Industry News: New CPO Appointee Jeffrey Zients

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Industry News: New CPO Appointee Jeffrey Zients

Source: Consultants News – May 8, 2009
By: Joe LiPetri

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Volume 39 Issue 10 – From Industry News Section

Last month President Obama nominated Jeffrey Zients to the position of Chief Performance Officer. The White House’s initial choice, Nancy Killefer, withdrew her nomination in February over her failure to pay a relatively small amount of Washington, DC unemployment taxes for household help.

Zients is a surprising choice, given his limited public sector consulting experience. If this appointment really was about finding an individual capable of improving government efficiency, one might argue that selecting someone from a well-recognized firm with a substantial US federal government practice might have been a better choice. However, Zients’ consulting background in private sector best practices, process reengineering, performance metrics, and financial management – gained during stint as Chairman at the Advisory Board and the Corporate Executive Board – could go a long way toward furthering Obama’s agendas on improving government efficiency, accountability, and transparency.

Bringing private-sector best practices to the federal government was attempted with limited success during the 1990s under Al Gore’s “reinventing government” initiative. But agencies are not driven by profit motives, and federal lawmakers and employees serve constituents, not shareholders. Some say Gore’s taskforce was hampered by an inability to effect change deep within agencies. Ron Wince, CEO of Guidon Performance Solutions, an OM consultancy that serves federal, state, and local government agencies, says the incoming CPO could avoid these roadblocks by “partnering with people who know how to navigate the bowels of these agencies, identifying where eliminating wasteful practices aligns with overall agency objectives, and making sure the right messaging starts at the top and cascades down to all levels.”

Wince says that instead of taking the “private sector does it better” approach, the CPO should look at how several federal and state agencies and US military branches have adopted Lean/Six Sigma principles to boost efficiency and continuously improve. “This would save a lot of time, and you’d be more apt to get buy-in from those agency heads who might want to emulate their peers.” In particular, he says the use of Lean principles could be a very effective part of the CPO’s strategy because it focuses on engaging with people who know the processes best to identify where inefficiencies exist.

Another government challenge is resistance to changing the status quo. Wince says the CPO might want to consider a domino approach. “The CPO should initially target the 20% who get it and want to participate, and then publicize their wins and successes. When the other 80% see the early adapters getting the recognition, they’ll often jump on board.”

The new CPO will have to work hard to compel the various agency heads to understand the efficiency imperative and the benefits of embracing change. But the person in this role will need an actual organization and clear roadmap of what it will take to achieve results. This not only offers the best chance of reducing government waste, but it can maximize the effect the remaining stimulus funds will have on revitalizing the economy.