TEAM Management System For a New Era of Accountability

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1 TEAM Management System For a New Era of Accountability Executive Summary While it may be easy for government to move from crisis to crisis never thinking about an overall strategy to maintain stability and efficiency under the future challenges of day-to-day governing, the City of San Diego will operate quite differently. As a local government, the City exists to serve the residents of the region. As such, the City of San Diego will be committed to providing the best possible services to residents, as efficiently and effectively as possible. To achieve and maintain this level of operational excellence, we will implement a comprehensive and proven way of doing business by adopting the model used by the County of San Diego. Ours will be called the City Transparency, Excellence, Accountability and Monitoring System (TEAM). This four-part annual cycle of planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation will ensure that the priorities set by the Mayor and City Council are clear, that goals are achieved, and that the City of San Diego government is accountable to the public we serve. Our commitment to operational excellence and accountability are the foundation of the TEAM, and it will provide the framework all departments and programs will use to carry out our mission with consistency and excellence. What Is TEAM? The TEAM is a technology driven framework that will establish and guide City operations and service delivery to residents, businesses and visitors. Using the TEAM, the City will set goals, prioritize resources, evaluate performance, ensure cooperation and reward accomplishments in a structured and coordinated way. By doing so, we will move the City of San Diego away from the negative image of red tape and government bureaucracy into a futuristic organization that values and implements the latest technology to increase efficiency,

2 applied innovation and fiscal discipline and one that will provide focused, meaningful services to improve lives and benefit the community. The four-step system will complete a full cycle in a fiscal year. The TEAM process begins with creating a long-range, five-year Strategic Plan. This is followed by developing a short-term, two-year Operational Plan, which will encompass the budget process. Monitoring and Control will take place throughout the year using performance measures. Functional Threading will maximize efficient use of personnel and material resources by coordinating staff. At the beginning of the next fiscal year, the process will begin again with a review of the Strategic Plan and development of a new Operational Plan. Why Is The TEAM Necessary? In a word, the TEAM is about excellence. The idea behind the TEAM is straightforward: the City will be able to provide superior services if we set sound goals and apply strong management principles to achieve those goals. With an annual budget of approximately $2.75 billion and roughly 10,800 employees who serve more than 1.3 million residents spread across 372 square miles, coordination, fiscal and operational discipline, and shared commitment are vital. The TEAM will enable the City to set City-wide goals and then link the goal-setting to goal-attainment. A coherent management system will help ensure that all City employees adhere to core principles, promote a culture that values employees, partners, and customers. The TEAM will institutionalize disciplines such as continuous improvement, fiscal integrity, transparency and accountability. When Is the TEAM Used? The TEAM is much more than a crisis management tool for putting the City s fiscal house in order. It will be an ongoing system that ensures sound management will become a part of our permanent organizational culture. The principles and procedures outlined by the TEAM are meant to apply to every City function on a year-round basis.

3 Who Is Responsible for the TEAM Implementation? Every City employee should know the TEAM and their role in it. To achieve our goals, employees must share a sense of ownership and responsibility. Despite the important role of management, successful TEAM application will depend on strong and effective leadership at all levels of City service. Every City employee will be expected to help set goals, strive to achieve them, monitor performance and reward achievement. What Are the TEAM Basics? The TEAM is a closed loop of four overlapping elements that form an ongoing cycle. Each element ensures that the City asks and answers crucial questions. TEAM ELEMENT QUESTION Strategic Where do we Planning want to go? Operational Planning Monitoring & Control Functional Threading How do we get there? How is our performance? Are we a TEAM? ELEMENT DESCRIPTION Our Strategic Plan looks ahead five years to anticipate significant needs, challenges, and risks that are likely to develop. Long-range planning requires assessing both where we are and where we want to be. Operational Planning allocates resources to specific programs and services that support our long-term goals over the next two fiscal years. This includes adoption of an annual budget and approval in principle of a second year spending plan. Monitoring and Control shows us whether we are on track to achieve our goals. We evaluate progress at regular intervals and make necessary adjustments. Progress is evaluated monthly, quarterly, and annually. Although the City will be divided into distinct groups, departments and divisions for operational purposes, the City has many critical functions and goals that cross these organizational lines. Functional threading ensures coordination throughout the organization to pursue shared goals, solve problems, and exchange information.

