The role of leadership in building high performing, sustainable organizations.(Cover story)

The exercise was not about cutting services but about finding a different way of providing services. The city leaned on its continuous improvement core value by involving all employees in the widget exercise. The senior leadership team created a clear vision of what a successful widget exercise would look like, along with an atmosphere that encouraged innovation, risk-taking, and partnership. Then, having empowered employees to use their experience, skill, and training to identify widgets, the leadership team shared decision-making authority and responsibility for achieving success with frontline employees by accepting and implementing their ideas (incorporating two more core values, leadership and employee empowerment).

One example of a resulting change was in health care. As is the case with most organizations, Coral Springs' health-care costs were increasing. Rather than dictate benefit reductions and plan changes to employees, a cross-departmental employee team (including union and non-union members) reviewed information provided to them from the Human Resources Department and the city's health-care insurer, along with input from employees, to recommend revisions to the employee health plan. As a result, the employee team recommended several plan modifications that are expected to reduce costs by $500,000, in a way that was palatable to employees and fulfilled the needs of the organization.

Despite the reduction in revenue due to property tax reform and the economic recession, Coral Springs produced a business plan for the next fiscal year that decreased taxes for residents while preserving the most important city services and undertaking 38 new, customer-driven initiatives. The city was able to accomplish this by leaning on its core values and business model.

PROVIDE TOOLS FOR SUCCESS

Do more with less; work smarter, not harder--pummeling employees with slogans without providing them the tools to succeed guarantees failure. If core processes are considered to be production functions, then employees become the tools of production. Organizations that have 60-80 percent of their budgets linked to employees will not succeed unless they invest in those tools of production.

Giving employees what they need to succeed goes beyond the training they need to perform well in their jobs. It means giving employees the training and support they need to be able to improve their jobs--or, more accurately, to improve the core process, which encompasses their jobs. Coral Springs has instilled the core value of continuous improvement into its culture through training and use of its continuous improvement process. New employee orientation includes a one-day workshop on customer service standards and a six-step process improvement tool (see Exhibit 6). Employees are taught the principles of process management (i.e., monitoring a process to ensure it is operating properly) and process improvement (i.e., recognizing when the data indicates that things are off track and then fixing the problem). Employees also receive additional training once they have been asked to join a cross-functional process improvement team. The city also encourages employees to serve as Sterling and Baldrige examiners.

CONCLUSION

Like it or not, your organization is perfectly structured to deliver the results it currently produces. Changing the outcome requires changing the structure, and only leaders can change the structure, by putting processes in place that will deliver extraordinary results. However, with so many process improvement methodologies, consultants, and management gurus promising amazing results in two, three, or four easy steps, just knowing where to begin your journey can be paralyzing. Where to begin? First and foremost, understand that the journey is not without its jarring bumps, wrong turns, and flat tires, but it is worthwhile to stay the course despite set backs. There is no single act, or single stroke of luck, that will propel an organization forward. Instead, it is a series of small steps--each linked to a greater strategy, consistent with the organization's core values, and based on sound information--that will move an organization toward its vision, with leaders actively engaged in driving change. Colin Powell summarized it aptly when he said, "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

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Recent Recognitions and Awards

* 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Recipient

* 2005, 2007, and 2008 International City/County Managers Association Center for Performance Measurement Certificate of Distinction

* 2005, 2006, and 2007 America's Promise 100 Best Communities for Young People

* 1997 and 2003 Governor's Sterling Award (Florida state quality award)

* 2004 Florida City of Excellence Award

* 2007 Money Magazine Best Places to Live

* 2006 Safest City Award (10th in nation)

* 2005 50 Fabulous Places to Raise Your Family (number 11) *

* Tree City USA (12 consecutive years)

* GFOA Distinguished Budget Award (16 consecutive years)

* GFOA Achievement in Financial Reporting (27 consecutive years)

* Kathleen Shaputis and Melissa Giovagnoli, 50 Fabulous Places to Raise Your Family (Franklin Lakes, N.J.: Career Press, 2006).

Notes

(1.) Robert Kriegel and David Brandt, Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers (New York: Warner Books, 1996).

(2.) Gary Harpst, Six Disciplines for Excellence (Austin, TX: Synergy Books, 2007).

(3.) Gary Harpst, Six Disciplines Execution Revolution (Austin, TX: Synergy Books, 2008).

(4.) Bob Paladino, Five Key Principles of Corporate Performance Management (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2007).

(5.) Anne Spray Kinney and John Ruggini, "Measuring for a Purpose: Trends in Public-Sector Performance Measurement and Management Practices," Government Finance Review, August 2008.

(6.) Lisa Calise Signori, "Stability in a Time of Uncertainty," Government Finance Review, October 2008.

ROBERT GOEHRIG is budget and strategic planning manager for the City of Coral Springs, Florida. For more information on the city's quality initiative, see www.coralsprings.org/quality.