1. Regional Operations Forum
Accelerating solutions for highway safety, renewal, reliability, and capacity
Regional Operations Forum
Communicating the Value of Operations Within an Agency, to Customers, and
Among Regional Decision Makers
Target time – 1 hour
Overall description:
This section will focus primarily on how to gain executive/leadership support and champions by presenting strategies to effectively engage organizational leadership and tailor the operations message to that audience. It will highlight the benefits and impact of operations on the broader organization, helping to establish a linkage among other key departmental missions. Links to performance monitoring and management and the role this plays in garnering leadership and decision-maker support will be highlighted. This session also will discuss the value and impact of partnering with other agencies and present case studies of regional collaboration that have included a strong leadership support component.

2. Key Topics Who is your audience?
Identifying the different stakeholders
Audience and motivators
Your message to the public and public perception
The role of elected officials
Strengthening regional relationships and partnerships
Tools and strategies to promote the value of operations
Facilitator to introduce key topics in this session.

3. Who is Your Audience? Decision makers vs. influencers vs. implementers
Agency organizational leadership
Regional leadership and elected officials
Partner agencies
Private sector
The public too!
Recommended Product:
SHRP 2 L17 Business Case Primer
Communicating the Value of Transportation Systems Management and Operations
This session is going to focus on the myriad audience that is involved with TSM&O. Identifying your audience is critical in that you need to
Determine WHO you have the ability to influence, and who do THEY influence
Determine which of your audience are INVESTMENT decision makers and IMPLEMENTERS
The professional audiences that can help you advance the implementation of TSM&O can be divided into two broad categories:
• people who recommend or make decisions about spending money on TSM&O solutions (investment decision makers) , and
• people who implement TSM&O strategies (implementers)
Your partner agencies are also an important target audience – we’ll explain more a bit later.
The private sector can be both investors and implementers… and for some regions, the private sector (such as large industries or developers) can have a big influence on decision makers. Think freight/shipping, for example.
Each audience is going to have a different trigger and require a bit different message and communication strategy.
Facilitator – introduce the SHRP 2 L17 Business Case Primer. Include this in the pre-work packet and perhaps distribute? Or as a handout?

4. Target Your Message
Getting to the most compelling reason to implement TSM&O
is a matter of
identifying the most compelling problem
that can be solved with a TSM&O strategy.
To make the message have more impact, it is recommended to focus in on the 2-3 most pressing issues, challenges, or problems related to congestion that each audience is already aware of and concerned about. Getting to the most compelling reason to implement TSM&O is a matter of identifying the most compelling problem the audience faces that can be solved with an TSM&O strategy.

5. Building the Case Good Reason Compelling Reason
Congestion is increasing and we need to address mobility on freeways.
Voters will decide in 2 years whether to extend our transportation funding tax. TSM&O strategies provide “early winners” to show we are investing funds wisely and that it is making a difference to travelers in reducing delay on freeways. We can show time and safety benefits from new incident management and operations strategies.
Let’s talk through a few examples of how to package selling points.
The “good reason” is good, but might be a bit high level. The “compelling” reason provides more motivation to agency executives to be strategic and implement good TSM&O solutions that can demonstrate benefits quickly AND position the region for the upcoming ballot initiative.

6. Building the Case, cont. Good Reason Compelling Reason
Freight is important to our regional economy, and our system management strategies will factor in needs of freight.
We will partner with those major freight operators that might be impacted by this long-term work zone. This region depends on freight mobility and access to warehouses near this freeway project.
We can collaborate and get feedback on new traveler information alerts or custom information feeds so they are notified of major delays or restrictions.
This is an example of TSMO strategies that will improve freight access and mobility. For many areas, freight is a powerful stakeholder – with strong links to local jobs, economic development, and often can influence key policy and planning decisions.
This example gets to some focused reasons TSMO strategies can benefit this group and have positive impacts on the transportation system. By developing a more specific and compelling case, it speaks to freight industry leaders and agency leaders and can be a more compelling message for elected officials.

7. Communicating Value “Value” can be subjective…
Different audiences need different value propositions.
Where is the value proposition for your stakeholders?
Mobility improvements and time savings
Safety improvements
Cost–benefit of operations vs. capital improvements
Jobs generated or preserved
Performance under budget
Customer perception/strong public opinion
Regional leveraging and partnering
Project delivery schedules
Communicating value and benefits can be a significant task – why? Because your key audience (audiences) and influencers are going to have different hot buttons and triggers. We talked on the prior slide about the different influences to agency strategic priorities… similarly, the concept of “value” is also subject to current indicators or stressors – like agency-wide emphasis on reducing budgets, stabilizing work forces, delivering projects ahead of schedule, having multiple agency partners to share costs, among others.
Note to facilitator – this is a discussion question for the group.
A few years ago, there was a lot of emphasis on job creation/job preservation with funds tied to stimulus. Not sure if this is still an issue, or if there are agencies that continue to experience hiring freezes or need to justify staff/additional staff.

