Governments today, regardless of size, location, or services delivered are facing the same challenges to their continued ability to operate effectively.  

These challenges include:
Increased stakeholder demands
Constrained resources
Maximized workloads
Top-down management
Stove piped organization
Disengaged workers

One approach to reversing these challenges and their impact on our ability to work is to follow the principles of the High Performance Organization (HPO) Model developed by the Commonwealth Centers for High Performance Organizations and taught at the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia.  

High performance organizations do not compromise or trade off service quality, customer value or financial performance.  HPO is defined as the simultaneous delivery of high product and service quality, outstanding customer value and sound financial performance.  It is critical that all three of these variables are delivered at the same time.  

While the HPO model features many components, there are three basic assumptions that can really help to enhance employee engagement and address the fiscal and management constraints that we all face today.  These include:
Recognizing that work has changed over time.
The need to focus on developing the culture of our organizations.
Building organizational capacity through the use of employee teams.

Focusing on the third basic assumption—teams and the “Parallel Organization”—teams are simply groups of people who come together to accomplish a short term or ongoing task.  We have seen that solving problems and developing creative approaches to work are often better achieved through teams of people representing different perspectives and talents in addressing challenges rather than by management alone.

The HPO Model refers to a team as the “parallel organization” because it operates alongside the traditional hierarchy.  How teams work and how their work relates to the organization as a whole is critical to understanding and defining the strategy for success of the entire organization.  This requires defined purposes, processes and expectations of the team and its work.

Teams can be categorized in one of three types:  cross-departmental teams, departmental teams, and naturally-occurring groups.  Cross-departmental teams include representation from most, if not all, departments and have a broader organizational focus in their work.   Departmental teams typically include members from a single department or work unit and a more departmental focus in their work.  Naturally-occurring groups are typically short-term informal groups that form through a common interest to quickly address a more immediate, smaller perspective issue and then the team will usually disband.

Team approach to work
Through the team approach to work, both within the departments and across the organization, several benefits have resulted for the organization and the community.

The Health Benefits Team is a good example of how cross-departmental teams can increase employee engagement and understanding of the operations of the City.  This team is responsible for selecting the health plan for the City.  It works within premium “cost caps” established by the City and its unions and selects plans and coverage that best meet the employee’s needs within available dollars.  In 2009, our expenses for health insurance coverage totaled $656,805.  The City’s average premium increase over a five-year period was 5.79%, versus 13.29% for public entities in the Greater Cincinnati area.  If the City realized an increase of 13.29%, consistent with that of the greater Cincinnati public sector market, our costs would have risen to $744,094 for 2009, or almost $50,000 ($49,589) more than what we would have experienced without the efforts of the Health Benefits Team.

During the fall of 2008, the City of Montgomery was facing a 172% increase in the cost of road salt with a severe shortage of supply in the region.  The challenge was how to address the increased costs, reduced supply, and still meet the service levels that the community has enjoyed over the past several years.  This is a problem that is faced by many communities during these tough economic times.  Through creative route management, salt conservation, and constant communication with City staff and the community, the Public Works Department was able to reduce rock salt use by 300 tons resulting in a savings of $40,000 in the first year alone.  In addition, citizens were highly satisfied with the service based on follow-up surveys and a significant reduction of calls to the Customer Service Department.  The Public Works department has permanently implemented the changes recommended in 2008 and following the 2010 resident survey, 91% of residents indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with snow and ice removal operations.

An example of a successful naturally occurring group is the Columbia Oldsmobile accident group.  In 2004, a group led by a firefighter and police officer recognized a problem intersection that caused four accidents per week with three injury accidents per month.  The group came together on its own to develop a creative solution to the problem and was even able to get the State of Ohio Department of Transportation to install and pay for the reconfiguration.  The results speak for themselves.  Since the team came together in 2004, over $14,000 savings in police and fire runs was realized in the first year, no accidents have occurred in this location in over seven years and most importantly, there has been no loss of life or personal property damage.

Retooling Human Resources

However, we cannot expect employees to reflect a holistic work style without first understanding that traditional HR systems do not support the HPO concepts.  Employee skills and talents need to be developed beyond the traditional technical skills.  When Montgomery first started its journey towards high performance, the first task was to review all of its HR tools.

Job Descriptions

When we accepted the challenge of revising job descriptions, we had six objectives in mind:
Less emphasis on technical skills.
Establish stewardship role for the entire organization.
Eliminate the “Stove-piped” departmental perspective.
Get buy-in from all employees (Union and Non-Union).
Minimize subjectivity of the overall appraisal process.
Mirror elements of the Networked Talent Model in all job descriptions.

To help get buy-in from all employees and not create an “Us versus Them” environment, all employees had the opportunity to provide input on the criteria that should be included in the revised job descriptions.  All suggestions were considered and many were included.  The new job descriptions were expanded from the traditional technical skills to now include three new categories necessary for a person to work in the Networked Talent Model.  

These include Leadership, Management, and Team skills.

Leadership skills – The leadership category measures an employee’s understanding and application of the organization’s mission, vision, values, and strategic plan.  In addition, it measures initiative and innovation, leadership skills, quality and quantity of work, professional growth and self development and for department heads, City Council and commission support.
Management skills – The management category measures an employee’s level of stewardship of City resources including budget preparation and management.  It also measures planning skills, judgment and decision-making, knowledge of operating guidelines and progress toward completing goals.  For supervisors, this category includes staff management.
Team skills – The team skills category measures an employee’s communication skills, conflict resolution and problem solving, cooperation and teamwork, and customer service.
Technical skills – The technical skills category measures general job knowledge and specific technical skills for a given position.

Performance appraisals were redeveloped to mirror the expectations defined in the revised job descriptions and provide examples of positive behavior and performance.  A 360-degree peer feedback process was developed to afford co-workers the opportunity to discuss an employee’s performance in a face-to-face setting with the emphasis on how the employee performs from a peer’s point of view.  A Pay for Performance system was utilized to reward high performers while showing low performers the direction that they need to pursue.  Lastly, the hiring processes were changed to utilize hiring teams and incorporate non-traditional methods to hire individuals who meet the intent of the job description and not just based on their technical skills.

The employment of the HPO model in the City of Montgomery organization has definitely created a more engaged workforce that has contributed greatly to high quality service delivery and the setting of organizational strategies and directions for success into the future.  The outcomes of this work are exemplified in the City’s Citizens’ Survey as well as an organizational work culture survey that are regularly conducted by the organization.

Innovation Ambassador Contact:
Matthew Vanderhorst,
Customer Service Director
mvander@ci.montgomery.oh.us
513.792.8323