By James Toscano

When public organizations are in crisis, the ailments are predictable: budget problems, compliance issues, communications failures, and broken public trust. These problems can persist despite changes in management.

Here are five observations I learned from working with “public sector turnaround guy” Philip Shucet, as dubbed by Senator Mark Warner, while at Hampton Roads Transit in southeast Virginia, that highlight the principles of a successful public turnaround. They focus on the first 36 months of a turnaround, which require tactics that might not be suitable for long-term organizational sustainability.

The First 36 Months

1. Wear it on your sleeve. Once an organization has been dragged through the mud, it won’t be easy to shake the nasty labels. It doesn’t matter how much of a whiz-bang is hired, how much overt controversy recedes, or how different you feel on the inside. Accept it: People on the outside still believe there’s a mess just beneath.

If a situation is bad, say so. Successful public organizations talk openly about their problems because they know hiding won’t solve them. Shucet says that when leaders air out problems, “You can see the organizational culture begin to change. As their courage grows, the risk of not hearing the truth from your employees goes down. Fewer surprises.”

Employ highly visible performance dashboards on websites to display exactly where the organization stands on the important stuff. The advantage of the dashboard is three-fold: 1) if the only way is up, then spotlight your ascent; 2) dashboards level the playing field in terms of access to information; and 3) the dashboard creates internal focus—a clarion call—on the main issues.

On the dashboard, sometimes things looked good, other times not; but in Shucet’s experience, no one could claim they weren’t forthright. He insisted administrators responsible for a particular dashboard metric list their e-mail address next to it, so the public would know who was accountable and who to contact with inquiries.

Dashboards let the public look inside your organization’s closet. And when your employees know the public is poking around, it can have the effect of making you keep your closet tidy.

When problems are uncovered, announce your plans to fix them. When you’ve made progress or a reform, no matter how incremental, tell people. Remind the public you are not exactly who you were before the turnaround began.

At Hampton Roads Transit, we announced Mission 31/90—a public commitment to act on 31 audit findings in 90 days. We posted the findings on our homepage and marked checkboxes as progress was made.

Point is: Eschewing the comforts of a private rehab and instead doing it out in the open, allows the public to evolve along with you.

2. Avail yourself to the public. It is counterproductive when troubled organizations hunker down to fix their problems complete with “no comment” responses to the media or gag rules on certain officials. No matter what kind of internal progress you might be making toward your turnaround, this leaves the impression you are closed off to hard questions, feedback, or critiques.

Successful public organizations have a culture of openness. Don’t allow valuable internal confidantes, board members, or elected officials to become exclusive gatekeepers and reject policies and other practices that serve to bottle up information.

A manager’s personal rapport and availability with journalists and reporters builds a better relationship, even if they have critically reported on the organization previously, and can result in more balanced reporting when things get tough in the press. When the only media access is through a public information officer, it sends the signal to employees and the public that information needs crafting.

Using social media can put an organization closer to people and ideas. Hold sessions with local bloggers to open valves of communication with influencers outside the traditional press. In these sessions, you might want to declare that “nothing is off limits” and allow bloggers to video record and post interviews.

Be sure to use accessible language. It’s not good if public communications are bulked up with run-on sentences and techno-speak, resulting in a citizenry that doesn’t have the faintest idea what is being said.

Point is: Use shorter sentences and normal words to benefit the audience.

3. Make audits your friends. Most organizations—troubled or not—fear audits or independent inquiries. The notion of an outside organization scrutinizing what you do is enough to keep public managers up at night.

Despite these tendencies, the use of public audits is an excellent tool to help drive your turnaround. Those appointed to bring about a turnaround generally know what mistakes not to repeat, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they know how not to repeat them. A sense of clear direction can be further distorted as emotions run high, jeopardizing the turnaround. Results from an independent inquiry give you a good place to start.

Point is: With reports and any problems in plain sight, the emotion can be taken out of a situation and can hasten the team’s return to business.

4. Tolerate wrong decisions, punish indecision. Troubled public sector organizations are rife with fear of decision making. Managers can debate a decision to death, and sometimes such debate is used as a tactic to avoid making a decision outright.

It’s particularly tricky when indecision is cloaked in positive terms like “collaboration,” “buy-in,” or “collegiality.” But the result can be the same: organizational paralysis.

Successful organizations embrace accountability in decision making. Employees ought to be encouraged to make data-driven, well-reasoned decisions within their scope.

Shucet says the beauty of a wrong decision is that you usually know it immediately. People have more information and can pivot. He also says that when you delay a decision many times, the options don’t become any clearer, and, often, you’ve lost time or money or both.

Point is: Don’t avoid making a decision.

5. Keep your eye on the ball. Don’t be distracted from your main task. If your organization’s mission is to run buses or build a highway, then run buses or build highways with laser-like focus.

According to Shucet, this could mean disbanding an employee-relations group that plans social activities: How could any time at all be spent planning and hosting organizational cookouts while its reputation was up in flames?

He doesn’t believe there’s anything necessarily wrong with these activities, but says organizations in crisis don’t have the luxury of such nonessentials. Reducing distractions in a troubled organization can help it refocus on its core mission or service.

There’s enough distractions already, with all the regulations and pressure from residents and policymakers facing public organizations. Keeping these pressures at bay and staying focused is difficult and requires courage.

In a successful turnaround, be prepared to be unpopular sometimes with some people. Whether it’s that disbanded employee-relations group, keeping the heat on senior staffers, or keeping an arm’s length from an elected official’s pet project, enduring temporary discomfort may build you respect in the long run.

Point is: Keeping your eye on the ball will help you avoid the same traps that lured others before you and have stood in the way of success.

Not a Glamorous Undertaking

The hard work of an organizational turnaround is unglamorous. Responsible public management, including being on-budget, isn’t sexy stuff. Have you ever read investigative journalism or a screaming headline about an agency that simply does what it is supposed to? You’ll need to steel yourself for not being lavished with praise as your turnaround bears fruit.

When one of his teams met a major milestone Shucet would said, “Now, give yourself 10 seconds to pat yourself on the back.” They would. Then he would remind them of all the other challenges they faced.

It’s not that he was ungrateful for their efforts. “I wanted everyone to be clear, we’re in the public business. And as good as we feel about ourselves at this moment—and we should—the public demands even more.”

Point is: What is accomplished at the outset of a turnaround—the bedrock foundation of transparency, focus of mission, and fiscal responsibility—will pave the way for all long-term successes.