PRACTICE AND POLICY LECTURE SERIES: AUGUST 2009  GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE: WHAT DOES IT LOOK AND FEEL LIKE?

Diane: Good Afternoon.  And welcome to the first of our fall series for the OKDHS Practice and Policy Lecture Series.  And for those of you that are not with DHS, so you might not get the information as regularly as the DHS employees do, I would highly recommend that you be sure and pick up a brochure at the table out front if you havent already that will give you the information on all of our lectures coming up this fall.
Theyre all free and theyre all, I think you will find exceptional information is provided and wonderful speakers.

It is my pleasure today to welcome you to what we believe will be a very thought provoking and stimulating conversation, and presentation about exceptional customer service which is important to all of us as state employees.  And Im going to introduce, really a former boss in another life today who also represents the Office of Personnel Management, who is a co-sponsor in this particular lecture and that is Hank Batty.

Hank Batty is currently the Deputy Administrator for Office of Personnel Management.

And before assuming this role, he was the Assistant Administrator for the employee selection services unit, as well as the Director of Application Services at OPM where he has been employed since 1979. And for a short period of time before he went there, he actually worked for the OKDHS also, so he too, has a claim to being a former employee of DHS.

He also serves as a Coordinator for the Certified Professional Training in Oklahoma.

And during his tenure, he has taught a number of courses through HRDS and through the Office of Personnel Management.  Everything from contemporary personnel policies procedures, conducting performance appraisals, and various other recruitment related topics prior to coming to OPM; although, he is from- born and raised in Oklahoma City.  

And he did do his first couple of years at what is now UCO, he transferred to East Illinois University where he received his Bachelors degree, and then got a Masters degree in History at the Southern Illinois University. And then did Doctoral work in American History at the University of Illinois in Champaign, which hes very comfortable in this particular environment, obviously with his particular background. But without further ado, Id like to introduce to you Hank Batty.

(Applause)

Hank Batty: Thank you, Diane.   As Diane mentioned in my biography, I went to school in history. And so you say, Well, why are you in Human Resources? Because anyone who is in Social Studies, who doesnt end up in their field ends up in Human Resources, right!   Thats kind of it.

But, I must admit that my confidence of what I know about history has been shaken to the very marrow by this presentation. I mean I walk in and Ive been asked to introduce this speaker, who is from Georgia and I see that the title of the talk is, The True North to Becoming the Best in the Nation. What the heck would someone from Georgia know about the true north, one wonders!

(Audience laughter)

Hank Batty: I guess well find out. No, I really look forward to the presentation and I think its going to be excellent. I want to tell you just a few things about our speaker, Malika Reed Wilkins, who I had an opportunity to visit with. Its such a small world when you get to talking to her. She, her current boss is a guy that I worked with 30 years ago when I was 7.

(Audience laughter)

Hank Batty: And that was the same time I worked at, it wasnt called DHS, for some of you- it wasnt even called Disrus.  It was the Department of Public Welfare when I worked there, so thats that goes back a year or two.  But, yeah, her current boss is a guy Ive known through Oklahoma Human Resources for over 30 years.  

But hes apparently landed- and this will mean something to some of you whove been both places.  Her boss is a fellow named Dave Statin, who is with the Department of Mental Health.  The last time I saw Dave Statin, he was in charge of a Mental Health Facility in Fort Supply, out by Woodward.

And can you imagine the difference of geography of Woodward versus Atlanta, Georgia?  I mean he must feel like hes landed on the moon or something.  I dont know, its quite a difference.  But enough about Dave Statin.  I want to tell you about your speaker who I think youll really enjoy.  You have some information in your booklet and I dont want to read all of it.  But Ms. Reed Wilkins is the Director of Strategic Communications in Program Improvement for the Georgia Department of Human Services.  She also serves as a customer service champion, which were all pleased to hear about, leading the agencys enterprise customer service improvement initiatives.  

Shes been doing this for more than 15 years in marketing, communications, customer service  worked for such companies as Nestl預urina Pet Care  is that all the same company now?  So when I get hot chocolate it might really be dog food, huh?  I was afraid of that.  Gillette and Energizer and McNeil Nutritionals.  Maybe thats more of the dog food.  I dont know McNeil, the nutritional stuff.  But, Ms. Wilkins brings solid strategic communications as well as customer-focused and results-oriented expertise to DHS working across 25 divisions and offices.  I might add in here, too, and she maybe is going to comment on this, in the public in general, the State of Georgia has an outstanding reputation.  

I dont know if any of ever follow every three years or so Governing Magazine gives grades to each state.  Then they get a grade on how well they perform in a number of key functions, whether it be computers or human resources or just general administration.  And I guarantee you about three years Georgia will get an A.  Dont ask what Oklahoma gets.  Its not an A.  

