Benjamin Stough

CASE STUDY 1 HOW REASSIGNING MANAGERS TRANSFORMED A GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION STOUGH PROFESSIONAL SERVICES THE PROBLEM A mid-sized county government office was struggling with inefficiency, poor customer service and low morale. By reassigning the responsibilities of two managers, the organization’s overall performance realized a significant improvement. CASE STUDY 1 2 BACKGROUND Marin County is located directly north of San Franciso. San Rafael, the county seat, is home to the legendary Marin County Civic Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Prior to Municipal and Superior Court unification, the Marin County Clerk performed a variety of official functions including registrar of voters, marriage licensing, commissioner of civil marriages, fictitious business name filings, and accept passport applications. The County Clerk also served as ex-officio clerk of the superior court. This dual responsibility led to considerable internal confusion. CASE STUDY 1 3 THE SOLUTION The Opportunity Like many government offices, similar work tasks were grouped together in the name of efficiencies such as data entry or phone duty. While this manner of organizing work seemed logical, it ignored the fact that clerk of court work is significantly more complex than maintaining an index and repository for filed or recorded documents. Lumping together vastly different types of work created challenges in training, retention, and morale. The county clerk’s office employed two high-level managers, herein referred to as Bea and Mary. Bea’s strength was she had an analytic mind. She was in the process of rolling out a new case management system, but with no direct reports to assist the project was not going well. Mary on the other hand was an affable people-person, but somewhat disorganized. With her extensive court experience, she was placed in charge of the entire clerk of court operations which spanned two floors of the Civic Center. The upper floor faced the public, while the lower floor housed court staff. She worked long hours ensuring the quality of the work coming out of the courtrooms, but it was clear to all she was overwhelmed by the broad scope of responsibility. The county clerk’s office employed two high-level managers, herein referred to as Bea and Mary. Bea’s strength was she had an analytic mind. She was in the process of rolling out a new case management system, but with no direct reports to assist the project was not going well. Mary on the other hand was an affable people-person, but somewhat disorganized. With her extensive court experience, she was placed in charge of the entire clerk of court operations which spanned two floors of the Civic Center. The upper floor faced the public, while the lower floor housed court staff. She worked long hours ensuring the quality of the work coming out of the courtrooms, but it was clear to all she was overwhelmed by the broad scope of responsibility. This simple reassignment of two managers had a profound effect on the overall operation. After having determined the case management system would not meet the court’s needs, the county clerk agreed to set aside that project until a suitable replacement could be found. That decision in turn made possible the reassignment of the two managers. Bea was placed in charge of the public counters while Mary focused on supporting court operations. Bea lost no time cleaning house. She organized materials and forms, eliminated outmoded policies, and raised expectations for productivity and professionalism. Mary moved her desk to the court’s floor which enabled her to support staff, monitor their work, and develop a closer relationship with the judges. CASE STUDY 1 4 This simple reassignment of two managers had a profound effect on the overall operation: • Each manager’s scope of responsibility was evenly divided, allowing organizational issues to addressed more quickly • Each manager’s strengths were better matched to organizational needs • Each manager enjoyed greater job satisfaction • Employees enjoyed clearer lines of reporting and access to management • Morale improved CASE STUDY 1 5