Recognition and Incentives

Contrary to the belief expressed by the advisor to the V.P., rewards and recognition awarded to political appointees or high level career staff never, never, never filters down within my agency. Examine awards -- and the recipients. Then, look at exactly what justification was given for the award. Then, do a cross-check of the Washington Post or New York Times articles. I know of many fine employees, dedicated to their positions, to their service of the American people. I know of no manager, who, once receiving an award of any type, extended that recognition to the plain, ordinary "worker bee" -- the one who never will receive any recognition. That is a pipe dream -- the "easy way out" and the "firing" mechanism. Headquarters’ politics. Reward the workers directly, not those already rewarded with an SES.

CELEBRATIONS:
(1) To reward performance but also to--
(2) Create punctuations in the work process that help us feel like community

Move ahead with simplifying employee performance appraisals to outcome-based measurement, rather than process-based. Present system is demeaning to both the employee and the supervisor. Poor performance can still be documented by exception.

Reinvention Labs need to be free to reinvent. Unleash innovation!! Unleash creativity!! Grant the Reinvention Labs blanket waiver authority!! (also make them accountable for reporting the waivers they’ve taken!)

Our Reinvention Lab is collocated with our next higher headquarters. We receive much of our direct support from the same organizations which service the higher headquarters as well. Any waivers we receive causes duplicate support processes for the support organizations because they must follow existing rules when supporting our higher headquarters. Recommend any approved waivers be applied to all organizations being serviced by a support element when the reinvention lab waiver makes sense to do so and there is value added.

NPR manage Agency adoption (or show why not by Agency head) of successful initiatives/waivers coming from Reinvention Labs.

Remember JOY {as/is} a daily component.

Facts about Resistance to Change: If 2% of your work force are agents of change, 98% of your work force aren’t ... and your efforts to change will probably fail. If 5% of your work force are agents of change, 95% of your work force aren’t ... and your efforts to change will be severely challenged at every turn ... the 95% will fight you with the democratic process ("Let’s have a vote here."). If 10% of your workforce are agents of change, you have achieved "critical mass" and you will ultimately succeed in changing culture, but it won’t be easy (change is never easy). Experience has taught me that 20% of the bureaucracy are "ROCKS" ... not interested in and totally immune to change. The "job" in a Reinvention Lab includes the task of selling change to the 70% between the "ROCKS" and the critical mass.

INSTITUTIONALIZE!! This work is too important to be a temporary program. It must continue. Train your people, build it into your organizations, put it in your plans, never stop.

[Comment to the above posting] Listen to Hammer! Until we move to make NPR ideas an institutional aspect of government, local barons will exercise "county option" and short circuit our successes.

Acquisition Reform within DoD has made great strides in creating a new culture for program managers to execute the duties of their jobs. Creation of an OIPT (Overarching Integrated Product Team) environment within DoD further emphasizes the importance of a TEAM concept. What is lacking is any visible significant budget reform. PMs are stripped of any accountability or sense of program success through the culture and reality of the budget process. Why has budget/financial reform not kept pace with acquisition reform? The problem starts with Congress. Reprogramming thresholds are too low, success is geared for short term results, not long term success. If you are going to preach empowerment, why not apply that concept to the budget process as well and develop new measures of success for program managers. To be successful any reform must start at the top.

Free us from absolute Veteran’s Preference.

Reinvention Labs which cause direct $ savings should be allowed to RETAIN savings as an incentive to keep innovating.

Eliminate all mandatory "In House" (inside the Federal Government) sources of supply (GSA, whatever), and trust managers to make best value decisions -- and create competition that always improves products/value.

Cut through marginal acquisition reform and adopt the uniform commercial code (UCC), with minor modifications, for federal procurement.

Eliminate all temporary duty travel orders/authorizations.

[Response to above posting] Hey USDA! I agree -- Stop the insanity! I presume for example, I paid for this conference using a credit card. Orders required two levels of signature above me to authorize my per diem which I pay for out of my budget. Where is the trust?

Enact a Federal Digital Signature Act (use Utah as a model) -- Authorize use of digital signatures for all commercial transactions between the Federal government and the private sector.

Raise IMPAC Card limits to permit usage for all small purchases within and outside the government.

Decision Making

NPR should reevaluate its DOC 2-05 recommendation to abolish the NOAA Corps. Initial studies show the DOC 2-05 increasing costs - not increasing savings.

NPR is positive for taxpayers. But flaws in Basic info are damaging. Rego DOC 2-05 is based on a flawed understanding of NOAA Corps. DOC 2-05 is:
- Bad for the Environment
- Bad for all the Services
- Bad for America’s Public interest.

Discussion Groups. DOC 2-05 Elimination of the NOAA Corps promises politics, false justification, and misleading numbers. An interesting case!! Call NOAA for an Arthur Anderson Co. report on the Corps.

Why cut of Dr. Lukensmeyer? She’s the most valuable speaker at the conference. [Another conferee wrote, "Agree, inspirational].

How about having a Reinvention Meeting outside the Beltway -- in the field!!

Please have someone put all of the Town Hall Wall notes on paper and send to conference attendees. [Another conferee added, "Concur!!"]

PLEASE send me a copy of all that has been written on the REINVENTION TOWN HALL WALL!!