But I think Ms. Wilkins will really have a lot to talk to us about.  She is a graduate of the University of Georgia in Speech Communications, so any of you who are OSU fans out there might want to pick up a few secrets from her after the talk.  Has a Masters in Public Administration from North Carolina Central University, currently working toward her Ph.D. in Public Administration.  Malika Reed Wilkins, were glad to welcome you to Oklahoma.

(Applause)

Malika Reed Wilkins: Testing. Testing. Can you hear me? Can everyone hear me?  Okay.  I feel so important.  I feel like Im in the Secret Service with all these wires and everything.  I am a Georgia gal and I bring greetings from the Peach State, and I am a little nervous in here with all you OKC folk, but you know what?  Im going to do my best.  But, yes, as he was saying, Dave Statin is from Oklahoma, as well as our Chief of Staff for the Georgia Department of Human Services, and our Commissioner is B.J. Walker and she also sends greetings to you as well. 

Its interesting that you were commenting on The True North.  You know, I buy these books, and I get all into them and Im like, Oh, this is great.  This is great! And I bought the book from Bill George about true north and really looking at your authentic leadership development capabilities.  And so, thats sort of where I got that from.  But when you really think about true north  and Ill ask you in just a minute, what do you think about true north in just one second  but

Yes, I have worked in all three sectors: public, private, non-profit.  I started out in non-profit for about 14 years, then went into private sector, which was a little crazy on my part, and worked with clients such as Gillette and Energizer.  And McNeil Nutritionals, by the way, are the people that make Splenda, Motrin, and those types of things.  And I did advertising campaigns for them as well. 

Worked with Missouri Division of Tourism and their PR efforts.  So, Ive just kind of been allover the place.  And now Im in government and I really do love it.  I feel like its a happy marriage between private and non-profit.  So that is where I am today.

Okay, so Customer Service: The True North to Becoming the Best in the Nation.  And I wrote some notes.  I normally dont need them, but just in case, I want to be able to cover everything.

So when you think about, you know, what is your true north  does anyone know what the actual true north is?  Okay, I didnt come  I know were not any science majors.  

Audience member: (inaudible)

Malika Reed Wilkins: Right.  Your true north.  So when you think about this in terms of humans, and you think about, you know, your passion, your niche.  What do you want to be remembered for?  What drives you?  Whats your passion? And, so just think a minute about whether its what youre doing right now in your profession or whether its something you aspire to be.

Think about for about five seconds or so: What is your passion?  What is something that really gets you going?  What is the thing that youll do for no money?  I dont know about that, okay.  Ill go to the next slide then.  Okay.  I didnt see a lot of heads nodding there. Alright, we have our personnel guy in the room, so.

But, basically, when you think about our true north, we think about families.  Thats something that we pride ourselves in at the Georgia Department of Human Services, and sometimes I may say human resources and we just had a huge restructuring, and Im going to talk about that.  So, sometimes I get a little tongue-tied, because just two months ago we went through that and Ill tell you about that.  

But families are really what we believe were really, really passionate about as something that we value, and I know that you all do, too, so this is were all on the same page here.  And thats what I really wanted to demonstrate today, that were all in this together helping families become self-sufficient, to do the things  get a little help to do the things that  to help sustain and have them have vibrant lives.  

So what youll see today: youll see who we are, what we do, our charge in the state of Georgia to be the best in customer service.  But, we have some challenges.  And I know you do as well, and the whole nation has some challenges right now and well talk about that, our path.

And this is just one of our paths.  I mean, I sometimes kind of get over-excited and I may go on and on and on.  But I try to dwindle it down to three core areas, so I hope that I wont bore you with that. And then, our horizon.  Whats our next step?  What are we going to do next, and what are we planning to do next?

So who we are:  right now, were 10,000 employees strong.  We have 16 divisions and offices.  Which our core services are family and children services, aging services, child support, and residential care.  And I talked to you just a minute ago about the restructuring, and Im going to get to that in just a minute.  

We have offices in all 159 counties.  So no matter what service youre acquiring or looking for, we can cover it in each county.  We have over one million calls, really close to two million calls, totaling our call centers for child support, family and children services  meaning, you know, Medicaid, food stamps information, status, what have you, adding another child to your situation, whatever the case may be.

And I must toot our horn.  Forty-eight Governors Customer Service Awards later, since 2007, and in DHS actually took on the challenge in 2006 along with the state and here we are almost 50 awards later.  Actually, tomorrow is the deadline to submit nominations for the next Governors Customer Service Awards and I guarantee you well win one of those.  So, I must toot my own horn on that.

Here is our visionary, Commissioner B.J. Walker.  And heres our mission and its very similar to OKDHS.  I was reading it and Millie provided me with a lot of information about the Human Services Department here, and were really similar in a lot of respects.  But, we are we pride ourselves about being a resource to families and not a substitute.

