Updates
Introduction | Updates | FAQs | Best
practices
11/26/04
Do you remember when Michael Jordan tried
his hand at baseball? An incomparable athlete, and a far
better baseball player than most, but still, baseball wasn't
his area of greatest talent. Where Michael Jordan soared,
quite literally, was on the basketball court. It's hard
to imagine the incredible display of talent we would have
missed if he had never discovered his gift for the game
of basketball.
My hope for all of us is that we find ways to maximize
our hard work by consciously and intentionally using our
talents to do what we do best, every day. And one of the
most outstanding tools I've used to help me identify some
of my own strengths will be available to you on Monday,
November 29th. The Clifton StrengthsFinder (SF34) was offered
to DAM managers a year ago, and as a pilot to the entire
Financial Management Division last spring. I'm hearing
great feedback from those employees who have taken the
strengths assessment, and particularly from those groups
who have already put their discoveries to use.
The SF34 is an online tool which takes approximately 30
minutes to complete. You'll be asked a series of questions
which allow you to indicate your preference for particular
situations, and when you're done you'll immediately receive
your top five Signature Themes.** These are not about knowledge,
skills and abilities as we typically think of them, but
rather our inner strengths which help form what we do and
how we do it.
For example, my Signature Themes are Context, Harmony,
Learner, Intellection and Responsibility. This makes perfect
sense - I work best when I have enough background information
to allow me to put certain actions and decisions into their
appropriate context. I work hard to reach consensus, and
am often not in my comfort zone when faced with interpersonal
conflict. I also thoroughly enjoy reading and learning
new things, and I tend to be somewhat introspective, preferring
to think things through carefully before making significant
decisions. And responsibility is key for me - I take significant
ownership of what I say I will do, and honesty and loyalty
are very important to me.
Understanding this about me might tell you that if you're
going to bring an important decision to my desk, I generally
appreciate having some background information on it. And
that if there's some interpersonal conflict going on, it's
not my natural inclination to wade right in and start fixing
it.
What I find particularly interesting is that you don't
see themes like Command, Strategic or Futuristic in my
top five. As a matter of fact, they're relatively low on
the list for me. So StrengthsFinder is not about identifying
themes which would, on the surface, appear to lend themselves
to being the Deputy Administrator, for example, and then
trying to recruit employees who have those themes in their
top five or ten. Rather, it's about increasing my understanding
around the things which are most characteristic of myself,
and learning how to maximize those innate strengths in
whatever position I might find myself.
Likewise, my hope is that you'll take advantage of this
opportunity to expand your own self-awareness, and that
you'll seek ways to maximize your strengths, therefore
increasing your level of fulfillment and engagement wherever
you are.
Whether you share your strengths with anyone else is entirely
up to you - no one in FSA will have access to that information.
But even if you should choose to hold that knowledge for
yourself, I still heartily encourage you to take advantage
of this opportunity simply for the value it will hold in
your own life.
If you're interested in more of the technical details about
SF34, I would encourage you to click on http://hr.ffas.usda.gov/offices/Gallup/updates.htm
, which will take you to my update from March, including
an introduction to the StrengthsFinder instrument.
As an organization, we've made a significant commitment
to using this tool because we believe it's an opportunity
to make a very worthwhile investment in each of you, our
most valuable assets. We have two trained Strengths Coaches,
Chris Claussen in Kansas City (816.926.1949) and Joanna
Barlow in Washington ((202) 401-0225), who are available
to answer any questions you might have, as well as help
you fully understand your Signature Themes. I recently
spent an hour or so with Chris Claussen to better understand
my strengths, and how I can maximize them to increase my
own effectiveness, and to better communicate with my associates.
I found it an extremely valuable experience, and I sincerely
wish this sort of opportunity had been made available to
me earlier in my career.
We've also arranged to make online training available to
you, which will give you the opportunity to receive all
34 of your themes in order, instead of just the top five.
This, together with the Strengths Coaches, is an opportunity
which is only available in the context of an ongoing organizational
initiative such as ours. We will also be training your
supervisors in how to ensure you have the opportunity to
do what you do best - every single day.
If the Q12 is about investing in your workgroup, SF34 is
about investing directly in yourself. I can not recommend
it more highly, or encourage you more heartily to take
advantage of this tool.