8. Examples of Communicating Value
20% time savings for synchronized signals
20 min vs. 16 min average trip
Reducing delay saves fuel
800 of 2,300 timed this year
Analysis and updates as conditions change
This was an article featured in the Houston Chronicle in May of It was brief, but it really hit on a lot of key points and benefits of the City proactively improving how traffic signals were operating on key corridors.
There were a lot of good points in here that speak to different audiences and hit on different Value Propositions:
Highlighted time savings – percentage and minutes
Indicated fewer stops saves fuel – speaks to cost-conscious drivers who are paying $3.50/$4.00 and up for a gallon of gas
It cited some examples from other areas – pointing to some lessons learned and precedent for implementing these improvements
Said that roughly 25 percent of the 2,300 signals were being retimed this year, and they had already done more than 600 – speaks to swift action and project delivery
It also tempered expectations, saying there are some intersections that are going to be congested, and while synchronization helps, it is not a cure-all
The article also mentioned that 4 projects were pulled from the county’s list for the year, because they didn’t think the funding was a good investment at this particular time – this speaks to fiscal responsibility
There are a lot of messages happening here, and although mass media are targeted to John Q Public, it’s a good lesson in how to highlight the key points. We can learn a thing or two from the journalist’s approach in this case.

9. The Impact of Public Perception
The public is an important audience, but also an important influencer
Decision-making taxpayers
Agency reputation
Importance of customer service
Tangible links to the public
Traveler Information
Freeway Service Patrol
Public perception can be a very important consideration for agency leadership and executives – strong support from the public can help to advance TSM&O strategies, while a negative perception can create PR issues, highlight negative experiences or even impact funding.
Two very important links to the public, from a TSM&O perspective, is traveler information and incident management services like freeway service patrols. Many agencies report that their freeway service patrols are among the highest ranking services when it comes to public perception. This is a service that provides emergency assistance to travelers when they need it most. Most agencies include customer comment cards – consistently these come back with positive reviews and accolades for “saving the day” – even for minor issues like a flat tire or needing fuel. This is also the reason many agencies struggle with whether or not to outsource this or allow sponsorships: DOT and transportation agencies getting credit for this kind of service (in the public’s eye) is an important feather in an agencies’ cap and a very important service highlight when reporting to leadership and transportation boards.

10. Group Discussion
What are some of the different ways that the value and benefits of TSM&O can be articulated?
What are some example “messages” to share with different audiences?
Agency decision makers/leaders
Regional decision makers/leaders
The public
Group Discussion time: Approx minutes
Note to facilitator – break into 3 or 4 teams for a brainstorming exercise.

11. Factors that Influence Decision Makers
Limited time to address any issue
Their own interest areas
They are very dependent on staff
Interpersonal relationships usually the key to getting things done
Like to be given credit and recognition
Sensitivity to fiscal constraints
Jargon—elected officials prefer “plain speak,” risk tuning out
And, importantly, elected officials like to get re-elected!
There are a lot of additional considerations for communicating with elected officials and decision makers.
There are 2 aspects of “time” for elected officials – the time they are in office and the time they have to spend on issues. Transportation programs are often packaged in 5-, 10- or even 30-year timeframes. Longer-term transportation needs might not be on their immediate horizon. There are also constraints on their time very different from your agency executives. Transportation is not their only issue or priority, and in fact, may be very far down the list.
There also are some unique processes to consider – you might not be able to get direct access to your official, but rather it’s the relationship with key staff that might be key to getting their attention or helping to elevate specific issues.
There is a reason they like big road and bridge projects – it’s something that you can point to that they can take credit for if they have been able to influence funding or legislation to enable it. With TSM&O, it’s a bit different. This is something those of you in the operations leadership roles know all too well – TSM&O ribbon cuttings are few and far between.
Elected officials also want to have a good idea of what they are dealing with. We live in a world of TSM&O acronyms…FMS, TIM, ITS, MAP-21, etc., is not going to mean a lot, and there is a better chance of being able to communicate your key points if you limit the jargon and use “plain speak.”
There are also some political influences – and tendencies to respect colleague’s turf.

