Pragmatism and Reorganization

If you are in a state with a new governor, you may have already heard news about restructuring, reorganizing, consolidating, privatizing government.  Reorganization happens in large nonprofits and cities, too, but it is not quite as apparent.  The problem with reorganizing, no matter what word used is that there are few ways to measure success. Research doesn’t tell what the best way to reorganize is. 

Three reasons pop up for why your agency might be reorganizing 1) to improve efficiency, 2) to improve program effectiveness, 3) to serve a tactical or symbolic end.  Most reorganizations profess to improve efficiency.  We’d need to measure costs now and after the reorganization takes place to know whether that is true.  The same is true of program effectiveness.  Did the reorganization improve the ability of th agency to serve its clients?  You may remember that Homeland Security was created by merging agencies under this new umbrella.  Is it doing better at preventing or halting terrorism?  Prevention by its very nature is difficult to measure.  The last one is tactical.  Agencies might be reorganized to show that a new boss is taking an interest, wants work to be done differently than in the past.  This reason may get a bad rap, but it’s not very different than the others since the result is unlikely to be measured.

I’d say there is one more reason.  It’s purely pragmatic.  You’ve lost a crucial staff member; you’ve lost a space to work or added a space.  Two communities near me are sharing a police chief and calls. It occurred after one police chief left.  Yes, it may improve efficiency and effectiveness.  It may save money in the long run, but the time was right.  Here’s another purely pragmatic one, a urologist and an orthopedist sharing an office.  I bet that was pragmatic.  The schedules worked well enough that they could share an AA, and office space was right.

Listen to the Rocks

Did you listen to the rocks rolling? That's what it is like when you reorganize a government agency or a large nonprofit. Your employees come in with the tide and go out with tide, often griping and complaining.  Eventually, the rough edges smooth out.
In the public sector, it frequently happens after an election. A new administration wants to show that it is serious about change.  That change is top-down and with it, it brings complaints and griping that you can avoid.

The three most common reasons for a reorganization or even a merger of small nonprofits are.

1) Improve program or policy effectiveness.  We place together programs that have similar purposes.  Effectiveness is in the eye of the beholder unless you have a way to measure change.  That's what occurred after 9/11 when President Bush reorganized agencies into the Department of Homeland Security.  

2) Ideological or tactical ends. We restructure to symbolically convey the importance or loss of importance of a program.  Layoffs or hiring might occur.  Fundraising becomes a competition for nonprofits with similar goals, so we might even merge similar minded nonprofits.  Some might say that this is not reason for reorganizing.  That criticism may occur from within as well as from the public.  It may be time to change the mission if this is important to get a buy-in.

3) Improve efficiency. It’s the most common reason but the most difficult.  Costs occur from the very process of reorganizing.  Cost savings may be one-time savings. Administrative costs are not necessarily achieved by reducing redundancy such as closing offices.  Are the data available to measure performance before and after?  If you are working with publicly funded programs, the purpose of the programs can’t be changed.  

To be successful “listen to the rocks; ” get the input of employees at the front end as the waves of change are grabbing up the rocks.  You’ll grab even more as the waves roll out as the plans evolve with employee input.  Over time the rocks smooth out.

9/11, Emergency Management, and Gander Newfoundland

I was fortunate to meet Jake Turner, Town Manager of Gander, Newfoundland when planes coming into US east coast airspace were diverted to Gander, NL.  The Broadway hit,  Come From Away, tells the story of what happened when thousands of people descended on a town of 11,000. It takes a little license by making the mayor the center of attention when the town manager was the responsible party.  Like many small towns, the town manager is responsible for the budget, day to day functions, and recommendations to the town council. The town manager also is involved in emergency management.

