| | Remarks by the Assistant Secretary EDA Balanced Scorecard Training Workshops November 27th - November 30th | Back |
| It is an honor to serve as President Bush's Assistant Secretary for Economic Development. You have heard me say it before, but I want to reiterate it today in this setting:I am passionate about economic development.Economic development supports two important public policy objectives:- Creating wealth;
- Minimizing poverty.
The creation of wealth enables people to be economically self-sufficient and provides the resources needed for building safe, healthy communities in which people want to live, work and raise their families. Minimizing poverty is important because poverty is not only dehumanizing, it is extremely costly in terms of underutilized human resources, welfare transfer payments, soaring public health care costs, crime and declining neighborhoods.I want you to know that I am proud to be associated with the people of EDA and I take very seriously my responsibility to lead the agency.DEFINING REALITY
The role of a leader is two fold: define reality and provide hope. Those are the two things I want to talk to you about today as we begin this workshop.What is our reality? First, EDA has a number of people who care deeply about promoting economic opportunity in distressed areas and have been dedicated to the agency through many difficult years. As the Booz-Allen Workforce Analysis study said, "The commitment to facilitate economic development and provide superior customer service is pervasive throughout EDA." I want to recognize and honor those individuals.Second, EDA can be proud of its role as a resource for sound economic planning and a catalyst for public works investments and economic adjustment strategies. As I visited EDA partners and projects across the nation, I have been impressed with a number of innovative investments EDA has made in the past that have leveraged significant private sector investment and led to the creation of job opportunities.Third, as a result of not being reauthorized for eighteen years, a "going out of business" mentality has crept into and permeated EDA's organizational culture. Significant emotional energy and leadership attention has been focused on "survival" rather than positioning EDA strategically for the 21st century. Basic business management practices and procedures have been seriously neglected, eroding our efficiency, effectiveness and credibility with key stakeholders. That is not your fault, but it is all our burden as we seek to position EDA for the future. You are not responsible for EDA's past history, but we are all responsible for EDA's future. Our partners throughout the nation in distressed regions, cities and communities, the citizens who need economic opportunity, and the staff of EDA all are looking to us to put EDA on sound footing for the future.I want to acknowledge the work of my predecessor, Phil Singerman, who during his tenure led the successful effort to secure EDA's authorization. He has provided us with much needed breathing room. We now have a window of opportunity to focus on those strategic initiatives that will position us for reauthorization in 2003.Fourth, by any objective measure, the amount of significant change in organizations has grown tremendously in recent years. The pace, scope and depth of change is going to increase. Powerful, macro-economic and public policy priority realities are at work and these forces will grow even stronger in the years ahead. The fact that we are now at war against terrorism accelerates and accentuates this trend for all federal agencies. The demand for federal resources will be intense. National security related issues will have first priority.As a result, more and more organizations will be pushed to reduce costs, improve the quality of services and increase productivity. President Bush has said, "Washington needs to be a results oriented world." To that end, the nation's economic development program needs to be results oriented as well.The Booz-Allen study commissioned at the end of the previous administration, and finalized this past June, identified three strategic recommendations to address critical agency wide issues:
- EDA should re-establish the strategic context of the agency to address issues of mission, vision and overall strategy.
- EDA should examine and improve its workflow processes so that gaps in quality and services might be diminished and inefficiencies caused by redundant processes might be eliminated.
- EDA should implement a competency based human resource system to tie employee's competencies and behaviors to the organizations refined mission and strategic goals.