We want to be a resource for them.  We want them to have the choice to choose and make their own decisions about where theyre going in their lives.  And something that the Commissioner says a lot, and its sort of ingrained in my psyche now, is that, Treat all of our customers as if they were your own family.  You know, and thats something that we pride ourself on.  So what Im going to show you really quickly, because I think its important that you see that leadership is very supportive of what were doing.  

And I think thats really important and Im going to go here.  Okay, this is neat.  I can drive from the back here.

No Audio: Malika Reed Wilkins starts a video of Commissioner B.J. Walker.

Commissioner Walker: Weve kind of upped the temperature on getting the job done.  And people are getting into that rhythm of, how do we shorten this?  How do we make it better?  Also, most of our employees when you have 20,000 employees, you have a lot of people who have family members, friends, church members, who are coming to us for services.  And so, its about value.  You value these folks in your lives.  You love these people.   You care about these people.  These people are not some distant customer.  These folks are your folks.  

And so, we really have a gold standard value that we have as the platform for our customer service.  And, it is: treat all of our customers as if they were your family.  [Segment repeats briefly.]

Malika Reed Wilkins: I think we just saw that, but (laughs) you get the picture.  Okay.  Alright.  I can multitask.  I promise I can.  Okay.  Okay, now I cant.  There we go.  Alright.  

So Im going to come from behind this podium because its kind of weird.  And Im going to come back to my notes over here, so just bear with me.  But, basically, as Commissioner Walker just talked about, you know, customer service is a value.  And its value-driven, at least for us.  And in order to get employees onboard, you know, you have to go somewhere where people can connect.  

And we felt like, you know, with the organization at the time when we started this of 20,000+, not including providers, that you have to find a way to connect those values.  And we even had some of our employees who are our own customers, so how can you not connect that piece?  And so, thats sort of the driving force and sort of the threaded message that we had all throughout our customer service venture.  And were still venturing.  So we havent arrived, but we are about 50 awards later.

(Audience laughter)

Malika Reed Wilkins: So, Okay.  Our charge, our charge in the state of Georgia. Governor study produced said Georgia will have the best customer service of any state in the nation.  And that is his charge.  And that is what we have been commissioned to do.  But you know what?  We said we were going to do it whether the governor said it or not.  It was something that just needed to be focused on, providing excellence in customer service.  So no matter whos in charge, no matter who the administration is, you know, its just the right thing to do.  And thats what were about: common sense.  Its just the right thing to do.  

So, our charge is to make services faster, friendlier and easier.  And I know  I was looking at the program and it says, you know, what does customer service look like and feel like?  Okay, customer service, is it just calling a call center, or is it just when somebody smiles at you at the grocery store?  What is that?  In addition to looking at our service and finding ways that we can speed up our processes, create a customer-focused culture.

And what does that mean? Im going to tell you about that one.  Thats a doozie!  And then, being easier  simplifying access to services.  So thats our charge.  Oh, Im sorry.  Okay.  And then, also, our charge these are our state customer service platform, if you will.  We have standards, we have attributes, and we also have our charge.

And our standards around the state  which was issued by the Governors Office of Customer Service, which was started in late 2005, early 2006.  So, talk about a Governor that made a charge, he put the money where the mouth was.  And he started a Governors Office of Customer Service.  

And we are so excited about that because they have helped us and guided us all throughout our customer service ventures.  And youll hear me talk about them a lot in here.  And as a matter of fact, last year, me and the Director of the Governors Office of Customer Service, Joe Doyle, we actually presented at the Governing Magazine conference.  

And so, thus, Millie was there and asked us to come here, and asked me to come here and kind of talk more about what we do in human services in Georgia.  So thats sort of how it all started, me coming here.

But our standards for the state are greet, listen, help, and honor.  Greet your customers promptly.  And these are some sort of universal standards, that no matter if youre getting a drivers license, if youre applying for food stamps, if youre calling for your taxes, what have you.  These universal attributes and standards is something that we use throughout all of our improvement efforts.  

And these were developed  there was some  you know, we didnt just pull these out of our hat.  The Governors Office of Customer Service did some extensive research, focus groups, surveys to really figure out, in Georgia, what are the standards.  What are the customers saying that they really want?  

They want us to be courteous.  They want us to be helpful.  They want us to be accessible.  They want us to know what were talking about and they want us to be responsive.  And how do you translate that into some work?  Okay, So its still kind of esoteric there.  

How do you kind of translate that into some real work here?  And so you go into it sort of faster, which is talking about streamlining processes.  Friendlier service, meaning either through training or some customer service modeling.  And then easier, the access points, whether its through the web, the call center, or what have you.  

So our challenge.  Im going to spend just a few seconds here.  Weve got a couple of challenges, just like the whole nation does.  And embed  one of our challenges is to embed customer focus for 20,000 staff at the time.  Now were 10,000.  And thats a lot in itself.  And were all over the state, so, you know, we have a state office, downtown Atlanta, but we cover 159 counties.  

