Thursday, June 23, 2011

Walker Governance, Phase Two

We've noted a couple of times that the new budget which will be signed by Governor Walker actually increases State employment. We also opined that the increase was likely a temporary phenomenon, because we expect the Governor to move towards a "Lean" reform in the future.

The trumpet has sounded.

Wisconsin state government is like a Fortune 200 company using management practices from 30 years ago, according to a Wisconsin Policy Research Institute study urging the use of modern management strategies that include goal-setting and performance measurement as well as successful private-sector methods that identify and nurture management talent.

“‘Crisis’ is not too strong a word to describe what many government agencies face,” said Robin Gates, who served as a division administrator in several state agencies and as a vice president at Alliant Energy. “We Wisconsinites need fundamental change from the top to the bottom of these agencies and across the breadth of state and local governments if we are to succeed the way this country’s more innovative corporations have – with top-notch management.”

By and large, WPRI's paper focuses on finding and training managers, but it has overall objectives which are in line with 'lean' theory:

Gates suggests fundamental changes in the structure of state government including alteration of the civil service system to allow both more accountability and the use of multi-year, performance-based employment contracts. Managers need to be more accountable for achieving objective results. Positive and negative consequences need to be tied to performance. He recommends creation of chief operating officer positions in various agencies and changing the retirement system to make it more portable. Expectations for managers to improve efficiency should also be built into results-oriented budgets, the study concludes.

Making the assumption that Governor Walker goes forward with these suggestions, it could well be an 8-10 year project; fortunately, in most organizations which have gone "lean," the early-on savings are very significant.

Go for it!!

5 comments:

jimspice said...

If you want to run govt. like business, do you envision business-like carrots, i.e. 6- or 7-figure bonuses? I thought public workers were already overpaid. Or doesn't that count for management?

Anonymous said...

"...to allow both more accountability and the use of multi-year, performance-based employment contracts. Managers need to be more accountable for achieving objective results. Positive and negative consequences need to be tied to performance."

Frickin' shame this accountability system wasn't employed on Wall Street after the bandits cleaned house AND got their bonuses.

Dad29 said...

Keep your shorts on, Jim. We'll start with defining the goals. Everybody over the age of 10 knows that Gummint ain't a business.

And everybody over the age of 10 knows that Gummint is grossly inefficient.

Anonymous said...

Aparently, not everybody...

neomom said...

Not every manager gets a bonus either.

A good place to start would be basic finance and budget management. And stop the insane auto-process of increasing budgets - including the moronic policy of incentivizing spending the budget instead savings.