Director's Message

Oct. 26, 2007

To: All DHS employees

From: Bruce Goldberg, M.D., director

Receive Director's Message updates by email

"If mankind is to survive, we shall require a substantially new manner of thinking."
~Albert Einstein

Almost two years ago when I agreed to lead DHS, I did so with the intent of helping DHS become a world-class organization. After getting my feet on the ground, surrounding myself with leaders who can help us accomplish this goal, and making significant progress within the past two years, it is now time to launch the DHS Transformation Initiative.

Why DHS transformation and why now?

The current environment for health and human services in Oregon presents significant challenges and opportunities. Every day we see tremendous advances within health care, yet the numbers of people unable to access basic medical care continues to grow. We live in state with a rich and diverse agricultural landscape, yet many go hungry and too many of us are obese. Many of us are living longer, but too many die prematurely from causes we can prevent. Too many of our children and too many adults are abused and neglected.

Continuous growth in the demand for our services combined with revenue streams that do not keep pace with that demand will negatively impact the services we provide Oregonians. Doing nothing is not an option. We have to do better and we have to continuously improve if we want to not just survive but thrive in this environment. Simply doing more of what we currently do will not be enough.

The fact that this is a challenging time also makes this an opportune time to play a leadership role. It gives us the opportunity to apply the consummate human skill -- creativity combined with foresight -- to invent new and better ways to do our work. Solutions will come from those of us who are dedicated to preserving our core values and equally dedicated to demolishing dysfunctional structures and inventing new and better ways to do our work.

During the past few months I've had the opportunity to meet with our staff in almost 30 offices throughout the state, and one of the topics that has come up repeatedly is how important it is to do a good job of delivering the services our clients need, and to continuously improve those services.

I have heard many ideas from DHS employees for ways we can improve service delivery. Everyone understands that the work we do is important, that we have a significant impact on people's lives, and that we owe it to our customers and the people of Oregon to be a high-performing organization.

We're already good. But I believe we have the potential to become better, to become a world-class organization. I want to see us set the standard for other social service agencies throughout the nation. And we're about to undertake an initiative that will help us achieve that next level.

Beginning next month we will be partnering with McKinsey and Company, a highly respected national firm that has helped many large private and public sector organizations improve and transform themselves.

During the initial phase of their work, McKinsey's organizational experts will spend several months gathering data, interviewing staff and reviewing our processes to determine how good we are and where we can do better. They will look at best practices within DHS and in other health and human service organizations around the world to determine our potential for improvement. They will then present us with a blueprint for becoming a world-class organization. Throughout this process the McKinsey team will be asking our staff both in the central office and the field to share information about our work and our processes. They will be asking you for your ideas and suggestions for improvement, and they will incorporate your comments into their final report, which is due by the end of May 2008.

Because of the importance of this project, I have requested Fariborz Pakseresht, our chief administrative officer, to step away from his daily responsibilities to lead this effort. Fariborz brings a tremendous amount of organizational knowledge to this role and a passion for positive change. And most importantly, he brings the skill of listening, which is central to the success of this initiative.

Change ultimately will be driven by the ideas and expertise from staff who do the work of this agency each and every day. I hope you will be as creative, open and honest with the McKinsey team as you have been with me in my visits to our offices. I have learned much about what we're doing right and how we can be better, and I rely on you to help guide the future of DHS by providing that same information to Fariborz and his team.

We owe it to all Oregonians to do no less than be the best.

###

To provide feedback email: DHS.Directorsoffice@state.or.us

This message is intended for all department employees. Please read it electronically, if possible. Managers and supervisors are asked to share the message each week with employees who do not have email access.