Challenge
At this customer-focused agency, both career and political senior leadership recognized that resources would likely remain flat or decline, while fixed costs were projected to continue to escalate. Agency leadership wanted to position the agency to better serve its customers, manage increased reporting requirements and improve programmatic and administrative infrastructures that were antiquated and increasingly costly to upgrade or replace.

Solution
KnowledgeBank conducted a comprehensive and independent organizational review and assessment of the agency’s National Headquarters Office and State Office organizational structure. The goals of this effort were to:

• Assess the alignment of functions relative to optimal service delivery.
• Identify concrete proposals for organizational change that would enable the agency to increase its overall efficiency and effectiveness.
• Develop a Strategic Human Capital Report focused on analysis of workforce demographics and identification of trends and strategies for management consideration.
• Assess metrics maturity to measure performance.

This two-phased assessment included interviews with career and political leaders to identify critical areas of scope, interviews with more than 300 managers, directors and customers, focus groups and site visits to 15 State and Field offices. KB also benchmarked three organizations that had recently undergone major transformation, performed an attrition analysis of agency personnel in mission critical positions and evaluated the current human capital management strategy and governance structure.

Results
The Assessment team briefed leaders and managers in each organization within the assessment scope and the resulting final report, provided the agency’s senior managers with 52 key findings and corresponding actionable recommendations that included:

• Overall Observations
• Top priorities for consideration
• Cross cutting findings
• Individual Study Area Findings and Recommendations
• Human Capital findings
• Benchmarking Findings
• Proposed Organizational Structure Changes (Architecture)

The agency chartered a Career Executive Steering Committee (ESC) to determine which of the findings and recommendations should be adopted; 89% of leaders agreed that the information in their Study Area was accurate and that most of the findings were on target.

Nearly 40 projects were approved for implementation, and the agency established a governance structure and Executive Project Manager (EPM) to ensure accountability and transparency throughout the implementation effort. The ESC meets regularly to discuss, gain additional information on and modify recommendations for approval by the Administrator.

The agency recently established an IDIQ contract with KB to support the organizational transformation effort, including:

• Facilitating sessions with the ESC to support decision making;
• Project management support to the EPM to ensure implementation success;
• Human Resources Division (HRD) transformation support;
• Information Technology Services Division Strategic Planning and Workforce Proficiency and Skills Assessment.

Challenge
In 2007, this agency established the Management Directorate (MD) to improve coordination and oversight across the agency’s management functions which include nine lines of business: Information Technology, Acquisition Management, Human Capital, Disaster Reserve Workforce, Support Services and Facilities Management, Security, Occupational Safety, Health and Environment, Records Management, and the Office of Business Management.

The agency engaged KB to assist the MD in the development of a three-year strategic plan, tracking and monitoring of performance, improving customer servicing and satisfaction. The goals of the strategic planning initiative were to develop MD’s 2009 – 2011 Strategic Plan to align MD operations across divisions and direct operational goals and establish performance measures that adequately gauge effectiveness of MD business lines.

Solution
KB brought together leadership representatives from each division to form the “MD Strategic Planning Core Team” that worked together to define MD’s mission and vision for contributing to the agency’s success; understand customer expectations; articulate core values and guiding principles; analyze strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT); and define strategic goals, objectives, and performance measures.

KB facilitated working sessions with the entire Core Team, and worked individually with division leadership on specific activities focused on analyzing their own division’s current state and customer’s expectations. Throughout this process, review and input was solicited from customers, agency regions and division personnel.

Upon completion of MD’s Strategic Plan, KB worked with leadership from each division to develop their annual Tactical Plans. The division-specific Tactical Plans identified specific annual performance targets for priority MD Strategic Objectives. Tactical activities for achieving these performance targets were outlined, including key milestones dates. KB facilitated a 3-Day off-site to provide MD leadership a forum to finalize the 3-year Strategic Plan, present Tactical Plans and discuss feedback from peers in the MD leadership team.

Results
KB facilitated MD moving MD divisions from working in silos to coordinating work across the divisions and helped identify opportunities for greater coordination and collaboration across MD divisions. Cross-MD issues and action items were identified and tracked through completion.

A “Quarterly Progress Reporting” process was established to monitor actual performance to plan. Each division submits a quarterly progress report, and MD Leadership convenes quarterly to review the MD Performance Scorecard, confirm priorities, discuss challenges, and identify coordination required across MD.

KB also developed a communications plan to roll-out the new MD Strategic Plan that included marketing collateral comprising MD Strategic Plan brochures, tri-fold pamphlets, posters, presentation materials, and leadership memos. “All Hands” meetings were conducted to communicate to MD personnel. Individual and small group meetings were conducted with customers to communicate MD’s plans and initiatives and solicit feedback.

Throughout this strategic planning effort, customer service was emphasized as a priority. Focus was placed on clearly identifying MD’s customers and their expectations. With this in mind, KB worked with the Core Team to define “MD Customer Service Standards” that provided specific behaviors that all MD personnel were expected to perform to demonstrate MD’s customer service core values. These “MD Customer Service Standards” became the basis for implementing several customer service programs that included division-specific customer satisfaction feedback surveys and a customer communications plan to improve customers’ access to MD resources.

Challenge
The client needed assistance in reviewing, assessing and redesigning the performance management system used to assess approximately 90,000 non-supervisory employees of this federal civilian agency. Recent analyses of the system concluded that it was not meeting the agency’s needs in creating “a results based culture of performance.” In addition, one study concluded that the system’s design contained features that increased the performance management challenges for raters, reviewers and employees, including the perception that the current system contributed to additional administrative burden.

Solution
KnowledgeBank provided the analysis, justification and design concept for the new Performance Management System, and worked closely with Agency’s Human Capital Office to develop an implementation plan for this new performance management system. Data from key stakeholders were collected through surveys, interviews, focus groups and an advisory group. In addition, the team benchmarked five other federal agencies with results-based performance management programs recognized by OPM. The information collected was the basis for the development of a list of key activities, milestones and personnel necessary to complete a successful service-wide rollout of the performance management system.

Results
KnowledgeBank delivered a detailed implementation plan for a successful service-wide rollout that included a communications strategy and plan, training plan, simulation testing, and final roll-out. The team worked to develop a Guide Book for use by the business units which outlined ways to identify key duties, appropriate measurement systems and standards, and how to apply SMART goal criteria in their units, in addition to developing the methodology for writing new performance plans for the various occupations. Finally, we provided a detailed testing design for the new system.