One observation from the White House forum on modernizing gov’t

For
me, the big deal is that everyone understands the need to focus on a
culture of genuine customer service, not just talking about it, but
really doing it. However, in any large group that kind of change is
really difficult, for reasons no one really gets.

That applies to all large groups, private industry as well as gov’t.

I
feel that the cultural beachhead to make this happen is the internal
“innovation initiative”, where the rank and file of an organization get
together, online, and work on what makes sense to fix things. People
can vote up the good stuff. In a sense, this is a suggestion box, tied
to a serious force multiplier.

What’s needed is total commitment
from management, including Deputy Secretaries, Secretaries, and this
Barack guy. That is, employees figure out what needs to happen, from
the bottom up, and then management supports it. Looks like it’s
starting to work at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

What I think I saw at the Forum is serious support for that.

Also, I think I volunteered for a new innovation initiative at the meeting, another Department.

More to come …