12. Strategies to Engage Regional Leaders
Understand the environment in which they operate
Getting to the right advisory staff
Agency senior leaders may be a viable conduit
Industry leaders could have some influence with decision makers and officials
Make sure issues are easily understood and communicated
Demonstrate how operations can leverage regional fiscally constrained budgets and resources
There are some important things to consider when developing your communications strategy to elected officials
Need to understand the environment in which they operate
Getting to the right advisory staff – may need to work through their staff to elevate the priority of their focus or get some time with them on a particular topic. Staff is often responsible for doing the legwork and research.
Agency senior leaders may be a viable conduit – another reason to seek out champions at a high level in your organization
Leaders of key industries in a region could have some influence with decision makers and officials – where are your key industries? Freight? Education? Developers?
Packaging transportation operations issues in a way that will be high impact, easily understood, and communicated
Fiscal benefits, how operations can leverage regional fiscally constrained budgets and resources – highlight examples or good scenarios of “if we were to pool funds among these two partners, we could implement XYZ program, which will result in ABC benefits.”

13. Packaging the Message for Elected Officials
Back to basics
Focus on limited number of issues or programs that THEY can influence
Focus on what will be gained by their support
Provide the right information to the right people
Public perception
What are the bottom line fiscal, job, or economic benefits?
SHRP 2 L31 “CEO”-focused presentation: Operations in the 21st Century DOT: Meeting Customer Expectations
Packaging the message for elected officials uses a lot of the same principles we introduced at the beginning of this session. It’s important to hone in on some specific issues (or a specific issue) that they will be able to have some influence over. Broad issues might not be clear – more specific issues that fit within their established agenda, or perhaps a personal interest, will stand a greater chance of gaining support. Remember – they are commuters and travelers too and probably are coming into the discussion with some personal context of their experience with TSMO issues (whether they know it is TSM&O related or not).
The importance of working through staff cannot be emphasized enough. Most elected officials have teams that help with research, coordination, getting the facts, and presenting and packaging the issues. Getting to know the right staff people will greatly help in getting access to key officials.
It’s also important to show what improvements or benefits have been experienced, or perhaps what has been the experience of a similar program or strategy in another area. Again, it’s important to have good facts pulled together – these make for good sound bytes when your time with these folks is limited. Information also needs to be reliable and substantiated. If your incident management program has resulted in significant time savings and safety benefits, showcase those if you are trying to get their support for additional dedicated resources or training as part of the next budget cycle.
We all want to be associated with popular programs – and the elected officials are very in tune with what will influence public support or opinion. Seek out ways to substantiate your proposition with available public perception or customer feedback…. Or identify this is an issue that the public wants to see solved. Elected officials want to be known as problem solvers for their constituents.
Economy is a pressing issue in many areas. Officials can often get behind issues that have a direct relationship to jobs, commuter access, fiscal responsibility, and other bottom line monetary benefits. If there are financial benefits that can be highlighted, this will resonate.

14. Successful Practices Get them involved
Keynote or significant panelist at professional meetings like ITE, ITS state chapter conferences
Executive summits focused on operations
Oregon and AZTech
Make your officials part of the strategy and solutions
Legislative outreach plan
Collaborate on strategies to engage officials and their staff
There are a few key ways to reach out and engage this important influencer and audience.
There are several areas that have invited elected officials to be part of professional meetings or conferences – perhaps as a keynote speaker or on a panel of other officials and leaders. This provides a good opportunity to get them to events that focus on specific issues and introduce them to the ops community and key stakeholders.
More focused Executive Summits are also good strategies. Oregon and Arizona are two examples where regions have developed customized, abbreviated sessions on TSM&O topics and needs, targeted toward the elected official and decision maker. This can provide a valuable forum for bringing peers together.
Underlying both of these should be a legislative outreach plan and strategy. This is a good way for your leadership to also get involved, and it will allow you to really work on your message and work on your strategy for getting to the right decision makers. Having a plan can help to keep legislative schedules and deadlines at the forefront so that you can be strategic in your communications with these decision makers. It will also help to identify what other “influencers” can help you advance your message.

15. Strengthening Regional TSM&O Relationships
Collaborative momentum to advance TSM&O
Leverage regional funding and resources
shared communications infrastructure
shared operations responsibilities
consistent approach to infrastructure selection and deployment
“Regionalism”
Increase visibility
Program branding
Highlight achievements
This module builds on the previous two discussions to highlight the benefits and synergies of partnering at the regional level to advance and elevate operations.
Key themes include the collaborative momentum of regional partnerships, ability to leverage regional resources, and the increased visibility that a regional approach can yield. All of these can contribute to improved safety and mobility, as well as engagement and support of agency-level leadership and regional decision makers.
This section is intended to focus on the benefits of regional relationships and partnerships, and to spur some discussions on how partnering can help to engage and reach out to regional decision makers.