How can we get everybody on board?  So that was definitely and it still is a challenge, frankly.  Georgias Health and Human Services restructuring: Ill tell you a little bit about that.  July 1st of this year we became the Georgia Department of Human Services.  Previously, for 36 years, we were Georgia Department of Human Resources.  And it started in 1972 with  Jimmy Carter was the governor at the time?  I cant remember.  But he started the Georgia Department of Human resources.  And it was to be a resource in that term, not the sort of HR term that we use today.  So, the term has evolved but we kind of still had that name.

So when I would say, Where do you work, Malika? Oh, I work for DHR, Department of Human Resources. Oh, youre an HR generalist?  No, I work with I do human services.  So it was, as you can see, we have to have that sort of ad-lib explanation.

But the health and Human Services restructuring.  Back in February of 2008, Governor Purdue set up a task force to look at how we were delivering health and human services in Georgia.  With 20,000 staff we cover mental health, developmental disabilities, addictive diseases, public health, health care regulation, family and children services, child support, senior services, residential child-.

I mean, we covered the entire gamut, and we were the largest state agency in Georgia .

Well, the task force got together and Commissioner Walker also served on the task force.

And they came up with an interim plan, which is now - were actually living it.  To put behavioral health, which is mental health and addictive diseases, as well as developmental disabilities.

When I first came to work there, all these acronyms.  I know you guys deal with a lot of acronyms.  I was like, Oh my gosh!  But theyre now the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.  Then, also public health moved to our Department of Community Health.

So, now thats sort of our central department of health, if you will.  But theyre still called Department of Community Health.  So now we are the Department of Human Services which are true human services with family and children services, and the ones that I mentioned before.  So I know that sounds like Im just rattling that off.

But we went through a divestiture, a acquisition and a merger all at one time.

And who has ever been in one of those, even in the private sector, I can tell you it is a doozy!

And then topped on, toppled with a nation-wide recession where people are the economic supports are increasing.  You know, which you know were giving more support out. But, of course, were losing staff, so these are the realities.  Im not here to  I dont want to talk too much on this.  But I just want you to know that it still can be done.  Even, with all of the things we are facing, ongoing going budget reductions.

Last year we had furloughs, we had them twice a month.  And we actually have three more coming, and potentially more.  So, just letting you know I hope Im not  were actually going to get to some exciting stuff here.  But I just wanted you to know the reality that were facing is everywhere.

So anyway, thats our challenge, so heres how were overcoming that challenge.  Our path and I picked three areas.  These are areas that youre probably familiar with in some other presentations or what have you.  But, you know our path to being the best in customer service, and really focusing on that is changing our cultures, for people to really start thinking customer focus.  And when we start thinking that way, gosh, our lives will be so much better.

And some of the things that Im going to share with you today through process improvement has actually made our employees lives great.  And employee satisfaction went up this year you know.  It was just a lot of things that we really had hypothesized about, we really didnt know and then the results were just awesome!  And then our path of sustaining the change, youve got to keep that going even in the midst of all of these cuts and different things going on, so.  So, heres how we are doing it.

How am I doing Jeff, am I okay?

Okay, because this is the really exciting part, okay.  So, um first things first; leadership must be in or else. And I mean all the way in and as you can see.  Even if you want to start something in your own agency, as you can see, our commissioner she hired a customer service champion who was me.  I started out as a customer service champion, basically a project manager meeting with all of the division heads and trying to understand what does customer service mean to you?  What do you do?

Me, coming from corporate and private, I really didnt even understand government. So I had to spend nights and weekends studying, and understanding, and going to (de-facts) offices, and child support offices and really understanding the culture of what we do before I could do anything. And I didnt have any staff.

So, we were the first in our state to hire a full-time customer service champion. I was mentioning to you earlier that the governors office of customer service, they are sort of our umbrella guiding force, if you will, around customer service. And they provide us with a lot of tools that youll see here today. But, right now we have a state-wide customer service champion group where each state agency has a customer champion.

We meet bi-monthly, we talk about success, we talk about challenges, they provide us with information, and we provide them with information. So this is an on-going threaded business, if you will, around customer service. And it starts with creating that web. And so I said, Do you know what? The state has a champion team and sort of a web of experts in this area. We dont have any money to give me any staff.

Let me develop a customer champion team.

So what I did; I went to the directors and I said, Hey, here is some criteria of what I need.   I just need them about 25% of your time.  But, if you can appoint a customer service champion for family and children services, for child support, for senior services, for what have you Ill promise you, you wont be sorry. Oh Malika, what do you mean?  Were already short staffed. Were already.

Well, hey, they gave him to me and here we are three years later. And, I still have the customer service champion team, and they are thrilled to be a part of that team. Now, I have people begging to be a part of the customer service champion team. And thats the response that you want. So that is sort of the first thing, is to build your team. Get your buy in, build your team. You may do it that way. You may just sent out an all staff e-mail and say, Who wants to be a part of the customer service?

