A public sector agency was experiencing high employee turnover and poor customer service. A new CEO hired consultants to implement a culture transformation. They conducted a customized survey to assess the current culture. The survey measured factors like work processes, customer service, and motivation. It found gaps between senior staff and other employees. Each manager then received a report on their department's performance and actions to improve culture. "Internal experts" mentored managers on the results. Within 6 months, customer complaints dropped 70% and turnover slowed as communication and process improvement increased. However, after leadership and mentoring changes in 2011-2012, the positive culture shifts diminished and turnover rose again, showing constant leadership is needed for sustained cultural change.

1. A Successful Culture Transformation
All Rights Reserves, 2011

2. In 1996
New leadership of a public sector state government
agency call us to:
 Help curb a 50% employee turnover rate
 Improve customer relationships.
 Customers were calling their local public officials to ‘do
something” to improve the poor service and employee
attitudes

3. Step One: Customized Survey
 Building a “customer focus culture” was the directive
given us by the new CEO
 A customized survey was designed to teach us what
we needed to know what people needed in this
organization to drive a “customer-focused culture”
 A key to our success: a CEO who lead the survey
initiative and continually insisted and communicated
the requirement of a customer culture

4. What We Measured
 Work Processes
 Quality
 Customer Service
 Efficiency
 Planning
 Training
 Communication
 Trust/Fairness
 Safety
 Motivation
 Teamwork
 Job Knowledge
 Integrity
 Teambuilding
 Personal Satisfaction

5. Step Two: Diagnostic
 We discovered huge gaps between measures of senior
staff and the workforce

6. Diagnostic
 Unacceptable performance variation levels along the
value chain

7. Step 3: Analysis and actions
 Every leader got their own scorecard as to the culture
they created in their workgroup

8. Analysis and actions
 Each manager received their own report card and 10
action steps to take in their department

9. Analysis and actions
 Correlation analysis statistically selected the key driver
activities

10. Step Four: Implementation
 A formal presentation to the leadership team
 A WebEx presentation meeting was scheduled with all 18
managers of each of the workgroups
 A team of “internal experts” were trained and certified to mentor
each manager as to their survey results and how their
department was contributing to the turnover and customer
outrage
 Managers held town meetings discussing data
results, department objectives, and customer process
improvement tactics

11. The Power of “Internal Experts”
 Zero cost
 Enterprise transformation at value chain level
 Managers became accountable
 Managers teamed to eliminate silos
 Managers became better communicators with
workforce and leadership
 An enterprise “we” culture was forming, focused on
building a “customer-focused culture”
 Enterprise improvement began in less than 30 days

12. Results
 Within 6 months, customer complaints were reduced by
70%
 Turnover slowed measurably
 Communication improved
 Employees driven, self generated, process improvement
plans were implemented in each department
 The Internal Team followed on with continued manager
support meetings, using the data analytics to ensure
sustainability
 A happier place to work

13. 2009-10
 The 2010 survey produced wonderful results
 Overall Culture scores went from a low of 69 in 2006 to a
high of 75 in 2010
 Turnover was reduced to a minimal acceptable rate and
customer service was at an all high
 Efficiency was at an all time high
 Building a Teamwork Culture was the 2010 initiative

14. Improvement:
2006 2009-10

15. Comparative results
2006 2010 Delta
 Work Processes 67 83 +13
 Quality 66 83 +14
 Technology 58 77 +19
 Customer Service 77 89 +12
 Efficiency 69 94 +25
 Planning 60 67 +7
 Training 71 76 +5
 Communication 63 71 +8
 Trust/Fairness 66 63 -3
 Safety 66 77 +11
 Motivation 76 80 +4
 Teamwork 63 67 +4
 Job Knowledge 69 81 +12
 Integrity 77 89 +12
 Teambuilding 67 72 +15
 Personal Satisfaction 79 80 +1

16. The Win?
Client won the Governor Sterling
Award for Quality in 2009

17. 2011-2012
• Leadership shift-stopped surveying
• Rapid culture shift- mentoring stopped-both
internal experts resigned
• Turnover on the rise
• LESSON LEARNED: Enterprise peak performance
is an ongoing effort, requiring constant attention
and leadership effort.

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Stanley Labovitz, CEO
Stan@infotoolonline.com