We finished 4 days of the 2009 CCHPO Performance Improvement Conference with a wide variety of interesting people, presentations and insights. We were welcomed at the Omni Hotel in Charlottesville, VA by by Co-Host Marie Westbrook (FDIC), who emphasized the theme of this conference: Engaging Employees Throughout the Organization. We then heard introductions and welcomes from the City of Charlottesville (Vice Mayor Julian Taliaferro ), CCHPO (John Pickering), the Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia (UVA) (John Thomas), the International City/County ManagementAssociation (ICMA) (Wayne Sommer) and the Federal Executive Institute (FEI), U.S. Office of Personnel Management (Pete Ronayne).
Pete Ronayne took us through an overview of the 'Millenials' providing an update of this latest 'cohort' and how their preferences might affect the ways that we look at engaging people throughout the Organization.
Tuesday's keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Rosen, of Healthy Companies International, took us through views on anxiety (not too much, not too little, need just enough anxiety), paradoxes for leading in complex times, and offered insights in 'just in time tools' and approaches for engagement. References to "Just Enough Anxiety" (also the name of Dr. Rosen's latest book, Just enough Anxiety:The Hidden Driver of Business Success) were heard throughout the remainder of the conference.
Marie then took us through an 'engagement process' (what would a conference on engagement be without one!) and we met with someone we didn't know to share why we were here, what was our 'critical question' for the conference, what we wanted and what we didn't want to see happen at this conference. We were then asked 'what would our slide be?' in the context of JCS Chairman Mike Mullins picture he uses of a young marine engaged in combat to help remind him of why he does the work he does and helps connect him to his passion or higher purpose.
We then heard a panel discussion, moderated by John Pickering, CCHPO, from some of the senior managers in attendance (John Keifer, Norfolk, VA; Capt Mike Kelly, FRCSW; Michael Kurtz, NARA Sr. Archivist; Steve Vaughn, FDA) around what works and doesn't work for engagement in their organizations. Each speaker shared some of their personal insights around performance improvement in their organizations. We were then given a chance to 'become those cynical people we always here from' and role played the 'super tough questions' that often emerge when working to engage people throughout the organization. Apparently a number of us had heard some tough questions as the panel was peppered quickly with 'pit of despair' descriptions and questions about how this 'stuff' is really all about downsizing. Strong finish to the first day!
On the second day, Marie Westbrook, FDIC as the co-host was joined by co-host Craig Gerhart, Prince William County, VA to share insights into Leading in Uncertain Times. This session started the day's theme around dealing with uncertainty, complexity and change while working to improve performance and engage employees in the whole process. Sign in if you have a Picasa Web Albums account, or sign up for a free account to leave comments.
Keith Ray, of Act Too Consulting, functioned as the 'official photographer' starting on the second day. Pictures can be seen at http://bit.ly/j2ZPA and any comments can be addressed to keith@acttooconsulting.com !
We then started concurrent sessions with "Real Stories from Organizations" including Creating High Performance Team within E2C2, leading to a silver medal for the Shingo Prize at FRCSW presented by Joseph Caoile, FRCSW.
Other Wednesday concurrent sessions included other "Real Stories from Organizations" including: This is Cool! Now What Do I Do? Part 1: Bringing Change to Life: Wayne Sommer, Moderator, ICMA; Leadership at All Levels: Building Employee Engagement through High Performing Leadership: Marie Westbrook, FDIC; It Isn't The Mother Of The Thing - It's The Thing: Buddy Martinette, Wilmington, NC.
Over lunch, we heard from Ambassador W. Nathaniel Howell on Lessons Learned on Leading People Through Crisis, gaining key insights into operating in a remote country under extremely difficult conditions for long periods of time.
We were then back into concurrent sessions with Sensing Employee Experience And Intervening In A Complex System: Craig Horangic, Keith Ray, Act Too Consulting & Bob Page in the West Ballroom and in the James Monroe Room "Real Stories from Organizations" This is Cool! Now What Do I Do? Part 2: Wayne Sommer, Moderator, ICMA How Organizational Development Positions Help: Michelle Poche Flaherty, Rockville, MD + Vision, Values, Work Culture, Customer Feedback…:Tracey Hormuth, Prince William Co, VA and Optimizing Human Performance: A Case Study in Utility Safety: Carol Lamborn, Fairfax Co, VA.
We finished up the day's sessions with a panel discussion modereated by Phil Harnden, CCHPO, around How Engaging am I? Leadership Philosophy Questionnaire (LPQ) in Practicewith Mike Kelly, Tim Hoffmann, Greg Crabb & Diana Delgado, FRCSW; Patricia Sullivan, GSL; and Phil Harnden, CCHPO.
We had a special guest at dinner this evening, when President James Monroe stopped by for a discussion and answered questions from the audience on the State of the United States. Talk about living in interesting times; we heard a variety of perspectives on everything ranging from war, taxes, politics, economy and some of the day-to-day reality of working for key figures of the time. President Monroe went out of his way to thank everyone for their 'public service' while meeting all the challenges that are in place. He reminded us all of the Latin versions of all the key sayings and mottoes for the early United States and was kind enough to translate as well. Some tables had a bit of difficulty in the 'truly huge room' that the President spoke in, but we really appreciated his keen memory and insights into dealing with situations of his, and ours, day.
To start off Thursday, we heard from the National Archives (NARA) in Breaking Down The Stovepipes: Using Microbusiness Analysis And Lean Process Improvement Techniques To Understand The Archival Enterprise And Improve Customer Service, presented in a truly engaging style by Shawn Smith & Paul Wester, NARA and introduced by John Pickering, CCHPO.
