The government legal profession is conservative by nature. The job of a lawyer is to tell you what you cannot do. She suggested circulating an "underground publication" advertising the legal flexibilities already in existence. Such a publication would inform and empower people, and allow reinventors to subvert government lawyers who are used to saying no. The Hatfield Act, supported by the administration, would improve intergovernmental relations by allowing federal funds to move more easily between state and local levels of government.

Finally, in response to the lack of trust between management and front-line employees, and the rigidity it engenders, the PMC exhorted the conference attendees to, "assume you have authority." If federal government employees have to ask for authority for partnerships, they are admitting they don't have it already. In addition, one PMC panelist noted that it is much easier to, "say you're sorry after the fact than it is to ask for permission." The bottom line for federal employees is that they must act with courage and creativity, and they must not wait around for someone "in authority" to tell them when and how to reinvent government. Those risk-takers that are willing to make mistakes will be tolerated if errors are committed on the path to reinvention.

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PERFORMANCE DELEGATE GROUP

Goal: Align Performance Systems
Improved government performance and a focus on customer satisfaction are cornerstones of the National Performance Review. To this end, conference delegates highlighted the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). This legislation can potentially institutionalize the fundamental culture change needed to reorient the federal government away from focusing on inputs and processes and towards valuing outcomes and results.

Government Performance and Results Act
The delegates recommended aligning agency outcome measures, customer service standards, and personnel appraisals within GPRA. Ideally, GPRA's authority should be expanded to hold and incorporate these presently scattered initiatives.

Customer Outreach
A customer service orientation, as noted above, can be developed through GPRA. Customer satisfaction will be better achieved through an established loop that elicits customer feedback. Agencies can then use this feedback to continually improve their performance and create buy-in through informing and publicizing improvements and achievements.

Resource Flexibility
Delegates asked that the earmarking of funds be ended so that agencies have the flexibility to meet their special needs, whether it is to fund overtime or to hire a computer specialist. Budget flexibility would create the right incentives and rewards for outcomes and performance. OMB was challenged by the delegates to reinvest surplus funds once a program has shown that it has met the standards as promulgated by GPRA. Agencies need the flexibility to use their savings at the local level, rather than turning over their surplus funds to a general fund.

NPR/PMC PANEL RESPONSE

The panel acknowledged and reinforced the delegates' comments on government performance. John Koskinen (OMB) agreed that agency outcome indicators, customer service standards, and personnel performance appraisals need to be aligned. He felt that GPRA is the logical place for this to happen and has the potential to be very effective. He characterized GPRA as "stealth legislation" because of its potential for truly revolutionizing the federal government.

One learning lab delegate suggested a systematic review of all past legislation to possibly amend or eliminate duplicative reporting requirements, noting that they represented onerous burdens on most managers. The panel acknowledged the need to consolidate these various reporting requirements (customer service, performance appraisals, outcome measures, financial audits, and reports to the inspector general). Koskinen noted that the OMB was attempting this through one comprehensive, single "accountability report." He praised the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs for their efforts in compiling accountability reports. Although these reports may provide all necessary performance information in one place, without statutory reform, GPRA doesn't relieve managers of duplicative reporting requirements.