You know however you do it, but I suggest that. And thats one of the ways that weve been able to sustain a lot of the progress that weve made. Also, in change in the culture and Im just going to speak on one of these. Because I could go on and on, but one of the things that we did, you know when you think about changing the culture, really its about changing the behavior; right?

So, are there any psychologists in the room? Youre thinking about behavioral changes, you want to live the behavior youre trying to acquire. And, so when doing that simple things that we did, we started a DHS standard telephone greeting. People will call in, Hey, this is Malika.  

Okay, where are you x@#$## and who are you! Oh, the commissioners office! Oh, what do you do? I thought I was reaching the family and children services, or is this child support? So just a standard greeting to say, Hi, this is Malika Reed Wilkins. Or, The Office of Investigative Services, this is Malika Reed Wilkins, how can I help you?

So, people know right off hand, your name, who it is you work for and then youre giving them a nice little salutation. And then that can kind of stop some of those calls right off. Oh, I thought I was calling so and so.

And, then we take it a little step further, because in the State of Georgia now, we have what you call is 1-800 Georgia . And we actually can go on line right then and say, Okay, well if Im not...  Because, I think my phone number was actually the State Parole and Pardons Office before!

(Audience laughter)

Malika Reed Wilkins: So, I would get a plethora of calls on the State Pardons Office and was like Hey, I need to I was supposed to get out, Im like oh, wait a minute! Or, My son , Im like, Oh Im sorry, but let me give you the right number. So that is one of the things that we did. And how we did that was we had about 5 or 6 selections and we let staff vote on the greetings.

So, you want to know how do you get staff to buy into something? Help them to be a part of the change. And thats one of the things that we were able to do. How do we test it? The champions, the champions were responsible for calling about 20 people a month, just to see just to check mark to see if people were saying the greeting.

Not, to you know call anyone out, but then we would share that with leadership and then put it in our newsletter. Hey, we got 50% greetings, guys, so lets try to up that. And, so those are some of the ways, just simple thing s that you can do. The right work right way program is a rewards and recognition program.

Its an agency commissioner level program, where we reward and recognize for good customer service, for excellence in customer service. And theres a monetary reward with it; its one hundred dollars. And you can nominate your peer, you can nominate you boss, your boss can nominate you and a customer can nominate you. And you do that, and it goes through a rigorous process, because this is a prestigious award.

But, you are rewarded $100. And each division and office can actually celebrate the way that they want. So thats something that weve kept going. And weve even kept that going even through all this- budget and everything else. Because we feel like its important to continue to reward on good customer service.

And I just got my half mark; so, Im doing good! Okay, so I got to toot our horn a little bit. I know Im in a room with a whole bunch of Oklahoma folk, but I got to say it. You know we pride ourselves on good customer service, we won customer service agency of the year.

We have about 50 plus agencies, about 60 agencies in the state, not including the University system. So, hey, we feel really good about that. Weve won and I just picked some out to show you. But I also won champion of the year in 2008, so I was really excited about that.

Ive been working hard! So, but it pays off, I have a couple of staff now, so (L). Okay, so a change in the culture you get it; basically, changing the behavior, rewarding for the behavior. And heres some things that you can do, hopefully that you can implement to do that, if youre probably not doing it already.

So process improvement and Im going to spend a little bit of time here, because it really is changing and rocking our world. I mean process improvement, when you think about all of the issues around work, 80% of it is just about around the processes, if you really think about it. Typically, its not the people.

And Ive got my HR guru in here; I hope Im saying the right thing! But, 80% of our issues center around processes. And, so hey, we had to look at that. You think about all the different processes that you have; the process to get Medicaid determination, the process to establish the order for child support.

The process for a provider to do the work for you; so, all of these different processes. Streamlining the front door, which we call access points, whether its the phone, the call center, the web, or whether its walk-ins. Customer calls to the de-facts, which is family and children services, contact center were answered in one minute or less in 2008, compared to five minutes in 2006.

But let me tell you, even before that it was longer. One of the things that back in about 2007, when the previous de-facts call center director, basically, we would open at 8:00 and close at 5:00, our call center. And, about lunch time you would have, well we didnt know how many people were going to lunch.

So, during that time, of course, the abandonment rate, the hold time, for calls for services were astronomical! Well, something interesting that happened was we instituted scheduled adherence where people could come in a little earlier, we extended our hours so, that we could stagger our breaks and lunches. And it actually helped even out some of those wait times and hold times. And some people wanted to come in early and leave early, and some people wanted to come in at 10 and leave at6 or 7.  

So, those are some of the things when you think about process. One thing Im going to and Im not going to read each one, but the grandparents raising grandchildren, one system of care. This is a program that we started and it actually started with the thought from Commissioner Walker. But, no matter- well, first of all before I even go into that how many of you are grandparents?

Okay, imagine having to take care of your grandchild for whatever reason, you have custody, for whatever reason. And you havent had to take care of a child for how long? Or, say a 5-year-old or a 6-year-old, you havent had to take care of a child in 20 years-25 years or so. You know anything can happen.

