Shortly after Ray Weaver arrived as the new head of Oklahoma's Child Support Enforcement Division in 1997, the agency began an intense program of strategic and operational planning - and implementation. Despite some threats of massive privatization, the overall program remains fully in the public sector and the agency is well on its way to becoming a high performance organization.

With the help of a consultant the agency began a statewide self-assessment process - and discovered it was “a dysfunctional organization with low employee morale.” Overall, employees experienced a rather low level of job satisfaction.

With the aid of the consultant, 30 agency managers and supervisors from across the state were trained in tools for leadership. They identified over 100 projects the agency had undertaken. They created a strategic plan for 1999. It targeted six of those projects which became the “fire breathing dragons” of the plan - key strategic issues to address with goals and action strategies.

These included:

For each of these issues, the Strategic Plan included an Issue Statement, Goal(s), and Action Strategies.

The Strategic Plan was further refined into an Operational Plan. As a part of this effort some 100 projects/action steps were identified. Deadlines were developed for each and a person responsible was identified for each. One staff member spends almost full-time tracking progress on these projects and activities, frequently touching base with those responsible, making sure next steps are taken. The status of the projects is reported publicly within the organization. Accomplishments are publicly acknowledged; it is also clear who is responsible when deadlines are not met.

The strategic plan for 2000 has now been published which identifies new strategic issues and a report card for the year 1999.

While there is a long lead time to dramatically increasing performance through a process such as this, a great deal has been accomplished during the first year of operating with a formalized strategic plan:

The agency also won a special Governor's Commendation for their efforts. Says the agency's Victoria Harrison, “I never thought that just by articulating, 'This is what we want to do,' it becomes so much easier to attain a goal...Incredible changes are going on.”

Statewide in Oklahoma. While “generic” strategic planning and process improvement are used widely in both the private and public sectors.

Approximately $80,000 per year has been spent in consultant fees; cost of staff time has not been separated out from other activities. Both are covered by the regular IV-D budget.

Harrison recommends the use of a facilitator, particularly one with a background in customer service and quality improvement. “While some may think they can guide their own people, having an outside facilitator really helps in addressing problems,” she says.

She also recommends being sure to do operational as well as strategic planning - attaching names and deadlines to specific goals. Accomplishing goals is facilitated by having managers meet regularly and communicate with each other about progress and roadblocks to achieving goals.

Victoria Harrison, Assistant to the Division Administrator; Special Projects Manager, Dept of Human Services, Child Support Enforcement Division, 2409 N. Kelley, Annex, Oklahoma City, OK 73111,

Ph: 405-522-0032, Fax: 405-522-2753, e-mail: Victoria.Harrison@okdhs.org.