4 Strategic Planning Where do we want to go? Effective planning requires that we know not only what we want to accomplish, but also what resources we have and how best to use them. Successful planning identifies the obstacles we face and determines what change is needed to succeed. The City s Strategic Plan will chart the course for accomplishing our mission of serving the residents of the City of San Diego over a five-year period. The City s strategic planning process will define major projects and initiatives, and anticipate significant needs, challenges and risks. The process begins by asking the following questions: Where do we want to go? Where do we want to be in five years? Where are we today? How will we get there? What factors will have an impact on our plans? Strategic planning is a continuous process. In many ways, this process is as valuable as the plan itself. At the Citywide level, the process is coordinated by a team including the Mayor, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), selected Department Managers, the Human Resources Director, Chief Information Officer, and the Director of Media and Public Relations. Because of their key role in the strategic planning process, this team will be known as the Strategic Planning Support Team (SPST). Building on the information shared by a variety of subject area experts, the SPST will look at what the City is doing well, where we can improve, and at any favorable or unfavorable conditions that impact the City. This analysis will form a critical component of assessing our direction in future years and form the basis of the City s Strategic Plan. SPST will propose revisions to the Strategic Plan if needed, to ensure City goals are relevant and meaningful. These proposed revisions will be presented to the Department Managers and the Mayor, for their consideration. The Mayor and Department Managers will use this information to develop the Five-Year Financial Forecast, a forwardlooking projection of all resources required to implement the Strategic Plan. Finally the individual Strategic Plans of groups and departments

5 will be aligned with the City s five-year Strategic Plan. Strategic Planning Step-by-Step Step 1 Review the City s Mission, Vision, Guiding Principles, and Strategic Plan The essential first step in planning is to ask the following: What is the City s purpose? What are the ideals we value and hope to achieve? What principles guide us? We ask these questions to remind us who we are and where we want to be. The City s Mission, Vision, Guiding Principles and Strategic Plan provide the context for making planning decisions. Any strategic planning effort must fulfill the City s Mission, move the City toward realizing its Vision, and uphold our Guiding Principles. Step 2 Perform a Gap Analysis The SPST will conduct an analysis to identify whether there are any gaps between what the City says we re going to do in our Strategic Plan and what we will actually be doing in the Operational Plan. In other words, does our plan match our budget and vice versa? This gap analysis will focus attention on areas that may not be moving forward and will help ensure that resource allocation reflects the City s strategy. Step 3 Perform/Update Environmental Scan SPST will conduct an Environmental Scan to identify the internal and external factors that affect City activities and change stakeholder expectations. To perform the Environmental Scan, SPST will ask the following questions of various subject matter experts: How does the outside environment affect the City s ability to function? What events beyond City control may affect service demand? Or funding? What are the internal and external risks to the City? What changes are occurring in regional socio-economic trends that may affect the City?

6 Step 4 Perform a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis Building on the observations of the Environmental Scan, the SPST will conduct a SWOT analysis that looks comprehensively at the City organization to ask the following: What does the City do well? What are our strengths? Which areas can be improved? What are our weaknesses? What is the City s fiscal situation? What is the status of City employees experience and efficiency? How well is the City providing services? What is the City s unrealized potential? What opportunities exist? What threats face the City? Step 5 Define or Reconsider Strategic Initiatives Based on the information identified in the Gap Analysis, the Environmental Scan, and the SWOT analysis, the SPST will reexamine the Strategic Plan and its Strategic Initiatives and suggest refinements as necessary. The Strategic Initiatives define our priorities and focus our efforts. The Strategic Initiatives are broad organizationwide goals that will move the City from abstract ideals and values to more concrete applications. Step 6 Develop the Five-Year Financial Forecast The final step in strategic planning occurs when the Department Managers evaluate the resources needed to achieve City goals, and develop the Five-Year Financial Forecast. The forecast will include a projection of resources required to implement new initiatives, and to continue or adjust existing programs. Key questions in developing the Five-Year Financial Forecast include: What are the trends for revenue, expenditures, and staff years? What has previously affected those trends and what may affect them in the future? What impacts will new initiatives have on existing resources? What resources will be necessary to make continuous improvements in service? What funding sources are expected over the next five years? What new sources are available? What existing sources will

