Human Services Department

The Issue:

The HSD’s strategic direction lacked a shared understanding and commitment to its implementation. Their departments operated in silos with little cross-divisional coordination or communication. The organizational culture needed to embrace a common direction and an effective system for planning and execution. The HSD was facing considerable disconnect from its purpose, with little to no urgency or relevance to working cross-divisionally. Also, their employee survey results showed signs of employee disengagement, dissatisfaction, and disconnect from HSD senior management.

What we did:

The goal was to develop a common strategic direction for the business that captured the hearts and minds of its management and staff. OTM saw the need for a substantive planning session together with extensive pre-work to establish an outside-in view of the business to ensure a successful outcome. OTM designed the project to guarantee ownership for the planning outputs by HSD staff and management as well as install a system of follow-up that would “live and breathe” on its own for many years to come, without further OTM involvement.

The Result:

The planning session produced a clearly defined vision, mission, set of values and corresponding action plans. New opportunities for cross-divisional initiatives were identified that improved client outcomes. Specific strategic initiatives to make a long-term change for enhanced performance and communication were decided. Finally clear and consistent communication strategies to use with the City Manager and other city officials were established.