Last month, Partners in Public Innovation (PPI) had the pleasure and opportunity to help lead the California Government Operations Agency’s (GovOps) very first quarterly Learning and Development forum. The forum convened over 400 key leaders from every state agency around the governor's results-oriented management priorities. The October 5th forum focused on Measuring Outcomes and had to be split into two sessions so that everyone could fit in the auditorium! Each session was kicked off by GovOps staff, followed by a keynote speaker. PPI’s own Ryan Hunter then presented on Results-Oriented Management - what it is, how it can be leveraged, and what it takes for leaders to embed ROM into their agencies. Ryan challenged attendees to honestly evaluate if they were providing performance measurement without support or vice versa and talked about the pitfalls of doing either in isolation.
Ryan facilitated a panel discussion with three state leaders pursuing results-oriented management in their agencies: Gustavo Velazquez, Director of the California Department of Housing & Community Development; Monica Erickson, Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Human Resources; and Elizabeth Landsberg,
Director of the Department of Health
Care Access and Information. The panel provided on-the-ground insights into using ROM in their own agencies, including setting measurable goals and embedding process improvement in daily work.
Ryan, along with PPI’s Justine Hinderliter, Jenessa Rozier, and Erin Todoki, then facilitated breakout sessions to help participants share their own challenges and digest, discuss, and apply what they were learning. Here's some of what we heard from the executives in their breakouts.
Challenges:
DATA! There was significant alignment on the need for data in order to evaluate what’s happening in their departments, prioritize the work, and make data-driven decisions
Resources, especially technology resources, aren't always readily available and there was shared frustration in knowing what is needed but not having the resources to execute
Trend-tracking (again, data!) would be helpful. One leader shared that if calls coming into their call center could be flagged and categorized by the system, customer issues could be more efficiently addressed
Resistance to change amongst the team is sometimes the most challenging obstacle
Solutions:
Transparency of organizational values with potential candidates - one team integrated their organizational values into the hiring process and asked candidates to reflect on how the agency showed and represented those values. The values-aligned hiring process engaged new hires from day one in their purpose-driven culture
Thinking about, talking to, and engaging end users in the process can instrumentally change the type of engagement you see with your services. One agency highlighted how they engaged their customers--young adults seeking their services--has resulted in an amazing transformation of DEI-driven decision-making and policies
Dealing with constantly changing priorities is difficult, and folks can feel overwhelmed. One agency made it a part of their culture, shifting the mindset from "I'm overwhelmed" and "Nothing ever gets done" to "throw whatever you want at us and we will just do it!" Now, the team feels like they can take on and do anything that comes their way
We ended the group session by asking leaders to write down--and commit to making--one small step in the next month to become more results-oriented!
We LOVED the chance to support so many state leaders and help move California forward! Were you at the Forum that day? We'd love to hear what you've done since -- drop us a line, send us a picture, and tell us what results you've accomplished lately!
Keep an eye out for an upcoming blog post on how to employ ROM in your agency!
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