7 decrease or end? Operational Planning How do we get there from here? Overview If Strategic Planning tells us where the City is going, Operational Planning allocates the money and the staff to get us there. During the creation of the two-year Operational Plan, which is the City s budget process, resources will be allocated to certain projects. As part of operational planning, we ask: What does the City want to accomplish during the next two years? How do our two-year objectives contribute to meeting our fiveyear strategic goals? How will we fund and staff City programs? The Operational Planning element of the TEAM puts the Strategic Plan into action. You may remember, the final step of the Strategic Planning process is the creation of a Five-Year Financial Forecast. The first two years of the Five-Year Financial Forecast are used to develop the City s Operational Plan or budget. Specifically, Operational Planning will focus on short-term fiscal planning and ultimately will result in the official document prepared by the Mayor and adopted by the City Council as the City s budget. Because the City Charter requires the City to have a balanced budget each year, the City Council will only formally adopt the first year of the Two-Year Operational Plan. The City Council may approve the second year in principle for planning purposes. Linking the Operational Plan To the Strategic Plan It is critical that our Operational Plan supports the goals laid out in the Strategic Plan. The Operational Plan creates a direct link between our Strategic Plan goals and specific programs, staffing, and costs. As such, development of the Operational Plan occurs using the City s Strategic Plan as a guide. City departments prepare budget recommendations, review or develop programs, and determine staffing

8 using the following questions: Does the expenditure bring us closer to our goals? Is the program mandated by state or federal law? Are we meeting these legal, regulatory, or funding requirements? Can we leverage resources through internal or external partnerships, or grant funding? How will resource changes affect other programs? If external funding is eliminated, is a City expenditure still justified? The City s Operational Planning Process In many ways, preparation for next year s budget begins as soon as the ink is dry on the current year s budget. In December of each year, the Chief Financial Officer (COF) will distribute the initial Two-Year Operational Plan instructions to City departments. These instructions will provide both general information about the operational planning process and detailed instructions for preparing the numerical and narrative sections of the Proposed Operational Plan. In accordance with the City Charter, no later than April 15, the Mayor will release next year s budget proposal. The Independent Budget Analyst (IBA) then issues a Preliminary Report on the Mayor s proposal. Beginning in May, the City Council s Budget Review Committee holds hearings with City Departments and the IBA presents her Preliminary Report. In mid May, the Mayor issues her May Budget Revise. Shortly after the release of the Mayor s Revised Budget, the City Council holds a special public meeting. Using the City s Strategic Plan goals to guide their efforts, the City Council makes the necessary revisions. These changes reflect modifications in revenues, expenditures, and priorities that have occurred since the Proposed Operational Plan was submitted. These modifications also take into account recent Council actions and public input from the budget hearings. By June 1, all City Council recommendations are due to the IBA. The IBA then issues her Final Report on the Recommendations to the Mayor s Budget. No later than June 15, and after a minimum of two public hearings, the City Council adopts a budget. The City Clerk transmits the budget to the Mayor, who has five business days to veto any part of the revised budget. The City Council has five business days to override the Mayor s veto.

9 Contents of the Operational Plan Document The Operational Plan document includes the following: General information about the City and the Operational Plan itself Narratives, tables, and charts showing the revenues and expenditures for all City funds A review of planned capital projects A summary of the City s short and long-term financial obligations/debt A breakdown by group and department detailing the following: o The group/department mission o Prior year accomplishments o Operational objectives (derived from the Strategic Plan) o Changes to revenue, expenditures or staff levels from the prior year s Operational Plan o Revenue amounts and sources o Expenditures and staffing by program o Performance measures and targets Monitoring and Control How is our performance? Overview The Strategic and Operational Plans will set goals for the City and allocate needed resources to achieve those goals. The Monitoring and Control element of the TEAM ensures City operations stay on target. Monitoring and Control challenges all City employees to regularly ask: Are we on track? Are groups and departments meeting their customer service, financial, and performance goals? Are individual managers effectively using resources and exercising needed leadership? Are projects producing desired results on time and within cost constraints? What needs to be done to correct identified deficiencies?

10 Monitoring and Control is the process of scrutinizing our operations in order to track progress and make necessary adjustments. Many review methods exist for formal evaluations of various functions. These evaluations occur on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis at different levels to monitor and assess projects, managers, departments and groups. The table that follows on page 10 details primary City Monitoring and Control tools. Performance Measurement As part of ongoing Monitoring and Control efforts, the City will make regular use of performance measures, key data that help track how the City is doing by comparing the same information over time. Developing and using performance measures will allow the City to translate our Strategic Initiatives into coherent and quantifiable results. Performance measures also will create a common set of expectations for group, department, project and employee performance, helping everyone on the City TEAM work toward the goals laid out in our Strategic and Operational Plans. Translating organizational objectives into everyday tasks will allow each employee to identify his contribution to the achievement of the City s goals. Quantifying our performance will also give the City the ability to report both internally and to the public about our progress and impact in the community. Performance measures are useful to help identify and make necessary changes when performance doesn t meet expectations, as well as to reward a job well done. Our performance measures will tell us whether our efforts produce desired results, alert us to unintended consequences, and guide needed course corrections. In general terms, the City s performance measures will track: Outcomes results Quality degree of excellence As applied to the City, there are generally four perspectives under which measures will be categorized: PERSPECTIVE Customer Perspective DESCRIPTION Pinpoints our target customers. Are we meeting their needs and expectations?

