PREPARING TO SET SAIL: PLANNING YOUR SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZATIONAL IMPROVEMENT VOYAGE

Transcription

1 PREPARING TO SET SAIL: PLANNING YOUR SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZATIONAL IMPROVEMENT VOYAGE Dr. Kathleen M. Immordino IPMA-HR eastern regional Conference 2014

2 WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT? Organizational assessment is a systematic process for examining an organization to create a shared understanding of the current state of the elements that are critical to successful achievement of its purposes. Organizational Assessment and Improvement in the Public Sector W orkbook (2013, CRC Press)

3 THE ROLE OF THE HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONAL HR professionals are often the ones recommending, designing, and facilitating the assessment. How can you: insure that the time, energy and resources will result in positive outcomes? determine if your organization is ready to undertake an assessment process? select an approach that Is right for your agency engages employees in the process influences decision makers to use the outcomes to make things happen?

4 The challenge of government is to accomplish the organization s mission by providing high-quality programs and services while meeting the twin challenges of effectiveness and efficiency.

5 Assessment begins with a clear, shared understanding of the organization s mission and vision

6 CONSIDER THE SOURCE What s the source of the push for organizational assessment? Top leaders Regulators Constituents Employees

7 READINESS FOR ASSESSMENT Are the time and resources that must be invested in the process available, and is the organization willing to commit to them? Level of Leadership Support Current Workforce Climate Political will does not constitute readiness Timing and Agency Priorities Constituent Relations

8 LEADERSHIP SUPPORT Leadership Support Pre-Assessment Planning Stage Assessment Process Prioritizing/ Improvement Projects Leaders may or may not initiate the process Endorsement may be open or implied

9 LEADERSHIP SUPPORT Opens internal and external doors Enables access to information at all Provides access to external constituent groups Sends a formal signal that participation is requested and welcomed Provides a bridge to political leaders Indicates willingness to make resources available Sanctions the process through communication with employees

10 Assessment Readiness Checklist Indicate your level of agreement with each of the following statements: Leadership Senior leaders are interested in determining the current level of performance Senior leaders are willing to support an assessment process Senior leaders are willing to make the results of the process available throughout the organization Senior leaders are willing to act on the results of the process and implement improvement recommendations

11 TIMING AND AGENCY PRIORITIES Timing relative to other agency priorities There is no best time What else will compete for time and resources? Will staff and leadership be able to devote both attention and resources? What is the annual cycle of agency s core processes? Election process

12 Assessment Readiness Checklist Indicate your level of agreement with each of the following statements: Timing There are no major events or agency commitments which would prohibit an assessment at this time Resources are currently available, including the time and energy of the staff, to allow an assessment to take place

13 WORKFORCE CLIMATE Success relies on willingness of staff to participate by: Providing needed information Serving as active participants Accepting and implementing outcomes The prevailing workforce climate can have a positive or negative impact on staff participants and nonparticipants Openness to change Willingness to participate Support for the open exchange of information

14 Assessment Readiness Checklist Indicate your level of agreement with each of the following statements: Workforce Climate Staff members are willing to contribute time and energy to this process Staff members are willing to contribute information It would not be difficult to get volunteer employee participants Managers are willing to allow their staff to participant

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16 CONSTITUENT RELATIONS Public sector organizations that do not have a process in place to evaluate their operation are likely to find that the measures of success are being defined and imposed by groups outside the organization Their opinions may differ greatly from those inside Consider internal and external constituents How do we know what constituent expect?

17 CONSTITUENTS Constituent Type Measure Federal Highway Administration Legislative/ Governmental Accidents per lane mile Driver Individual Travel time State legislators Groups/ Governmental Cost per lane mile Annual cost

18 ASSESSMENT SCOPE

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20 OVERCOMING PARTICIPATION OBSTACLES Use technology to create access Possible issues: More difficult to build trust needed to support candid discussion Possible solutions: Virtual water cooler Shared resources/reading material Pilots

21 SELECTING AN ASSESSMENT MODEL Choosing an information gathering model Less structured More structured Adapted for government

22 CHOOSING THE METHOD

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24 LEADING THE EFFORT Assessment Leader Internal or External Roles Educating participants Creating a common vocabulary Explaining the goals Moderating participant opportunities to contribute Challenging perceptions Balancing attention paid to different areas

25 IDENTIFYING AND PREPARING THE PARTICIPANTS Who should participate? Should leaders be included? Should participation be a full time assignment? Key Question: What do we expect from participants?

26 ENGAGEMENT GOALS

27 LEVELS OF EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT

28 HR: The expert resource for agency demographics

29 ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTIFICATION The way the individual views his or her personal connection to the agency Strength of identification varies and can impact the way people make decisions A person with a strong sense of organizational identification will evaluate choice and make decisions based on what he or she perceives to be in the best interests of the organization (Cheney, 1983) The more interactions people have with others in the organization, the more likely their identification with the organization will increase (Scott and Lane, 2000) Increased identification with a group brings increased motivation to reach group goals

30 SUMMARY: CRITICAL HR ROLES Promote organizational assessment Communicate: Keep employees in the loop Create realistic expectations Find a champion Assess organizational climate Interface with employee representatives Identify participants Ensure representation that reflect demographics Promote engagement and organizational identification Capture organizational stories