[Responding to above posting] Great Idea! Please send copy to:

NPR should consider using desk top video technology to expand its base of detailees out in the field around the U.S. This could facilitate regional reinvention on a more immediate track.

DoD should organize a regular forum across service and geographic boundaries to promote reinvention.

(1) Rhetoric must match reality.
(2) Most industrial countries are grappling with the same problems of re-invention -- are we learning from each other?

We need a mechanism for sharing information of successes and ideas throughout the government. Let’s use the available technology and come up with something accessible to everyone -- an on-line newsletter, perhaps.

Publish these ideas, frustrations, and successes!

Revitalize the efforts of NPR staff by sharing their success stories among agencies. They are a great asset to the Federal Government.

A national clearing house of all reinvention projects on-going within all government agencies and points of contact.

A speaker’s bureau free to agencies would be very helpful. It would help people see bigger picture of change throughout federal government. Several one-time speakers to groups of 200 would go very far.

The Web can be used to do much more than distribute program information. All Departments should be made aware of and use the National Workplace.

Using on-line groupware (like Lotus Notes), link all of the participants in this conference as a continuing virtual conference -- NPR coordinate this!

NPR should visit Agency’s to get more real success stories from front line. Talk to the Action People. Change is happening.

A copy of what’s on this entire wall --

This kind of wall would be good in the office to let us all be able to contribute our ideas as we get them ... a kind of an on-going wall-forum. [Another commenter added, "Good idea - once a month review].

Topical Reinvention Workshops.
-- We hold monthly Reinvention Lab Workshop on specific business systems.
-- Each Workshop consists of 25-30 people who are a mix of subject matter experts and customers of that business system.
-- "Best Practice" is collectively defined and waivers are developed to remove impediments.
-- Good waiver source and networks key business systems across the organization.

Can the "ideas and concepts" blocks be transcribed and distributed to conference participants?

Interagency franchising stories? Other compelling reinvention cases? Send us a description.

If you’re doing innovative ideas in the procurement area please let me know. Of particular interest is (1) ways to test your internal processes, (2) innovative buying techniques -- they do and do not require waivers.

Politics

Future Strategy - NPR activities need to be transformed into a bi-partisan, Legislative-Executive Branch PARTNERSHIP!

How to incorporate _______ _______ belief that future successful political systems must be based on "self-transcendence"?

- Engage Congress in reinvention. Create a joint Executive-Legislative Commission to come up with next steps.
- Get Congress to create authority to set up "Performance-Based Organizations" as the next-step of GPRA -- let successful pilots become PBOs.
- Push Civil Service Reform through Congress.

Track Congress’ progress toward NPR goals.
-- Need a "Progress Report" by an independent body to evaluate recent bills vs. NPR recommendations.
-- Congress still passing bills that pile complex barriers on the regulatory, procurement, and agency reorganization processes.

Expand/Maximize JRSIG. It’s vastly underutilized.

We need to use our armies of auditors to search and destroy the waste inherent in our personnel, budget, procurement and financial systems.

Does downsizing/reinventing necessarily mean reorganizing into teams? I am struggling with the whole centralizing/decentralizing question. Is it just greener grass?

"Downsizing or Rightsizing" in the government has focused on the bottom of the management food chain. Many new ideas were lost before started. Government needs to invent additional career tracks beside the classical management role.

Institutionalize "mini NPRs" in all agencies to ensure commitment to the effort. They should be structured similarly with a mix of politicals and careers to ensure that efforts move toward implementation.

If education is a priority, urge (or "force") the Department of Education to start 10-15 reinvention labs over the next 6 months. Two reinvention labs is a poor showing for a cabinet-level agency.

Privatize physical security inspections of all government-owned buildings to include annual surveys. Private firms can coordinate with a single contact. For example, GSA, for Judicial Building, U.S. Marshals Court security.

Presently, USMS Asset Fortiture Program includes government employees and contractor. Why Both? Eliminates government employee positions and contract all work. National Contractor responsible for all facets and reports to a single management office within USMS or delegate to GSA.

Consolidate debt collections for all Agencies involved. Empower our Agency to enforce collection. The Agency can contract private firms or handle directly. Pool of staff can be consolidated from all agencies with collection units.

Reorganize the agency to interdisciplinary team approach with input from outside agencies. Use field experience -- allow field to implement and evaluate. Allow field to identify problems, programs which do not work, and propose solutions. Use Commanding Officer to primarily ensure no duplicity, and communication of all employees. There is currently no effective communication within the agency. With the exception of one JPR project, nothing gets done is a timely manner. Years are required for a regulation output. Team approach and empowerment, particularly on the field level, would effectively address most if not all issues. Note: No senior management involvement or interest in this conference.

Establish an organizational Innovation Center.
-- We have 3 pre-outfitted room (cells) accommodating 4-5 people teams.
-- Personnel are full time on these teams for a maximum period of 6 months or till they have a "fast failure" (usually 6 weeks).
-Benefit: It is a tangible expression or organization commitment and our confidence of their ability to innovate.

TEAMS
-- don’t think
-- don’t create
-- don’t do
INDIVIDUALS
--think
--create
--do
TEAMS
expand and combine the focus of individuals