Article 48. Changing Government in a Short Time Frame.
The problem with bringing major change to government is the short window of opportunity that an elected official has. Bureaucracies have for decades weathered all past attempts at change why should your administration be any different. In my last article I discussed the problem of agency competition for budget dollars and piece-meal change where one agency’s budget savings through innovation is quickly absorbed by those agencies which don’t innovate. My recommendation was after a short test period to implement Work Improvement Teams (WIT) in all agencies in the same time frame. This violates the principle of biting off more than you can chew which I recognize as a possible recipe for catastrophic failure leading to political suicide. Having alerted you to the possible dangers here is how I would proceed.
You must start preparing for governmental change even before you are elected. A major part of your campaign strategy should emphasize specific positive instances of innovation which has occurred in various state agencies Taking these as examples and suggesting that you would encourage more innovation in government bringing improvements in public service, state highways etc. What you are doing is laying the foundation for change before you are elected. This saves valuable time in getting the word out on your intentions to bring change but doesn’t alienate the management of the agencies to which you intend to bring change. Bureaucracies love positive publicity mainly because this increases their chances of getting a larger share of the budget. Talking about the good things that they are doing opens the door for your statewide implementation of WITs. During the campaign you should always avoid inflammatory statements such as downsizing, consolidation of government agencies, blowing up boxes, and eliminating unnecessary agencies. What you can talk about is reducing bureaucratic red tape, eliminating government waste and providing improved services. Don’t try to explain the benefits of WITs before you are elected you’ll get bogged down in a methods discussion that goes nowhere.
Upon election you should have a state WIT Implementation Task Force on board with state wide implementation plans already made and their feet ready to hit the ground. Right after the election members of this task Force lead by the governor should meet with the management of each agency to discuss the implementation. Although the goal is nothing short of dynamic change in the bureaucratic structure of the organization this first meeting should concentrate on the implementation at the work place of the WITs and the benefits to the public and the agency. With the agency’s approval a state office facilitator will organize the first meeting with the agency’s employees.
By this time WIT test team should report to the Task Force on what worked and what didn’t work so that several approaches may be tried and those that are successful my be repeated throughout the state.
There is a danger in the perception that there is a hidden agenda because of pressures to move quickly. Bureaucracies generally drag their feet in hopes that the pressure to change will go away. To combat this in the first meeting the Task Force should be upfront in disclosing the elimination of the first level of management, which is being replaced by the WITs. Top agency managers should be required to give active visible support to the WITs by visiting each one at least once a month. What is happening here is the top managers over time begin to relax and recognize the unnecessary complexities within their own organizations and begin changes on their own. To facilitate the desired change the managers should be encouraged by the governor to attend special seminars on Employee Empowerment, Performance Budgeting and other relevant topics.
The goal here is to secure as much time as possible for the organizations culture to evolve and prevent a relapse back to the old bureaucratic ways after others take over the governor’s office. For more detailed information on the implementation of WITs see Article 11. “Adaptation of Manufacturing Quality Improvement Techniques to Achieve Efficient Government”.
