In the late 1980's, New York's
Governor's Office of Employee Relations (GOER) needed a comprehensive, statewide,
government-specific library of programs that would enable all state agencies to achieve
their employee development and organizational development goals, including TQM
implementation. To reach such a large employee population economically, the design of the
programs needed to be such that agencies could become "consultant-independent"
by developing their own internal consultants and seminar facilitators.
During the early 1980's, Sterling Institute trained
approximately 60 New York State employees to facilitate a nine-course, multi-level
curriculum known as Careers in Management. GOER purchased a master license
for this curriculum and over the next several years more than 6,000 New York State
employees participated in these programs on an exceptionally economical basis.
Because of the success of the Careers in
Management programs, Sterling Institute and GOER formed a joint-venture
partnership from which a government-specific multi-level library of 12 seminars, Profiles
in Government Leadership, was developed. Profiles is also a part of
the curriculum that GOER makes available to all agencies to implement TQM. The Division of
Equalization and Assessment (E&A), the Office of General Services (OGS), and the
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) are examples of agencies that have used Profiles
in their TQM implementation plans.
The Profiles curriculum was developed
in recognition that government was entering an era of dramatic, unprecedented,
counterculture change, and so should contribute to both individual and organizational
development. Its design was based, therefore, on extensive research and development of
actual case studies from government agencies reenacted on videotape to portray the
critical issues, constraints, trade-offs and cultural characteristics that influence
decisions about improving performance. Participants are challenged to decide how they
would respond to the situations presented and to identify the strategies and practices
needed for organizational improvement. They then apply the insights they have gained to
their own situation, aided by survey feedback that provides a sound diagnosis of the
factors that are influencing performance.
To date, approximately 100 state
employees have become Profiles facilitators and more than 5,000 state employees from 15
agencies have completed a Profiles seminar, most as part of an agency-wide organizational
change effort.
This unique partnership between GOER and Sterling
Institute has also returned, thus far, more than $200,000 to GOER in royalties from the
sales of Profiles to other government agencies outside New York. The
partnership has also led to continual expansion and refinement of the curriculum.
Enhancements made independently by each partner, for example, are given to the other.
The GOER/Sterling Institute partnership is representative of the way
we offer to work with every new customer, especially with respect to: 1) assuring that the
curriculum is specific to the agency's work environment and its organizational change
goals; 2) providing continuous improvement of the curriculum; and 3) enabling the agency
to become "consultant - independent" through building the agency's
internal capacity.
