Quality Standards for Highly Effective Government: No Book Has More Potential to Positively Transform Government Since Reinventing Government

By Richard E. Mallory

This book presents a simple framework and guidelines for implementing visible and uniform auditable standards of quality in government that can fundamentally and permanently reshape its efficiency, effectiveness, and value. It opens the possibility of a day in the not-too-distant future when a quality audit can provide a uniform and valid report card on every government agency that is a companion to an annual audit of the financial books. Its easy-to-use quality standards are objective, measurable, and transformational. The standards provide the missing link for the implementation of quality in government both because they align with fundamental good management technique and support any other quality disciplines already in place in any given jurisdiction. The standards are designed to mirror the three fundamental levels of leadership in government: (1) Work unit supervisors and managers at the front line of government service, (2) chief executives, department directors and their deputies as executive management of government agencies, and (3) elected leadership at the top, who provide public management and must define the priorities, outcomes, programs, and budgets. No book has had a bigger potential to positively transform government since Reinventing Government. It is a must read for elected leaders, public sector managers, and citizens who wonder why government is so often unable to achieve excellence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Apr 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490728964

Richard E. Mallory

Rich Mallory is an acknowledged expert on government, having served for three years as a professional staff member for a US senator, nine years as a senior executive in both state and federal government, for nineteen years as a consultant to federal, state, and local governments. He has unique knowledge of government operations obtained both as a consultant to hundreds of jurisdictions and agencies around the United States, as the director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development and as California-Nevada state director for the US Department of Agriculture. Mallory is a seven-time examiner for the Baldrige Quality Award, six times for the California State Award, and once at the national level. Currently he is a senior project manager for CPS HR Consulting and chair of Government Division of the American Society for Quality. Mallory is author of Quality Standards for Highly Effective Government and Management Strategy: Creating Excellent Organizations. He holds a master’s degree in management and is a certified project management professional.

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© Copyright 2014 Richard E. Mallory.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN:

978-1-4907-2897-1 (sc)

ISBN:

978-1-4907-2895-7 (hc)

ISBN:

978-1-4907-2896-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014903900

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About The Author

Rich Mallory is an acknowledged expert on government, having served for three years as a professional staff member for a US senator, nine years as a senior executive in both state and federal government, and for nineteen years as a consultant to federal, state, and local governments. He has unique knowledge of government operations obtained both as a consultant to hundreds of jurisdictions and agencies around the United States, as the director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development and as California-Nevada state director for the US Department of Agriculture. Mallory is a seven-time examiner for the Baldrige Quality Award, six times for the California State Award, and once at the national level. Currently he is a senior project manager for CPS HR Consulting and chair of Government Division of the American Society for Quality. Mallory is author of Quality Standards for Highly Effective Government and Management Strategy: Creating Excellent Organizations. He holds a master’s degree in management and is a certified project management professional.

Author Acknowledgements

This book would not have come about but for the support and encouragement of my colleagues in the American Society for Quality Government Division, beginning with Past Chairs Dale Weeks and Bruce Waltuck, who encouraged us to develop big audacious goals, Steve Wilson, of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, who was continually there for support, and Brian DeNiese who encouraged me to serve as Government Division Chair. The continuing support of chair-elect John Baranzelli, of the Illinois Department of Transportation, has also been a great inspiration. Though too many to mention, I would like to provide thanks to all those who have served with me in Government Division leadership, especially Fred Albert and the leadership team at Federal Aviation Administration in Renton, Washington, who were early implementers of these Quality Standards, and to John Ward at Eastern Municipal Water District of Riverside County, California, who helped develop one of the first versions of the Process Management Standard.

Thanks also to my good friends Denzil Verardo, of the California State Senate Cost Control Commission, and Jerry Mairani, past President of the ASQ, who were kind enough to provide review and feedback on this work.