Well, we have a lot of that in Georgia , and I can imagine in Oklahoma, as well. For whatever reason, grandparents are raising their own grandchildren for a temporary time, or for an extended amount of time. Well, what we were finding was that if a grandparent went in to apply for some Medicaid services for that particular child, they were sort of talking about, You know I dont even have bunk beds. I dont even have anything. I dont have formula, I dont have  you know what am I supposed to do? 

So, we put our heads together to come up with a platform where we could provide one time emergency funds to those grandparents to help them. In that, so they can get that bunk bed, or buy those clothes, or whatever happened to kind of put them off guard.

And, also if while theyre in the de-facts office and if they say, You know what?  Or say, for instance, that the mother is incarcerated. Why, I think the child support is still going to her. Well, we can re-direct that child support to that grandmother or grandfather.

Also, if the grandmother says, You know, I need some time off, this is not good. Im running around after this child, I dont know what to do. We can also give them some respite care or set that up. So, theyre not having to go to an area aging office, or a child support office and a family and childrens office. They can go to one office and what we do in the back end is scramble around and getting everything that they need. 

But, that grandparent can be assured that theyll get a call and everything will be processed. And thats what we talk about, what we mean when were streamlining that front door. So, that youre not having to go to four or five different offices. And, even when mental health and public health was a part of us, they were still a part of that loop and they still are.

They still are a part of that loop with us. So we have been able to process more than a million dollars in additional monthly support, and more than $86,000 of one-time emergency support to low income grandparents, so.

The other thing Im going to talk about and I dont know if Im going to get finished today, so let me just hurry up. But, RPI- has anybody ever heard about RPI? And Im going to tell you what the acronym means, but.

Audience member: (Inaudible)

Malika Reed Wilkinson: Not quite. Anyone else?

Audience member: (Inaudible)

Malika Reed Wilkins: Rapidfire yay!  Ding, ding, ding! I wish I had  (laughs). 

Brilliant process management is our strategy is to Toyota executive said, We get brilliant results from average people managing brilliant processes. We observe that our competitors often get average or worse results from brilliant people managing broken processes.

Hey, tell me I can tell you about some broken process, but let me quickly just kind of go into what that really means. Typically, you know RPI, rapid process improvement started out in Lee manufacturing with Toyota.

And it really means continuous improvement or caisson. And its a way to have employees to provide their ideas; you institute them in a week. And you test it out you know that Friday from a whole week. And really its looking at how you can identify waste in a process. 

So, typically just in a regular process the lead time meaning you know we got 45 days federally, to give an eligibility determination for Medicaid. You may have 20 days for a standard of promptness for something else. Well, the lead time the red piece are the things that are non-value added; those things that are really not turning into anything.

Like waiting, transportation, re-work, getting signatures, making copies, walking over here, doing I mean just all of those types of things. Well, what RPI does is focus on that area and instituting some principles to streamline those processes. So return on investment of RPI is priceless.

Now, weve used this along with Franklin Coves for disciplines of execution. We used a methodology called G-force which kind of started with Mayor Giuliani and his era. But, RPI has really given us the results and return on investment for our customers in several areas. Right now in child support, it used to take about 71 days or more or less, to get an order established. The same day, if they came in with their information.

No more of, Oh well give me your information and well call you. No, its the same day. Medicaid eligibility determinations are made the same day if all information is provided. And the previous wait was 45 days.  So what was happening and we know we have a federal standard of 45 days. But, that doesnt mean wait until the 30th and 40th day for a child to know or a parent to know if they can get insurance.

And, so we really what RPI helped us understand was looking at it from the customers perspective. Youre the mother, this is your own family; remember, back to the values we talked about. This is your own auntie, this is your own cousin and thinking about how would you feel. And Im not saying its all perfect, because when some of those new verification standards came in from the feds and some of the new qualifications and qualifiers came in, that was kind of funky and tricky.

And we had to get out to our staff those new policies; but overall, it has definitely been successful. Now, the first child support payment is received in 60 days versus 6 months.

Something that we do now is take cell phone numbers and we call them for that first payment. Hey, this is a reminder for your first child-you know, simple things like that. The rewards, and I have to say it, weve won national and state awards around this, but I could go on and on about it. 

I know some of you are staying for later and I can talk about it then. But RPI has really, really helped change our business, and were working on some things now. Sustaining the change: how do you keep this going? Well, like I told you it was just little old me back in 2006, well now we are the program improvement office. 

And our commissioner thought it was important to embed RPI; and, actually weve started RPI with the governors office of customer service. They actually helped trained us with Georgia Tech to help institute the technology within our organization, and now Im an RPI champion. And I have staff who are RPI champions, and then we also have champions within some of our divisions and offices. Strategic communications: Im going to talk a little bit about that if I have time.