Dave Wright, NASA & Gerry Brokaw, CCHPO, then updated the story of NASA Dryden And HPO: Engaging The Entire Workforceincluding the conduct of "Transforming Dryden Workshops" dedicating 10 days of every employees' time. There were many insights into working improvement at the unit or group level, including the importance of ensuring managers and supervisors have a chance to experience the material prior to seeing it the first time with their groups, ala 'the missing group 8 managers.' Dave did a good job of characterizing the hard work and positive effects from such a significant investment in organizational improvement at the group level.
Over lunch Ambassador Prudence Bushnell presented a compelling short talk on Crisis Leadership: The Role of the Executive in Building and Sustaining Community sharing her personal experiences in surviving an embassy bombing and the recovery efforts afterwards. Prudence had us on the edge of the seats as she shared her authentic insights in a gripping way and left us with many thoughts about building our own community in normal and exigent circumstances.
Phil Harnden of CCHPO, then moderated a panel around the NAVAIR H-1 HPO Experience Update: with an H1 Update: Kim Schwalb, NAVAIR took us through the 'story line' of the last 3-5 years with improvement activities, Engaging as New Manager and Supervisor: presented by Susan Weaver shared personal insights into being a new manager/ team lead in an HPO environment, NAVAIR , A Different Perspective : LtCol John Selby, NAVAIR shared his insights and provided a compelling 'contrast and compare' approach to HPO organizations and the US Marine Corps and Phil presented the H1 PDQ Results: Phil Harnden, CCHPO as originally presented by Axel Alvarez at an H-1 All Hands session. The PDQ results documented H-1's substantial movement from System 2 to System 3 over the course of 3 years.
We then had a choice of concurrent sessions:
Real Stories from Organizations-- Engaging at SPAWAR with HPO/Covey: as presented in an 'engaging way' by Alan Olson or
Real Stories from Organizations--Engaging for Improvement
Frogs In Crisis: Craig Gerhart, Moderator, Prince William Co (note:link contains all PWC files):
Fire Plans Review Streamlining: presented by Kevin McGee, Prince William Co, VA
Microbusiness Approach to Development Services: presented by Wade Hugh, Prince William Co, VA
From Drip (Data Rich Information Poor) To Fountain Of Information: presented by Diane Phillips and Jeff Miller, Tamarac, FL
After dinner on our own, we had a chance to experience a "Playback Theater" presentation around Evening on Leadership: An Opportunity to Engage in the nearby McGuffey Art Center using "... an original form of improvisational theatre, a unique collaboration between performers and audience. Someone tells a story or moment from their life, chooses actors to play the different roles, and then watches as their story is immediately recreated and given artistic shape. Many artistic variations are possible within the structure and rhythm of a performance event." See http://www.playbackcharlottesville.com/ for more details.
On the final day of the conference, we were treated to concurrent sessions and a closing keynote.
Concurrent sessions included: "We" Culture -- Rich Engagement: presented by Deborah Roberts, UVA and Culturally Speaking: Cross Cultural And Multi-Cultural Communication At Work: presented by Joan Goppelt & Keith Ray, Act Too Consulting and
Real Stories: This is Cool! Now What Do I Do? Part 3:
Taking Responsibility Together To Provide Superior Services: Wayne Davis & Bob Nikula, Montgomery, OH
Seeing the Light--From Initial Reluctance To HPO Leadership: Roger Barrowman & Kurt Carroll, Shorewood, IL
Getting Employees Excited About Performance Management: Leslie Beauregard, Charlottesville, VA
The closing keynote was an interactive session around The Ultimate Obstacle to Engaging at all Levels presented byShayne Hughes, Learning as Leadership; Cindy Lee, of NASA Langley Research Center shared her insights into working with the Learning as Leadership tool-set over the last five years and discussed many of the changes she's seen in senior managers at the Langley Center. Shayne joined us from San Rafael, CA after a few airplane adventures and an unexpected night in Charlotte, NC. The .mp3 version of Shayne's talk is available at http://www.learnaslead.com/sbh/
John Pickering, CCHPO, then closed the conference thanking everyone for attending and pointing out the value of many of the 'partners' CCHPO has been working with to flesh out it's 'approach' and just how important these partnerships were to helping to work the HPO Diagnostic Change Model and foster organizational improvement. John then announced that an extra 'E' for 'Engagement' would be added to the Leadership Function of "Enabling, Empowering and Energizing" to demonstrate the value of the principles of engagement and to remind us of this powerful conference.
John also 'calibrated' us on too quickly saying things like "I had to make a System 1 decision" and too often in a joking fashion. In order to be a true 'exploitive autocratic' decision, we'd have to meet the four System 1 assumptions for nature of people, motivation, knowledge & creativity and nature of work--and of course we wouldn't meet those. In reality, he reminded us, we can make decisions when there isn't a clear decision or time to consult with the whole group; we then just 'explain why' the decision was made and/ or meet with the group at the earliest to make sure the group could support and deliver on the decision--this is still adult-adult decision making.
We then enjoyed our final box lunch as we said good-byes and headed for the airport! Thanks to Tony Gardner, the excellent staff at the UVa Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service and the Omni Hotel for a valuable experience! Thanks also to our co-hosts Marie Westbrook and Craig Gerhart for keeping us on track with humor and insights throughout the four days--well done and see you next time!
If you have any suggestions or recommendations for the next CCHPO Performance Improvement Conference, please let one of us know at your earliest convenience. You can also suggest topics or joing in discussions by joining the CCHPO Networking Group at LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=1972610(if you already belong to LinkedIn) or http://www.linkedin.com/ (if you need to create an account).
Keith Ray, of Act Too Consulting, functioned as the 'official photographer' starting on the second day. Pictures can be seen at http://bit.ly/j2ZPA and any comments can be addressed to keith@acttooconsulting.com ! Sign in if you have a Picasa Web Albums account, or sign up for a free account to leave comments.