The role of leadership in building high performing, sustainable organizations.

• Author: Goehrig, Robert

Despite the current economic situation, all is not doom and gloom for public-sector managers. There is an alternative to slashing services, laying off employees, and raising fees, There are proven performance improvement methodologies that will allow local governments to do more with less--or, more aptly, do the same with less. Or, when the only option is doing less with less, these techniques will help with prioritization; the jurisdiction might be doing less, but at least it will be doing the right things.

Unfortunately, many performance improvement efforts fail. In fact, seven out of 10 "reengineering" efforts fail, even though organizations spend billions of dollars on them. (1) Simply stated, the problem is a lack of commitment on the part of senior leaders, who act as if a change in terminology will carry the day Without real commitment, these improvement efforts just whip employees from one fad to the next. Employees have learned to assume "this too shall pass" and therefore do not jump on board immediately In other words. "people go in the direction leadership is walking, not pointing." (2)

All the tools leaders need to create winning organizations are already at their fingertips. On its 15-year journey, the City of Coral Springs, Florida, has learned lessons that are appropriate for any organization that seeks to energize employees, improve service delivery, provide excellent customer satisfaction, and lay the groundwork for a high-performing, sustainable organization.

CORAL SPRINGS' JOURNEY

Performance excellence is not an event, destination, or slogan, but a journey, The City of Coral Springs began its journey in response to a looming fiscal crisis of its own. The city manager set the tone by saying that his goal for the city was to stand toe-to-toe, shoulder-to-shoulder with the very best the private sector had to offer. To accomplish this vision, the city had to adopt best practices, principles, and decision-making tools being used in the private sector then adapt them to fit the needs of local government.

Beginning in 1993, the city began adopting and adapting the principles of Total Quality Management as a way to infuse customer- and quality-oriented values into the workforce. Eventually the city embraced the Florida Sterling and Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence because of its holistic approach to performance improvement, integration, and alignment. The Baldrige criteria are now the foundation of the city's performance improvement toolbox and business model. In short, customer satisfaction, quality, and performance excellence has become everyone's job. It is the way we do things; not something we do.

Coral Springs uses the Baldrige criteria to listen to its citizens and businesses, learn about their needs, plan ways to efficiently address them, and then implement improvements based on hard data. As a result, the city has been able to offer its residents extraordinary results in a cost-effective manner. Examples include:

* Coral Springs has the lowest operating millage rate among large, full-service cities in Broward County

* The city's debt service millage rate has dropped by 72 percent since 2002.

* All three Wall Street credit rating agencies recently reaffirmed the city's AAA credit rating.

* Residents gave the appearance and maintenance of the city's 48 parks a 93 percent satisfaction rating in 2007. Coral Springs' crime rate is the lowest in Florida and the fourth lowest in the nation for cities with populations between 100,000 and 499,999 people.

* The city's fiscal 2009 net direct debt per capita is $439. The median direct net debt per capita is $931, according to Moody's Investor Service.

* The city has six employees per 1,000 residents (a standard measure of productivity), as compared to other large cities in Broward County, which have between 8 and 15 employees per 1,000 residents.

* The city had a 94 percent resident satisfaction rating in 2007, a 97 percent business satisfaction rating in 2008, and a 97 percent employee satisfaction rating in 2008.

Although Coral Springs was honored in 2007 as the first state or local government to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award--the country's highest award for organizational performance excellence--the journey was not without its jarring bumps, wrong turns, and flat tires. The difference between an organization that is searching for direction and an organization moving in the right direction, however, is the ability of leaders to maintain focus on the vision. They must be able to integrate core values into the culture of the organization, create a clear picture of what defines success, and take advantage of the organization's core competencies in the best and worst of times.

REPLACE REACTING WITH PLANNING

There is all too often a disconnect between strategy creation and strategy implementation. (3) This is a stunning revelation. given that creating strategy and executing strategy are both wholly within the purview and control of senior leaders. Bridging the two is often overlooked because, while senior leaders have the best intentions, they get caught up reacting to political pressure. In other words, senior leaders fall into the trap of responding to what is urgent rather than what is important.

There is also a nuts and bolts reason why strategy fails to produce the desired results. As Paladino discovered, 9 out of 10 strategies fail because only 5 percent of the workforce understands the strategy: 85 percent of executives spend less than one hour per week or month discussing strategy; 60 percent of organizations do not link budgets to strategy: and just 25 percent of managers have incentives linked to the strategy. (4)

The City of Coral Springs business model (shown in Exhibit 1) begins and ends with the customer. It uses information collected from customers via surveys, focus groups. SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, community visioning forums, etc. as the basis for the strategic plan, as well as input from data analysis (e.g., demographic trends, economic analysis, technology changes, land development trends, legislative challenges, etc.). This environmental scan helps managers and elected officials identify emerging issues that may affect the city's ability to provide the type and level of service that...