Forging Partnerships
Three keys to partnership Trust, trust, trustTrust and Partnerships
Trust starts with me!! It is fundamental to a successful partnership. Don't wait on them! Just do it. It works.
To build trust: One way is to have top union officers in all staff meetings and at the beginning of planning of major projects. Rock Island Arsenal was a presidential awarded labor/management council.
Partnership with GSA on developing the P-card (VISA) training on CD-ROM.Partnering Candidates
Partnership with Health and Human Services for developing alternative method of training project managers vis desk top delivery on CD's.
Partnership with Defense Acquisition Univ. to develop "Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act" (FASA) CD-ROM
Partnership with VA for training personnel departments on changes to policy.
Yes! Instead of isolating government activities and personnel, forge partnerships with surrounding community through finding communities!
Customer Satisfaction Monitoring 100% fee for service with over 200 projects any given year, successfully surveyed all customers in person with home grown structured survey instrument, multi-tiered approach. To learn more, contact: Volpe Center, Cambridge, MA
Anyone doing strategic planning with partners? We changed our overall agency planning/implementation system but would love to find others to share approaches, examples.
Eliminate control of channels of communication. Reward all accomplishments system-wide. Stop pitting people within a system against each other through artificial structures and procedural divisions.
A Pass-Fail appraisal system seems at odds with a GPRA organization. How can you have specific accountability goals for agency but are unable to translate to employee accountability?
A good point. We are in the first year of Pass/Fail and are facing the problem of focusing on awards. Some advantages to having feedback of performance reviews separate from $ and/or "grades."
Dept. of Justice: Please raise your approval limits on tort claim settlements determined by OGC, USDA
Can we distinguish end-to-end processes and outcomes that benefit the customer to forge partnerships vs. working on top of functional thinking and protection of resources and boundaries.
Keep involving public enterprise with federal government partnershipping. It gains by "buy-in and trust" from all concerned. Our customer base has grown in a positive supportive manner since we partnered with private organizations - water districts, city government, etc.
Let's practice implementing a few of the 7 habits of highly effective people:
- Be proactive
- First things first
- Seek first to understand and then to be understood
- Synergize
Teaming will never work until former supervisors, now team leaders, are downgraded to make their grade equivalent to their new lower level of responsibility.
Partnership councils at the ground/field level are working best.
In a partnership arrangement it is paramount that all initial and subsequent training be conducted jointly, i.e. ADR, Dispute Resolution, IBB. This lends itself to closer relationships with the partnership.
Maximize JIRSG potential. It's already in place.
If we can't extend labor management partnership past traditional L-M issues - we will soon go back to being adversarial. We have to grow toward empowerment/ participation in workprocess reengineering or partnership will die!
This year the claims team has some ideas for OGC and US Treasury to improve which will positively impact on our customers. It will be quite a challenge to partner with these agencies and encourage them to change.
Line managers through organizations like the Federal Managers Association need to be included in Agency and facility level partnership councils. Rank and file employees should also be included. Too often partnership councils are composed of agency executives and full time union reps who are too far removed from the work to realize the impact of their decisions.
Theresa Novak
-
How about doing away with the councils, partnerships and the squabbling and actually do some work. I believe we should examination the verbage of our conversations. If most of it centers on our own self interests instead of whats in our job description you're not earning your pay!
-
Partnerships in the Federal Government can only worked if several simple factors are dealt with seriously:
1. There can be no reference or tolerance for "Special Interests Groups" or "Diversity" these are the cornerstones of the problems we are facing in our society today. The only SPECIAL INTERESTS should be the
topics we are trying to improve: taxes, heath, education, etc. Diversity should only refer to how much we as individuals can offer our employers- our talents, ability, knowledge of subjects.
2. To become partners, each level of the workforce must be willing to exert an effort to COMMUNICATE with the other levels and not hide or keep information.