11 Continuous Improvement Process Perspective Employee Perspective Financial Perspective Identifies ways of doing business at which the City must excel in order to accomplish our goals and best meet the needs of citizens. Is there a better way? Assesses the employee skill levels and support systems necessary to achieve our goals. Are we providing sufficient employee support and opportunities for continuous learning? Tells us whether our financial performance is meeting our resource objectives. Are we delivering maximum costefficiency and value to our customers for each dollar spent? Examples of Monitoring and Control Evaluation Tools TOOLS COO Goals and Accomplishments Quarterly Reviews Project Management Reporting Systems DESCRIPTION An annual written statement of goals and accomplishments submitted by the COO to the Mayor. Reports from groups are prepared and presented orally to the Mayor by each group Department Manager and management staff. Quarterly reviews cover specific management topics, as determined by the COO, including regular reviews of each group s fiscal and human resources data, program performance issues, customer service feedback and potential risks. Quarterly, specific projects are reviewed by the COO and Department Managers. This will be done by implementing systems such as a Contract Business Process Review (CBPR) and a Project Management Review (PMR). These formal review panels will provide an opportunity to report on a project s cost, schedule status, performance measures, major risks and mitigation plans.

12 Department Reviews CFO and Department Managers Resource Allocation Review Business Process Reengineering and Continuous Improvement Projects Risk Overview Committee Monthly, Department Managers look over operational areas with their department heads to review performance measures and identify risks as soon as possible. Every two weeks, the Department Managers review and reassess group budget decisions based on current events, available resources, and priorities. There are always government services or processes that can be improved. When these areas are identified, executives will work with front line employees to create explicit performance targets, set deadlines, and develop strategies for improvement. These projects will track our ability to provide new or improved services to citizens using fewer tax dollars. The Risk Overview Committee (ROC) will meet quarterly to identify and address significant legal, financial, contractual and operational risks to the City. The ROC serves in an advisory role to the COO and the Mayor and will be chaired by the City Attorney. Audit Committee The Council s Audit Committee meets monthly and advises the COO on matters relating to the City s internal and external audits, including advice on risk assessments, internal controls and governance matters. The Committee includes two City Council members and three members of the public. Functional Threading Are we working together? Overview Although the City organization will be divided into distinct groups, departments, and divisions, many of its critical functions cross organizational lines. Functional Threading is the process of ensuring

13 coordination throughout our organization to pursue goals, solve problems, share information, and leverage resources. Functional Threading is a key element of the TEAM, although it is also a way of doing business that stands on its own. For practical purposes, the City will allocate resources by group and department. However, the purpose behind resource allocation is not simply to support these organizational units, but to accomplish our Strategic Initiatives to support major undertakings that fulfill the City s Mission, Vision, and Guiding Principles. Functional Threading helps us work together to better serve the public and to achieve our shared goals. Functional Threading looks at day-to-day operations and asks: How can we work together to accomplish our goals? What resources and expertise do we have? What City functions do we perform that are similar or related? Are these functions coordinated? Are resources, staff or expenditures duplicated? Who Is Responsible for Functional Threading? It will be the ongoing responsibility of Department Managers to ensure that City employees work together to leverage resources and solve problems. Although management-level employees will be specifically tasked with regular participation in threading activities, as a practical matter, Functional Threading should not be limited to only these employees. Project TEAMs tasked specifically with threading activities can involve employees at many levels. Additionally, Functional Threading will be performed on a regular basis by nearly everyone in the City organization through routine tasks like making constituent referrals between agencies or information sharing between inspectors. Functional Threading in Action Certain City functions are common to most departments. These include budgeting and finance, customer service, and information technology, to name a few. Day-to-day coordination and cooperation across our organizational lines is necessary to perform these common functions efficiently and consistently. Functional Threading occurs

