2004 Annual Report

Leading toward excellence in public service

Floridians demand that state government continually cut costs, increase productivity, and improve services. Across state government, managers and employees have risen to this challenge through extraordinary personal leadership.

The more difficult question is: How can leaders in public agencies move beyond an occasional leadership success story to a structured, comprehensive system able to deliver continually rising results?

Following a private-sector model

Such systems exist. Leading private companies have pioneered rigorous problem-solving methodologies such as the Six Sigma process-improvement methodology, credited by former General Electric CEO Jack Welch with saving his company $2 billion in three years. Other examples include the Baldrige system, which has helped U.S. industry achieve worldwide leadership.

As yet, however, structured problem-solving methodologies have only begun to be used by federal, state, and local government. To speed the spread of these tools, the Department of Revenue has launched an innovative training program.

Training that pays for itself

More than 80 DOR managers have completed the Department's Knowledge-Based Leadership© initiative. Participants meet monthly during a six-month training program to learn and apply problem-solving tools. The approach provides the participants with statistical and analytical skills that help them pinpoint process flaws and apply effective solutions to improve performance.

Each participant picks a process-improvement project that saves enough to pay for the $2,200-per-person cost of the program. This program is equipping a growing cadre of Department leaders with skills to drive performance still further in future years.

Getting results

KBL projects already are proving their value by improving DOR business processes:

• An Orlando team looked into the problem of identifying child support cases where DOR had made a collection but was having trouble processing the payment because of missing case information or because the account had been incorrectly closed. Using KBL problem-solving tools, team members methodically analyzed the business processes which were creating the unobligated collection errors. The team pinpointed the controllable root causes of this problem, and then developed a plan to improve the closure process and reduce unobligated collections. Carefully monitoring progress, the team was able to produce amazing results: Unobligated collections plunged more than 90 percent, from $132,467 in May 2003 to $10,153 in May 2004.
  
  
• A Clearwater team focused on improving performance in the audit process. Despite an initial reluctance to acknowledge that their work site lagged in audit performance, Clearwater team members (including audit managers) soon recognized that they had room to improve on key performance indicators. Energized by their validation of the facts, team members methodically reviewed their audit process and soon identified performance gaps – including some among managers themselves – and now are implementing solutions projected to improve performance. As DOR Executive Director Jim Zingale said, "I found this very impressive. Too often, I see teams jump too quickly from suggesting a problem to guessing at a solution. If we're not careful, we end up ‘fixing' something that wasn't really broken."

In 2004, DOR began requiring all members of Executive Director Jim Zingale's Leadership Team to take a three-hour web-based introductory course on problem-solving tools. Developed by DOR trainers working with the Governor's Sterling Council and other experts, the course offers a high-level look at how process improvement tools work. When team members encounter these tools in the course of process improvement efforts, they'll have a head start on using them effectively.

Managing performance by the numbers

Problem-solving tools are only part of a modern business-process management system. Managers and teams also need accurate performance data, in-depth understanding of workflow across a value chain, and advanced technology to make solutions work.

The Department is working to meet all these needs. DOR Strategic Initiatives include development of a robust performance measurement system that includes improved measures for all 59 DOR business processes. Through the Department's business-process mapping initiative, DOR is mapping business processes, identifying critical success factors, building and fine-tuning performance measures, and gaining a better understanding of how business processes work together to create value. Finally, through our SUNTAX and CAMS technology initiatives, DOR is launching some of the public sector's most advanced enterprise resource package computer systems in our General Tax Administration Program and our Child Support Enforcement Program.

Process management, performance measurement, advanced technology – all components work together in the DOR way of public service.

Why take this approach? At DOR, we believe that we compete for survival just as in the private sector. If we don't deliver quality service at the same or lower cost than a competitor, elected leaders will replace us with someone else.

But there's more to it than our own survival. We believe in the cause of public service. Floridians demand and deserve government that delivers services better . . . cheaper . . . faster. We are committed to meeting that challenge.