3. Partnerships are based on willingness to be responsible for our actions and not blame others. We share the load, burden and the blame. Delegation of a project is necessary, provided the one delegating the assignment is confident the one he has assigned to do the job has been informed. It is also necessary the person who has accepted the project is open/honest and has full knowledge of expectations. He/she is capable of seeking information when needed and adult enough to admit to need assistance.
4. Partnership means avoiding the I am the (fill in the grade/step), I do not have to do this job, only the (lower grade employee). We know this happens, but it is ignored, because supervisors do not want to confront reality. Perhaps if each employee understood his /her grade/step
referred to a PAYCHECK and NOT A RANKING, there would be less office in-fighting.
5. These are only a few suggestions to consider before claiming total partnership in an office. Are you willing to take the steps to build a strong foundation and eliminate such behavior in your office? Are your employees willing to accept such a radical demand? Is the system ready to accept defeat of such programs as Diversity Management and Catering to the Special Interests Groups in an agency?
VA USA -
Partnering means
1. Respecting your partner for his/its abilities and values
2. Communicating information about goals and needs
3. Sharing abilities and resources with each other
"Partnering" is a working relationship where two people/entities help each other accomplish a mutual goal. In order to do that, you need to know what the goal is, what each partner can do to achieve the goal, and then an understanding on how the work will be done together. And partnering cannot exist if there isn't a recognition that there are potential partners out there who's expertise (in areas different from yours) could help you achieve your goal.
For government, this means recognition that there are other levels of government with different expertise and resources, which if harnessed together through partnership, meet the public's needs more quickly, effectively, and efficiently.
Sara Fotopulos
local government, FL USA -
The problems is not partnership with the union but partnering with there own managers.
If there was a true partnership, remember the union must represent all employees, then Federal unions should have there own GS series like LMR, ER (230,233). It seems that the representitives MUST have a regular job and a secondary job as a union rep.
As a union officer, I tried of trying to deal with management and having FMA as a second element that cant even get along with there upper management level and having no legal power other than expressing there words of wisdom.
We fought for what we got over the years and this second element of management is like a splinter in the finger it talks the talk but it cant walk the walk.
Jim Jones <jljones@aol.com>
ssa, ca -
The problems is not partnership with the union but try partnering with there own managers.
first, If there was a true partnership, remember the union must represent all employees, then Federal unions should have there own GS series like LMR, ER (230,233). It seems that the representitives MUST have a regular job and a secondary job as a union rep subject to the continuing practice of time limitation to represent employees.
As a union officer, I am tired of trying to deal with management and having FMA as a second element that cant even get along with there upper management level and having no legal power other than expressing there words of wisdom.
Unions fought for what we got over the years and this second element of management is like a splinter in the finger, it talks the talk, but it cant walk the walk.
FMA does have several departments, such as political activities, often for the good of there management members,
Remember, that from both acton and deeds are what any employee wants to see. The impression is not only does upper management does not want to be involved with lower management to determine policy and methods, but what is FMA's self concerns. Are they concerns for all federal employees or just having self concerns that sets FMA apart from federal unions that cause addition problems for both the union and the agency?
Partnering with agency, unions and FMA would be a big question mark for the future of the agency.
I am not opposed to FMA and both the union and FMA have worked together in the past. I am opposed to opening a new front in the battle for survival, down sizing, contracting out, low pay, raising cost of health care, lack of promotions, more work with less people, and forging a new future.
Maybe the time has come that a tri partnership is needed. All I know is that I cant remember when so many problems have been created by a few people that have the responsibility with so little understanding of the people and the future of where an agency needs to go like Social Security.
We spent over 56 million investigating, and impeaching clinton but to develop a true partership congress is like the 3 monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil, but speak all you want.
Jim Jones <jljones@aol.com>
SSA-WNPSC, ca -
Post a Comment
To post a comment, you must provide a name and a valid e-mail address. Messages must be limited to 400 words. By using this Service you agree not to post material that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable. Although Government Executive does not monitor comments posted to this site (and has no obligation to), it reserves the right to delete, edit, or move any material that it deems to be in violation of this rule.