This book is dedicated to my sons Eric, Kevin, and Joe, and my daughter Julie Mackey—they demonstrate quality and love of life in everything they do—also to my wife, Cathy, a life-long source of love and inspiration.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1:   The Problem and Auditable Quality Standards as a Solution

Chapter 2:   Quality Science as a Backbone

Chapter 3:   The Process Management Standard

Chapter 4:   Scoring the Process Management Standard

Chapter 5:   The Systems Management Standard

Chapter 6:   Scoring the Systems Management Standard

Chapter 7:   The Aligned Leadership Objectives Standard

Chapter 8:   Auditable Standards as a Catalyst for the Future

Chapter 9:   Supporting Strategies

Chapter 10:   Supportive Culture and Values

Introduction

The singular vision of this book is to obtain a uniform standard of quality in government, provided through an annual quality audit. It offers a framework for a day in the not-too-distant future when a quality audit can provide a uniform and valid benchmark report card on every government agency in America—and throughout the World—that is a companion to the annual audit of the financial books. The quality audit will be a report card that spans the two sides of government—with scores relevant to the hired government workers and their management team, and a score for the elected leadership that sits as its public board of directors.

Auditable Standards for Government are envisioned as a first step in a fundamental reshaping of the American system of governance that will eliminate its bloat and lethargy, and make it a fit and productive partner for our entrepreneurial society in the next Century. Auditable Standards will provide for reform of the American system of governance in several fundamental ways: First, it provides for an independent and objective evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of government at any level, that will inform and provide the basis for action when deficiencies are discovered. Second, it recognizes that government is a system made up of elected leaders on the one side, and hired workers and managers on the other, and that the fundamental value of government—what it achieves—can only be controlled by elected leaders. The value of government depends on a focused set of goals, and a prioritized list of things it is asked to work on, and a consistency in maintaining that for a period of time.

The problem with government sounds huge, but the solution is not all that difficult. Quality science¹ can provide a structure for efficiency and effectiveness, democratic institutions can create consensus goals, and auditable standards can show where efficiency, effectiveness, and consensus exist and to what degree. It can also drive change where it needs to happen, because if you can measure it, you can manage it².

Auditable Quality Standards have the potential to make these unknowns highly visible, and to offer a clear scorecard that anyone can follow. They can provide holistic and thorough measurements because they will align with the unique roles and responsibilities at three fundamental levels of leadership in government. The three levels of leadership are: 1) Work unit supervisors and managers at the ‘front line’ of government service; 2) Chief executives, Department Directors and their Deputies as ‘Executive Management’ of government agencies, and; 3) Elected leadership at the top, who provide ‘Public Management’ and must define the priorities, outcomes, programs, and budgets.

There are three parts to the Auditable Quality Standards that align with the three levels of leadership. They include the following:

1.   Process Management—Which aligns with the public-facing work processes at the level of the front-line supervisor.

2.   Systems Management—Which provides a structured framework for evaluating the management of overall organizational systems, and applies at the Executive Level.

3.   Aligned Leadership Objectives—That uncover whether elected officials have agreed on prioritized outcomes and objectives for government as a whole, and aligned those with the goals and objectives of the Executive Leadership in the many offices of their government.

The Process Management Standard aligns with the front-line managers and supervisors in government, who manage the front line workers that look the public in the eye. The Systems Management Standard will hold mid—and executive-level managers accountable for the higher level frameworks and systems the link processes end-to-end, and provide a scorecard for overall agency and department performance. The standards for Aligned Leadership Objectives will hold elected leaders accountable—as the public’s Board of Directors—for agreeing on prioritized goals for each agency and department, and for providing a scorecard on those results to the public.

The Auditable Quality Standards are essential because government, by its nature, should contribute to the long-term value of society and human civilization. Auditable standards will provide a focus on the long-term that does not exist today. Presently, neither elected leaders nor executive leadership in government are rewarded or recognized for long-term results. Both push hard for immediate and short-term results because they are easier to achieve, and focused on by a public that has nothing else to judge. An elected official that fires a city manager who is slow to repair roads is seen to have done something, while that same former City Manager who was actually trying to marshal resources for a major highway improvement program (instead of fixing potholes) was judged to have done nothing.

Upwardly mobile government managers and elected officials share the desire to show quick results so they can move on to their next, and higher level, job. Neither intends to be around when long-term results crash, so they can let the next guy worry about that, and the public is none the wiser. The system as it exists has very little motivation or reward for those in government who seek value, or