This is the reality that has shaped my first months as Assistant Secretary for Economic Development. I am committed to leading EDA to become the premier standard bearer for domestic economic development. I believe EDA's programs provide critically needed services to America's distressed communities. I am equally committed to the belief that the government is accountable for the dollars it spends and the programs it carries out. I believe EDA must be able to demonstrate, through tangible outcomes and measures, how it is performing and the value of its programs. And, if we are to become the premier economic development agency, EDA must set the standard for excellence with its own operations and management. We are not there yet, but we have made significant strides.Integration of mission, organization, budget and performance form the basic loop that drives success.Ladies and gentlemen, this is the reality in which EDA operates. I know some of you are not comfortable with that reality. Some may disagree with my description of our reality. But reality it is non-the-less. That is the unique thing about reality; it operates regardless of how we feel about it. We have a choice, we can either acknowledge that reality and take steps to change it or we can do nothing and be broken by it. My goal is to lead a change process at EDA that will cause the organization to become stronger and better positioned to enhance community success in attracting private capital investment and higher-skill/higher-wage jobs.General Colin Powell in his Leadership Primer has said that the first lesson of leadership is: "Being a leader sometimes means pissing people off." Secretary Powell goes on to say, "Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It is inevitable, if you are honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity; you will avoid the tough decisions, you will avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted and you will avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance because some people might get upset. Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally "nicely" regardless of their contributions, you will simply ensure that the only people you will wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization."EDA's reality calls for leadership. I cannot provide that leadership by myself. I need all of you to step up to the plate and become a full-fledged part of the leadership team.PROVIDING HOPE
The second role of leadership is to provide hope and I am very hopeful about the future of EDA because this administration believes economic development is important; there is broad based appreciation for EDA in Congress and the economic development community; and because we have a well-thought-out strategy to transform EDA into a culture of performance and entrepreneurship. Re-establish Strategic Context and Focus of EDAIn the three and a half months since I was confirmed, we first focused on re-establishing the strategic context and focus of EDA as recommended by the Booz-Allen study. "Our mission is to help our partners across the nation (states, regions, and communities) create wealth and minimize poverty by promoting a favorable business environment to attract private capital investment and higher-skill/higher-wage jobs through world-class capacity building, planning, infrastructure, research grants, and other strategic initiatives." This clear mission statement will:- Focus our resources
- Tell us what to say "No" to
- Keep down competing agendas
- Explain why we act the way we do
To better fulfill our mission and achieve our goal to make EDA the premier standard bearer for domestic economic development we have met with key internal and external stakeholders as well as EDA staff and asked three critical questions:- What do we need to quit doing?
- What do we need to start doing?
- What do we need to do better?
THREE PILLARS OF EDA REFORM
Based on the answers to these questions we identified three pillars of EDA reform that will provide the vehicle to transform EDA into a results oriented agency and become the standard bearer for domestic economic development.Pillar I - Organizational Management Initiatives
The first pillar is based on organizational management initiatives:- Alignment of Resources: Before we can even think about requesting additional resources we must first ensure we have achieved maximum alignment of our existing financial and human resources to accomplish our mission.
- Management Process: We have begun to pay great attention to basic business management practices and procedures. We are developing standard operating procedures at headquarters to reduce inefficiencies and duplication of efforts. We will be moving forward with the Booz Allen Hamilton study to identify best practices in our regional offices, implement standard operating procedures among the regions, articulate clear investment policy guidelines to ensure due diligence on the front end and rigorous post-approval monitoring to ensure we are receiving the maximum return on tax payer investment.
- Competency Based Human Resource System: The foundation of a competency based human resource system is rigorous personnel performance reviews and clear performance plans that set high standards.