As a well-functioning community, Gander had an emergency plan and had information about coordinating with the Gander Airport but, of course, not for this kind of event.  Gander NL is a little different from most of our small communities in that it has a federally managed airport with an extremely long run way, built for Canadian, English and American forces to go back and forth during WWII.  It was the closest point to Europe.  That was why all the planes were diverted to Gander. Gander hosted about 38 diverted planes.  The community and surrounding communities housed and fed about 6800 people. Today, many of those people return to Gander to visit. The airport is also a tourist location in that it has retained much of its mid-century décor.

Jake Turner was the Chief Administrative Officer of Gander Newfoundland serving for 22 years from 1991 to 2013.  Listen to what Mr. Turner had to say about that day and how the town coordinated with the many other agencies that became involved over the coming days.  

Your town’s emergency plan probably started as relatively small document coordinated by the fire department.  The fire department had to be able to handle fires, including the huge wild fires in western United States but also fires caused by trucks tipping over with unknown carcinogens.  A good emergency management plan has responsibilities listed for town officials from the town manager to the fire chief; emergency communication plans; coordination plans with county, state and federal officials, hospital and airport officials; and considers a variety of emergencies from active shooters to meth labs.  Officials may have participated in table-top exercises to run through a scenario and work out what problems they may face.  Just as hospitals have emergency exercises, some towns  actively run through a mock-up scenario with volunteers from the community participating.

Town of Gander Newfoundland
Gander Airport

Fire and Emergency Services Newfoundland and Labrador https://www.gov.nl.ca/fes/

Maine Emergency Management

The Harangue

Source: Freedictionary.com

Have you seen the Progressive Insurance commercial with Dads’ Support Group for people who are saying and doing things their dads did?  Are you now equivalent to dad in the office?  One way you’ve become dad, that is a senior staff member, is the harangue.  You tell the history of the program, the project, when most have already heard it.  It’s true some of the new staff may not know the history and history can be important.  Staff want to move on to new programs, projects or solutions.  It just takes up a lot of time when you could be problem solving.  Millenials and GenXers, what are you seeing in the work place, vowing you’ll never say or do?  Senior staff, what are you doing that you never thought you would be doing?  Tell me about the time you…  

Are there solutions when you have someone on the way to the harangue? Sure there are.

Tactics to Challenge the Harangue

The harangue occurs when one person dominates the committee meeting, the staff meeting or just a conversation.  You’ve probably seen the Progressive Insurance commercial with the Dads’ Support Group for people who are saying and doing things their dads did?  The harangue can be interesting and useful at first, but it often takes up time, and you’ve heard it many times before.  It fails to help you solve the current problem.  Here are some things you can do.

1.  Chairs of meetings. You know the drill. Start your meeting on time and end on time.

            This works most of the time although I’ve seen the haranguer hijack meetings.  It takes a strong chair.  I chaired a meeting one time in which I suddenly jumped up and said I had to leave. I had a bus to catch.  It’s true, I did.  You might not have that extreme a need to end the meeting, but you do need to investigate questions that arose in the meeting.

2.  Attendees.  If you are an attendee to a meeting, discretely leave when the meeting should be over.  Don’t leave before the meeting is scheduled to end.

Yes, you might not want to do this if your boss is the chair, but a team meeting might be just the place.  You have to judge how others will feel about this.  Will they resent this actions and accuse you of not being a team player?

3.  Telecommuters. If the harangue is a phone conversation, dust.

            I discovered that a colleague of mine also had this tactic.  I have cleaned places I would never imagine cleaning.  The harangue sometimes contains information you do need as well as the history you’ve heard.  If someone else is home, have that person call you loudly so you can end the conversation.  Don’t use the excuse of another call on the line.  It’s rude.

4. Hallway conversations.  Continue walking. Don’t stop.  

Are there solutions if you are the one who likes to harangue.  Sorry.  We'll need to have a support group for you at work for that.