16. High Visibility Examples
Integrated Corridor Management
Combines freeway, arterial and transit operations
Collaborative operations
Data and infrastructure sharing
Traffic Incident Management Programs
Transportation, Public Safety, EMS, private tow companies
Successful in bringing partners together
Strong link to safety
Other examples with high impact
These slides will highlight already completed modules. Two types of very high visibility regional partnerships that have been covered.
Facilitator to reference examples cited, tie back to “Managing a Corridor” and “Traffic Incident Management” – don’t spend a lot of time on this, just link back to prior modules

17. Tools for Communicating the Value of Operations
New tools and approaches
Social media as a vehicle for promoting success stories
TSM&O achievements and performance statistics
Announce new programs and services
Track “likes” and retweets for specific features and stories
Partner with PIO
Transparency in reporting
Annual reports and dashboards
Executive/Decision-Maker Edition
There are a lot of different ways to be able to highlight TSM&O successes or announce new programs.
Operations groups should collaborate with their agency PIO and Communications offices or Public Affairs offices. These are the experts in using new tools and packaging information to be able to release to the media and the public through social media tools like Twitter and Facebook. They will be able to help you package your message for mass audiences, and they might find some additional benefits that will resonate well with the public.
Quarterly or annual reports also provide a good vehicle for communicating success stories or impacts that your TSM&O program is having. Almost every regional and statewide agency compiles some sort of annual report. There are usually performance metric highlights, major projects and programs, and the groups that produce these are always looking for good features that highlight innovation, direct customer benefit, cost savings, accelerated delivery, and other positive attributes.
As part of your outreach plan to elected officials and regional decision makers, consider developing an executive brief version, 1-2 page summary of key highlights. This will give them the facts about TSM&O program achievements, plans, outcomes, or other highlights in a concise summary.

18. Best Practice: Florida DOT
Promotes/highlights different TSM&O Areas
TIM
Traveler info
Freeways/expressways
Disaster response
Success stories, awards
Performance measures
New projects/programs
New technologies
Florida DOT is one of the better examples of a successful TSM&O program (statewide AND district level). They have had a long-standing program that is regularly documented and promoted – internally and externally. They do a good job of identifying the different pieces of TSM&O – freeway management, incident management, traveler information, etc. They also do a good job of promoting success stories, such as when they have won awards.
They are controlling and packaging the message – and as a result, are influencing perception (internal and external).
If you talk with the head of their ITS group – she will tell you that she feels like she has strong support from the top levels. When she goes to them with a proposal or needs funds for a particular program, those decision makers have seen the strong, successful track record, they know the funds and resources will be put to good use.

19. Customer and Decision-Maker Outreach
Effective public outreach = effective decision-maker outreach
Influence of public perception
Capitalize on successes (travel times, accelerated project delivery)
Address issues
Tools for gauging public perception
Social media
Customer feedback surveys
Process for following up on feedback

20. Conveying Benefits to the Public
The RTC in Washoe County, NV, has developed a video that is on their website about how signals are timed and synchronized, and how careful timing can reduce the number of stops, improve progression, and reduce delay. RTC developed videos on corridors that were retimed to show a “dash cam” view of the signal timing in action. These were shown at various public meetings and association meetings to get the word out about how RTC was addressing arterial operations. They have a published phone number for residents to call in and talk to a live person to report issues with signals.

21. Building Relationships with Media
Media have different objectives
Educate media about transportation processes, and vice versa
Educational “Media Summits”
Educate new traffic reporters about available tools
Collaborate with your PIOs
They have the best relationships with media outlets
They know what will resonate with the public
The media are a very important partner in communicating TSM&O program activities, successes, investments, and resulting benefits. Similarly, many areas have experienced the negative side of the media’s reach, in that they can also highlight negative stories about projects, programs, schedules, investments, etc.
It’s important to have an ongoing strategy for partnering with the media. Get to know how they want information, how they obtain information about transportation programs and systems, and provide them with up-to-date information about transportation agency tools and systems.
Be aware of turnover with media reps. A good way to continue to build relationships with media is to partner with your PIO or communications office. They have the best and most direct relationships with media outlets in your area.
One innovative idea from Phoenix is a scheduled “Media and Transportation Summit” where state and local transportation agencies work with the local Broadcasters’ Association to gather TV, radio, and print media representatives who are focused on traffic. This is an informative, two-way information-sharing workshop, where media find out more about transportation systems and processes, and transportation can get a better idea of media’s unique information needs and timeframes.

22. Homework to Take Back
Develop a focused strategy for effective decision-maker and elected official outreach and engagement
Know your audience – their hot buttons, their priorities
How can you make better use of available tools to communicate value of operations?
What are some things you can change about your strategy and message to shape perception of TSM&O?
What are some ways that you can better engage PIO and media to help advance your message?

23. Resources
SHRP2 L17 Business Case Primer: Communicating the Value of Transportation Systems Management and Operations
SHRP2 L31 “CEO”-focused presentation: Operations in the 21st Century DOT: Meeting Customer Expectations and guide book
The Operations Story (FHWA-OP )
AASHTO Subcommittee on Transportation Communications
New tools and strategies (incl. social media)