And then, of course, the office also covers customer service. So all of this is covered under the work that I do now, and its really has helped us really lead in the state of how do you take some of all these projects and turn it in? And here we are three years later, so I dont say start off with this; I say build the momentum to get to the point where you can get here.

So how are we sustaining the change? Were keeping staff involved. A part of all of this is communication. Every month a customer service update will go out to all staff, just tidbits on whats going on. Updates, you know shout-outs, what have you to all of staff. Weve even with the filling of, like Ive told you before, divestiture and a merger and an acquisition you know and us being sort of  some staff feel like theyre the ones that are left. 

Some staff feel like oh, were honored to be left. So you know its just different feelings are going on. Well, to kind of divert that, and to focus on something really exciting, we are excited about our new name, Human Services. By golly, I dont have to explain what HR is and what Im not, so weve developed a campaign called flashback to flash forward.

And what we did, we celebrated the 36 years of history of DHR, because thats a long time. And you have people that have worked, I think Mr. Bailey here has worked for, who has worked in government for over 30 years or over 20 years? Anyone here?

Okay, so you have an affinity, you have a value towards your organization.

And we didnt want to negate that, we wanted to respect the fact that DHR had been in existence for 36 years.

And thats something to be proud about and excited about and we did that through the flashback newsletter. We would take moments of time, about five years at a piece. And you cant really see this one over here on the side, but employees would send in pictures and show us you know well heres how it was back in the 80s.

And we would put that on the newsletter, and it just got to be this really great, big deal. And I have about three slides left. And, so also we found out through this campaign that one of our employees father was the first African American DHR board member.

And, so at a board meeting we saluted her and her father who is deceased, but it was just really exciting to see how employees got involved in this. And, then a part of our flashback to flash forward is re-focusing. You know with the new name we said, why not? 

This is an opportunity for us to look at how were doing business, change anything that we need to change, keep what we need to keep, start what we need to start. So, this is what weve been doing, weve been going around the state. Some of our people and our strategic planning offices has been having focus groups talking to employees, getting feedback on our mission: is this still our mission?

Should we change it, should we stream line it, or what have you? And then re-branding; do we want to keep the old logo thats been with us for 36 years? Do we want to have a fresh start? 

Re-launch: were flashing forward. Right now, were counting up to the first 100 days of DHS. October 8th, is going to be the biggest celebration weve ever seen in our lives. But, were really celebrating the fact that we are Human Services and really helping people. Even through all the budget, even through all the re-structuring we can still be proud to serve Georgia citizens. 

So, whats our next steps? Were headed north. Remember True North? Were headed north and were staying focused on customer service and excellence. We are working now on one DHS call center. As Ive said before, we have child support virtual call center.

We have a Family and Children Services contact center. We have some case handling work with our adult protective services. So we want to be able to have one number for DHS for customers to call for service. Wouldnt that be a perfect world? And we are working really hard on this thing Im telling you. And thats a culture change in itself, but were getting there; were getting there. Additional processes that we want to streamline, leadership development customer service will be a part of our leadership development training platform.

And, then employee engagement, we were planning a leadership tour to go around the state and employee advisory groups. So, those are some of the things on the horizon and as we continue to nurture our True North, which is our families. So, thats all. I know I was laalaalaa! But, I had to get it all out and thats it.

(Applause)

Malika Reed Wilkins: Thank you.

Diane: We have enough time for Q and A; so if you have any questions just raise your hand and Ill come and give you the microphone and feel free to ask Malika any questions you have.

Audience member 1:  What is a virtual call center; is that through the web?

Malika Reed Wilkins:  No, virtual meaning we have call center representatives answering the phone at home. And they can actually look on the web. Well, they have to go through some extensive training. But, yes, we do have some child support.

Our child support has the first virtual call center meaning they-because, actually we have a portal on our web. Where on our web site, where people can actually go on there, customers and see their status of arrears. Look intobecause, there is a calculator where you can kind of calculate you know generally, what your child support will be. And, so we have a huge program.

We have a huge fatherhood program, as well, that helps non-custodial fathers. Actually, help them with finding jobs and training. But, yes, working from home using the web, thats what we mean by virtual.

Well, right now, I know that we are doing a lot in that area. I dont have any specifics here, but I can actually get you some. Yes, we are  you mean to be eligible to be a foster care parent, and all of that? You know, yeah, weve actually um. I know that they were considering that for rapid process improvement. Because, thats the process was a little laborious, and I dont have details on that here, but I could certainly get that.

Audience member 2: You touched on employee orientation, but you didnt really expand on it. Could you talk a little bit about that and how youre using that?

Malika Reed Wilkins:  Sure, well I think I had it on the slide where when we have new employees, we have new employee orientation twice a month. Well, we have our customer champions, at least in our state office, where they do a five minute customer presentation to those new employees every  two times a month.

