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Reinventing the Federal Workplace
"We want managers and employees to work together to paint a clear vision
and articulate a compelling mission supplemented with clearly understood
goals and shared values upon which anyone in the organization from top to
bottom can base an intelligent decision. This approach results in the
empowerment of all employees -- managers as well as workers -- to innovate
and ensure a high level of performance. It insures that everyone 'buys
into' the vision and is part of the process for creating it, so that goals
can be developed together."
--Vice President Al Gore, The
New Job of the Federal Executive, March 29,
1994
Today federal workers are not only improving service to the American
people, they are reinventing their workplace. In agencies where
reinvention is taking hold, workers are freeing themselves from their
rigid organizational "stovepipes." They are sharing ideas or partnering
with their colleagues and counterparts in the next office, in the agency
across town, in federal unions, in state and local governments, in the
business community, and in nations around the world. They are reinventing
government systems like procurement, managing for results, writing in
plain language for themselves and the public, and delivering services
online. They are not taking cover in their cubicles or hiding behind
obtuse rules. They are having
Conversations with America to learn what
services Americans really care about.
New Workplace
In agencies where reinvention is taking hold, a new, flexible, family-friendly federal workplace is emerging, made possible by new technologies and a new trust in workers. Agencies are cutting their internal red tape, providing employee access to the
Internet, and encouraging employees to work at home or in telecommuting
centers. A smaller, empowered federal workforce is emerging, devoted to
creating a government that works better and costs less and delivers
results that Americans care about.
2000 Employee Survey: Reinvention Makes a Difference
Sixty-three percent of federal employees say they are satisfied with their jobs, according to the third annual survey conducted by NPR and the Office of Personnel Management. Food and Drug Administration employees gave their agency the most favorable rating. NASA, which was the most highly rated last
year, and the General Services Administration also got high ratings. Navy had the greatest employee satisfaction increase from 1999. Some reinvention efforts have led to changes in employee views. For example, 8 percent more employees were aware that plain language was being used in their agency.
Transforming Entire Agencies
We need a well-prepared workforce and committed leadership because the
current phase of reinventing government is the hardest. We are moving from
creating "islands of reinvention" within agencies to transforming entire
agencies where the public will see the difference. NPR is starting with
"high impact agencies"--those that have the most interaction with the
public and business. We already have some models. For example, the
Veterans Health Administration, which administers the largest integrated
health care system in the country, is reengineering every aspect of its
operation. Guided by a "vision for change," VHA is undergoing a
customer-focused, quality-based transformation. Some say the turnaround is
one of the most profound of any organization in American history.
The Blair House Papers Are Reinvention Rules
President Clinton presented the
"reinvention rules" federal workers
learned in the earliest years of reinventing government to the Cabinet at
the Blair House in January 1997. Vice President Gore told the Cabinet
officials "they would know they had succeeded with reinvention when all
the people in their departments understood the goals and values of the
organization, and could use them to adjust quickly to changing
circumstances."
How to Recognize Success
He also told them how federal employees would recognize success: "When
they wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep right
away, they will be thinking about how to do their jobs better. Where
reinvention has taken hold, federal employees do that. Their faith in the
system has been restored. Applied to every part of government, these ideas
can do the same for America."
Thus, NPR's vision is America @ Our Best. And our goal is to restore the
faith of the American people in their government and the people who serve
them.
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