14 when individuals with similar job responsibilities communicate and collaborate to better perform their jobs and serve the organization and the public. To this end, the City will have regular meetings of all human resources staff, financial staff, public information officers, and others throughout the organization. The idea being that these professionals have responsibilities that impact the City as a whole, and should collaborate and share expertise and resources unique to their roles. Functional Threading will give us the ability to plan for emergencies in a comprehensive way by using the combined expertise of many people throughout our organization. In addition to Functional Threading throughout the City by job responsibilities, the City will also team up across department lines when Functional Threading involves meeting Citywide goals. For example, staff from various managerial levels will convene to move forward projects that have an organization-wide impact, or encompass the functions of many departments. Efforts such as emergency preparedness planning affect all City departments. Functional Threading will give us the ability to plan for emergencies in a comprehensive way by using the combined expertise of many people throughout our organization. TEAM 2.1 and Beyond Keeping Pace In our ever changing world, government must keep pace with technological advances. Technology is changing the way all of us live, think, work, and shop. We must adapt and grow. In the past four years our nation has been turned upside down by the financial and auto industry crisis. The housing market crashed and unemployment rates soared. The California budget remains in crisis with more responsibility and burden shifted to local governments. Governments must adapt, change and grow. Using the framework from TEAM we

15 are moving into the future today. We will be getting managers and our workforce talking by advancing four quarterly topics framed by cross-group, diverse employee teams. Awareness of change Personal Accountability Need for Mobility Need for Adaptability We need to continue to ask our managers and our workforce the following questions: What changes are happening in your business? Is your department green? What is a knowledge worker? What technology breakthroughs are going to change the way you work? We will strive to have a mindset that focuses on: The power of Mobile Technology Government Without Walls It will be our goal to implement more GPS and mobile tech tools to improve efficiency in the field. We will be piloting alternate staff schedules and work locations, using alternate meeting platforms to increase staff productivity. We will improve upon the City s use of social media tools to directly reach the public. We will continue to think green and consider sustainability and conservation in everything from supply purchases to facility construction to IT infrastructure. We will incorporate knowledge worker competencies in the workplace: job descriptions, interviews, evaluations, personal development plans. Improve Your IT IQ Are we using the tools we already have efficiently? IT for Green Social Computing Cloud Computing Advanced Analytics VoIP Enhancements Application development for workforce mobility Flash Memory Storage

16 Making Government Without Walls Real Utilizing Processing Improvement Teams Process Improvement Teams (PIT) will be reviewing each department s policies and procedures to determine how we can provide services more efficiently and effectively. Analyzing how technology can improve these core functions will be a critical component of creating a government without walls. The PIT will be also be tasked with identifying current obstacles to our success. Address hard & soft barriers Identify productivity measurement & tracking methodologies Invest in infrastructure needs Determine communication protocols for mobile workers Obtain needed approvals Update governing documents GWOW Implementation Integrate GWOW into Department operations Use PIT work & lessons learned from pilot activities to make GWOW another part of how we do business Incorporate knowledge worker and & IT IQ competencies into GWOW requirements Integrate Boomers, Gen X-ers, Gen Y-ers & Texters into work teams that advance acceptance & success of GWOW environments, while maintaining City cultural including core TEAM responsibilities What s the Next Big Thing? What is revolutionizing your business? As a service provider? As a customer? As an employer?

17 Step back and look at the big picture. We will take time to discuss global & national events, trends & issues outside our organization, how they ll affect what we do & how we do it. We will scout out audacious predictions and see what comes to fruition. Citywide Goals in Operational Plan Implement a Government Without Walls program, maximizing use of mobile technology. We will do this by deploying the workforce in nontraditional ways Reduce monthly vehicle mileage Increase the volume of work performed Expand mobile networking capability in cars with wireless laptops for reporting capability and operational efficiency Reduce the need for office space, phone lines and desktop computers Conclusion The City of San Diego will work to provide the best possible service to residents while serving as responsible stewards of public dollars. How does a local government excel? At the City of San Diego, we will use a common sense strategy, already in use at the County level, to make government work. We will build a culture of operational excellence through the adoption of the City Transparency, Excellence, Accountability, and Monitoring System (TEAM). The TEAM will serve as the City s instruction manual for running an effective and accountable government. More than just a playbook, the elements of the TEAM encompass an annual cycle that engages all employees on a daily basis. To briefly review the four elements of the TEAM: Strategic Planning sets the City s goals. Operational Planning allocates resources to achieve our goals. Monitoring and Control ensures that City operations remain on track and alerts us to any risks that may arise. Functional Threading promotes cooperation and sharing of expertise and resources. At the City of San Diego we will pride ourselves on continuous improvement and excellence in our operations. Our City will become

18 known for prudent management and government innovation. Working together, the Mayor, City Council, COO and a dedicated team of public employees will create an organization that values efficiency, innovation and fiscal discipline. Our programs will provide focused, meaningful services that improve lives and benefit the community. It will be the City Transparency, Excellence, Accountability, and Monitoring System that will make the City of San Diego a government of excellence.