So that, when they see the signage in the building and all over the state. Because, you have to come to that office, no matter where youre going in the state. And, so, theyre familiarizing oriented with, Hey this organization believes in customer service. 

We also have a customer e-course, where you have to complete that within the first 30 days. Dont quote me, 30 or 45 days; where, weve developed that by looking at the charge for faster, friendlier and easier. 

And what we did was developed a matrix. And we had faster, friendlier and easier, web, phone, and walk-in. So, you say from a phone center in a faster, what does that mean for us? And we kind of did a kind of created a matrix for that. And then we used that information, along with the standards and developed like a 45 minute customer e-course, thats on our learning management system.

And new employees, just like sexual harassment training or anything else, they have to complete this. And its sort of a pre-cursor to the larger customer training that the governors office of customer services developed and trained us on as well, so.

Audience member 3: What do you do about those people who are unable to, say access the system by computer?  Do your employees ever actually go to homes?

Malika Reed Wilkins: Do you mean for customers?

Audience member 3: For customers, do they go into the customers homes; home visits?

Malika Reed Wilkins:  Well, you know  sure, sure. I know that in our aging services program we have customers that may not be number one, computer savvy or have the transportation, what have you. So, there are case managers and case handlers there that can, actually help those populations and go online with them or come to them.

But, as for family and children services, Im not quite sure. I know that our case managers do some extraordinary things, Im not sure if they go to there homes, but its definitely something to consider. I dont know enough about it to really tell you about it, but I can definitely follow up with you on that.

But, right now I know that through our aging services program, we have programs that actually go out to the homes of some of our clients. And if we find that they need things, then yes, through that case manager or that case handler, those needs are met.

Audience member 4: (Inaudible)... from your governor, but as far as I guess as a one woman show going into this department to do this work, what was the reception from other leaders within the organization? And, how did you get them on-board or were they already on-board?

Malika Reed Wilkins:  Thats an excellent question. Whew; it was a lot of work! Fortunately, and I must say fortunately, we have a commissioner who truly believed and its-- you know in different states theyre called director, or whatever. I dont know if yall have a commissioner or not.

But, we had a commissioner, and we have a commissioner thats just truly committed to this. And thats why I say, and change in the culture, whether its the commissioner or the director of a small division, you have to have leadership buy-in. And now I tell you, yeah, when we first started the concepts sounded really nice and neat and buttoned up.

But, when you actually went to go talk to some people, you really find out-. And I think the more that you communicate, and thats something that I learned being a communicator. I just drilled it and drilled it and said, You know the more you make this or make/have management feel like this is something they can own.  So, I would go to managers and management and say one on one, What does this mean for you? What are some of your challenges?

And really, get into sort of where their pain points, and that is where the buy-in comes. So the buy-in is not overnight, its going to you know depending on whats going on. And Im not sure, depending on the situation, even if the director or the commissioner says it, doesnt mean its going to be you know happy camping after that. Theres some work that has to be done, as far as communication.

Going to the directors, getting a team together, you may even want to be organic in how you start your program where you have a few good men or women. Where you talk about it and you start it and just kind of bubbles out this way. Or sort of start it out leadership wise, but at some point you will have to have leadership buy-in.  Because thats the only way we can continue to do this. But, what gets leadership excited is when staff were excited.

And a part of that, was sending out those communications, especially when I told you when the staff got involved in our flashback campaign. That was where the leadership loved it, because it was staff getting involved sending pictures. I even had some of our directors saying, you know during the 1996 Olympics, because we were in the middle of downtown Atlanta, our hours changed from 5:00 a.m. to 2:00.

Gosh, I wish we would do that again, but But, some of the leadership even got involved, so when they see their staff involved a lot of times that will help that. But, yes, it will definitely you know it can definitely be a challenge.

Audience member 5: You probably just answered that right then, but when you were talking about the flashback and flash forward, does that begin with the communications director and start from there? Or where did it start in Georgia ?

Malika Reed Wilkins:  Sure, in our department and I guess it was in April 2008. This was- one of the bullet points I had on there was data driven improvements, that I didnt really expound on. Well, thats where strategic communications came from. Commissioner Walker, created a strategic communications A Team. 

And it wasnt a part of our core work, because I started as a customer service director for champion. And she got a few of us together, well five of us and we investigated internal communications in our organization, where we saw that it was lacking; we were in the media a lot. And a lot of focus was on our external communications, and we just really didnt have time and the resources to focus on our internal.

So we did surveys, focus groups, and we had over 5,000 responses to our survey. We had focus groups with about 150 folk across the state; we looked at best practices; and, thus created a strategic communications platform for the organization, which involved employee engagement.

And thats why my other title was strategic communications; because, we found that it kind of goes hand-in-hand with customer service. Because, part of customer service is  internal customer service and, so thats where that piece lies, so thats how it started.

Diane: Thank you very much for your presentation and thank all of you for coming and joining us today. Thank you for sharing your lunch time with us.

(Applause)