Pillar II - Performance MeasuresThe second pillar is based on performance measures: Balanced Scorecard and Outcome Funding.President Bush has made performance based budgeting one of the foundations of his Presidential Management Agenda. Deputy Secretary Bodman in every meeting that he has had with me and my senior management team has articulated this as his number one priority. I believe that it is so important to achieving our goal of becoming the premier standard bearer for domestic economic development that we are investing substantial training dollars in this year's budget for this workshop for our senior executive team and mid-level managers.Pillar III - Congressional and Public Affairs
The third pillar is based on congressional and public affairs. If we are going to become the premier standard bearer for domestic economic development, we must ensure that we are listening to our key stakeholders and communicating in a compelling, multi-faceted way, the success stories of EDA's investments. To that end we will focus on enhanced:- Congressional Relations
- State and Local Government Relations
- Public Relations
- Media Relations
The execution of the three pillars of EDA reform will enable EDA to become the premier standard bearer for domestic economic development, thus moving from a culture of compliance to a culture of performance. These pillars will help us shift EDA from being perceived as operating from a processor of grants philosophy to an investment philosophy. To this end, EDA will act as a public sector venture capital firm with an accent and focus on results. We will provide the seed capital on the front end that will make the deal work. Decisions regarding where to invest will be based on risk and expected return and will focus on outcomes such as leveraging private sector and local dollars and attracting higher-skill/higher-wage jobs.THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FUTURE
The rate of change in both the business world and the federal government is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in both sectors will probably speed up over the next decade. Organizations everywhere will be presented with even more hazards and opportunities driven by the globalization of the economy, public policy priorities, a war environment, technology and social trends.The typical 20th century organization has not operated well in a rapidly changing environment. Structure, systems, practices and culture have often been more of drag on change rather than a facilitator of change. If environmental volatility continues to increase, as most people now predict, the typical organization of the 20th century will likely become a dinosaur in the 21st century.So what will the winning organization of the 21st century look like? What will EDA look like when we have completed this transformation?John Kotter of the Harvard Business School has described the central characteristics of a winning 21st century organization.Persistent Sense of Urgency
Major change is never successful unless the complacency level is low. A high urgency rate helps enormously in completing all the stages of a transformation process. If the rate of external change continues to climb, then the urgency rate of the winning 21st century organization will have to be medium to high all the time. The 20th century model of lengthy periods of calm or complacency being punctuated by shorter periods of hectic activity will not work.A higher rate of urgency does not imply ever-present panic, anxiety or fear. It means a state in which complacency is virtually absent, in which people are always looking for problems and opportunities, and in which the norm is "do it now." Organizational cultures in the 21st century will have to value candid discussions far more than they do today. Norms associated with diplomatic nicetese, with non-confrontational political correctness and with killing the messenger of bad news will have to change.Teamwork At the Top
In an environment of constant change, individuals, even if supremely talented, will not have enough time or expertise to absorb rapidly shifting competitor, customer and technological information. Strong leadership teams with balanced and complimentary talent will be essential.People Who Can Create and Communicate Vision
Successful organizations in the 21st century will have to become more like incubators of leadership. Wasting talent will become increasingly costly in a world of rapid change.Broad Based Empowerment
The hearts and minds of all members of the workforce are needed to cope with the fast shifting realities of the 21st century. This will require flatter hierarchies, less bureaucracy, and a greater willingness to take risk. In addition, constant empowerment for a constantly changing world works best in organizations in which senior managers focus on leadership and in which they delegate most managerial responsibilities to a lower level.No Un-necessary Inter-Dependence
The 21st century organization will probably be a lot cleaner than the one we typically see today. Fewer structural cobwebs and less procedural dust will make services slicker and faster. Furthermore, the process of continual cleaning will certainly be encouraged in a faster moving environment.CONCLUSION
As we begin this workshop I have discussed both the reality EDA faces and what I believe is a hopeful future. I am hopeful because EDA has a vital role to play in fulfilling President Bush's commitment to ensure that no geographic or demographic sector of America is left behind when it comes to participating in the American dream. EDA has a reservoir of good will built up in Congress and throughout the country in the economic development community. And we have a sound strategy for transforming EDA into a successful 21st century agency.I want you to know I will go to the mat and fight for EDA's future, especially when I believe EDA is being short-changed. In fact, I have already done so. I am not hesitant to go to the very highest levels within the Department of Commerce to ask for their assistance as well. And that assistance has been forthcoming.If we are willing to go to the mat, and if we are going to be a successful 21st century organization, then your leadership in the transformation of EDA is critical.I appreciate the support that you have provided thus far and your commitment to working with us through the three pillars of reform. I hope and believe that this week's workshop on the Balanced Scorecard and Outcome Funding is going to be extremely helpful as we lay a foundation for EDA's future.Thank you. |
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