Albemarle County’s Departmental Assessment Process Who, What, When and How? Lori Allshouse, County Executive Department John Freeman, Department of Social Services

Who? One supportive organization – Albemarle County 4 departments/teams team leaders 3 facilitators

What will we do? You will examine your department against SPQA/Baldrige- standards/indicators and determine where it stands This is practice of (constant) self-reflection that leads to (continuous) improvements Leads to Results: Information will be used to develop a department improvement plan

Why you? Your department leader believes in the benefits of a Baldrige- oriented assessment ECC General Services Community Development HR You were selected because you are: Thoughtful Thorough Honest Representative Interested in improving your Department’s performance Willing to try something new

When? Assessments will take place over a 4 month period - March – June 08 Improvement Plan should be established between July and Sept. 08 Not a one-time event - assessments and Improvement plans should become an on-going process

John Freeman, DSS

How? 1. We will learn together 2. Your team leader will work with you to prepare a brief “profile” of your Department 3. Individually, you will score your department (“organization”) using questions provided each month and the Baldrige scoring instrument Score based on your knowledge, experience and evidence Use Glossary, if needed

How? 4. Attend one or two meeting (s) each month as arranged by Department’s team leader 5. Your facilitator will led you through process – group will come to consensus on your Department’s scores

Consensus Meetings You will use a structured dialogue process modeled after ones conducted by DSS Process is meant to promote discussion, which may result in disagreements at times Goal is to reach consensus about where the “organization” stands against a selected indicator

Process Process is a give and take dialogue; a process of debate Everyone’s opinion is of equal value. Positional power is not involved Individuals are asked to defend their score on an indicator based on evidence in relation to the scoring criteria Individuals are tasked to raise or lower their score based on new evidence presented

Key Factors Data – if there is no data beyond opinion, the score cannot be much above 25% Systematic – is the indicator applied systematically (that is, regularly and consistently in every customer interaction) throughout the organization? Saturated – is the purpose of the indicator deployed in more than a few pockets of the organization?

Example Question = Do your senior leaders take an active role in rewarding and recognizing employees to reinforce high performance? You note the evidence you have found in relationship to the question You score the item using the Baldrige scoring instrument!

Scoring 0-25% Department is reacting to problems. Operations area characterized by activities rather than by processes, and they are largely responsive to immediate needs or problems. Goals are poorly defined. 1. Evidence is anecdotal only 2. No system is evident

Scoring, cont % Early systematic approaches. The organization is at the beginning states of conducting operations by processes with repeatability, evaluation and improvement, and some early coordination among organizational units. Strategy and quantitative goals are being defined.

Scoring, cont % Aligned approaches. Operations are characterized by processes that are repeatable and regularly evaluated for improvement, with learning shared and with coordination among organizational units. Processes address key strategies and goals of the organization.

Scoring, cont % Integrated approaches. Operations are repeatable and regularly evaluated for change and improvement. Efficiencies across units are achieved through analysis, innovation, and sharing of information and knowledge. Measures track progress on key strategic and operational goals.

Following Assessment, Departments will develop an Improvement Plan Developed as a response to scoring of self- assessment Opportunities for improvement identified Strategies may be developed for each indicator or selectively Each strategy will identify elements including “who,” “by when?” and “indicator of completion”

Keys to Success The process is not competitive and not comparative across departments Each department will utilize its process and findings to determine how it will improve Safety must be assured in order to allow self- assessment group members to bring their views During the self-assessment information shared must remain with the group

Keys to Success, cont. Process is evidence-based, not opinion driven Scoring is a means to an end, not the final end in itself Main outcome is that organization identifies opportunities for improvement Something needs to happen as a result

First Step Organizational Profile – Team Leaders Leadership and Strategic Planning Categories

Questions?