You can see the Progressive Commercial that inspired me on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/XMaIFg-gMIk

Public and Nonprofit Management by the Book: Getting to Yes

 A citizen received a call from the town council chair.  After that call, he came to the town council meeting and demanded that the council chair stop bullying and intimidating him. Ever wondered how to handle such a situation.  You can get to yes.  Here's how

 



Reference:  Fisher, Roger and William Ury.  Getting to Yes. New York: Penguin Books. Any edition

A citizen received a call from the town council chair.  After that call, he came to the town council meeting and demanded that the council chair stop bullying and intimidating him. The chair had probably spoken to him about a major economic development report that the council had approved.  The chair response was that his call wasn’t intimidating. Then he “double downed” and told the citizen should to file an ethics complaint.  Can these two ever agree? 

You sigh and say there is not much that can be done.  Well Fisher and Ury who wrote Getting to Yes give us some ideas. 

It’s clear that personalities are interfering with a solution.  And we really need to know what the problem is rather than guessing.  Find out what might be helpful to both.  In small towns they will meet each other again. 

What are possible options. We need to have someone intervene that’s for a sure, in formal parlance, a facilitator, but in this situation, it could simply be another citizen.  it may be that the citizen simply needs an apology. Politicians aren’t very good at that. The political apology I’m sorry if you feel that way.  That may be enough.

 

Or it may be that the citizen needs to be heard.  He may not understand that the report is just that only a report. There will be plenty of public meetings before the citizens vote on any expenditure.  Once we narrow down possible solutions, do the two agree that the solution. is fair or beneficial or in the interests of the community. 

 

Let me give you another example, resolving a conflict in your staff meeting.  I’ve been in two staff meeting where the solution was asking, what do you need?   In a staff I worked with we often had disagreements about what kind of information to convey to the next level.  The minutes of the meeting weren’t enough.  I was chairing that day and asked what do you need to one peeved staff?  He wanted to write a memo.  Once stated I was fortunate enough to be able to say you got it.  Thanks for listening, I hope you can get to Yes.  I’m Carolyn Ball

Town Manager Neutrality Essential for the Well-Being of our Towns

The Maine Town City and County Managers Association has taken a strong stand against the beliefs of Jackman Town Manager who is not member of MTCMA.  Members adhere to a Code of Ethics to maintain the public confidence. Further, the history of the profession is one of neutrality, to serve all.  A town manager who espouses white nationalist beliefs, even in his private time, can not fulfill the job of town manager. It is a very difficult position.  The town has since terminated this person.  Jackman Maine Town Manager story
Here is the full statement of Larry Mead, Old Orchard Beach Town Manager, President of the MTCMA


Maine Town City and County Management Association Statement

Blizzards, Cyclone Bombs and Pay

Source: Carolyn Ball, Mount Desert Island Maine, 1/4/2018

Would you go to work if you had to pass this storm surge. Would you pay an employee who didn't come in because of the storm surge above. Almost anywhere in the US and in Canada, you have had to close, partially close your nonprofit or government for a day or part of the day. You may have had essential employees who had to work.  It used to be relatively simple how you were going to pay or not pay employees.  You often paid employees whether salaried or hourly if they worked for part of the day.  You might have paid only your salaried if you closed for the whole day.  In the past few years, employers have become much more concerned about the safety of employees. Last year, one our hospitals closed during a snowstorm!  Yes, the emergency room was open and nurses on the units had to come in, but most support personnel and clinics were closed.  Safety seems to trump the need to control the payroll.

Now you have one more wage consideration.  You have employees, both salaried and hourly, who work from home, all the time, some of the time, or when there is a blizzard.  Your salaried employees will continue to be paid, but how do you manage your hourly employees? Do you pay those hourly employees who can work from home their regular pay and not pay those hourlies who do their work on site?  You may have salaried employees who become hourly employees as they run snowplows.  Particularly for public employers, fairness is a concern but so too is using the taxpayers’ funds wisely.  How have you controlled your payroll during the snowstorms, blizzards, and extreme cold weather? I’d like to know what policies you have in place or did you make a specific decision related to a storm?