John Williams
Deputy Administrator for Management
November 26, 2004
**Please note that your "top five" or Signature
Themes will be revealed once you complete the brief "Focus
on You" course and the related quiz. Available courses
appear as blue underlined links in the My Courses list.
To proceed, click an available course. As you complete
required courses, additional courses will become available.
Back to Top 
10/27/04
On Monday you'll be receiving your invitations to participate in our third Q12 employee engagement survey. I've been doing a lot of thinking about this, and I'd like to share a few of my thoughts with you before you respond to the survey.
We use instruments like this just as we would an annual health check-up - to help us see progress toward our goals, and to give us the opportunity to identify issues which could cause us significant trouble in the future. So again, I want to emphasize that my request is for your honest assessment, because anything less will not tell us what we need to know.
But the value in this process is not in the mechanics of answering the questions, comparing your scores and developing impact plans. The value in this process lies in our capacity to embrace the management principles which underlie the questions, and to make shifts within every workgroup so that all of DAM embodies the values of an extraordinary workplace.
My objective in sponsoring this process is not simply to measure feedback and develop plans, but to create in each of us a sufficiently compelling vision of what's possible so that we will not settle for anything less. This is also our way of letting everyone know - ourselves included - that these are the principles we stand for, in unambiguous terms.
My hope is that we are working together to create this environment, not just as an annual survey event, but in our everyday interactions. My goal is an organization in which each of us knows exactly what is expected of us, where we honor one another with positive feedback, develop strong relationships, and ensure we're doing what we do best, every day.
The survey is not a management requirement, rather an opportunity for us to express a shared commitment to one another that these are our values. It's also a means of creating some accountability in expressing how we feel about where we are, and what we as an organization should strive to achieve.
If I may borrow an analogy from the other event coming up next week, just as we will be voting for the kind of government we want, I'd like for us to view participation in the engagement survey as a vote for the kind of workplace we want. The consistently high rate of participation thus far tells me that this is very important to you, as well, and I hope you continue to give us your honest feedback so we'll have a more clear picture of how we need to shape our future.
I want to close by thanking you sincerely for your participation in this process, and to encourage us to hold on to the vision of an exceptional workplace where these values are not only aspired to, but lived.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Back to Top
03/23/04
Message from John Williams, Deputy Administrator for Management:
I'd like to give you just a brief update on
our Gallup Q12 activities, and then introduce a new tool
about which I'm very enthusiastic.
Hopefully all of you have had at least one
impact meeting with your workgroup to talk about your 2003
Q12 data, identify areas for potential growth, and develop
working plans to move forward on those areas. If you need
any ideas on ways to increase your engagement, you may want
to reference FSA's Best Practices report on HRD's website.
As we look forward to our next survey, which
we're planning for November 2004, I'd like to encourage you
to have follow-up meetings every 6-8 weeks to ensure
progress. I want to re-emphasize that the purpose is not
about increasing the numeric scores, but increasing our
engagement and thus our effectiveness as an organization,
which is not just a one-time effort.
In the meantime, we are beginning the second
phase of our Best Practices study. Last year focused on
questions 1-6, and this year will focus on questions 7-12.
We'll be interviewing groups who are showing up as highly
engaged, as well as groups who are showing significant
improvement since last year. As soon as the interviews are
completed, Gallup will develop a report which we will make
available to each of you.
In conjunction with the work we're doing
with Gallup's Q12, I'm extremely pleased to announce that
each of you will have the opportunity to participate in
Gallup's StrengthsFinder (SF34). We will be piloting this in
FMD, and I plan to expand it to the rest of DAM in November.
My goal is for us capitalize on your individual strengths
and thereby maximize individual and organizational
performance.
Gallup has conducted extensive research into
the nature of talents, which they define as "recurring
patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior that can be
productively applied." Their research revealed 34 themes of
talent that are indicative of success. Gallup's
StrengthsFinder assessment tool measures a person's talent
in each of these 34 themes, then reveals his or her five
most dominant themes, or "Signature Themes." An individual's
Signature Themes are very unique to that person - when
ranking within the set of five themes is taken into
consideration, 33,390,720 different sets of Signature Themes
are possible.
StrengthsFinder is used in a purely
developmental context - I want to assure you that this is
not in any way a placement tool. Gallup does not teach that
any specific theme of talent is more appropriate for one
role than for another (i.e., they don't suggest that
"Achievers" should necessarily be managers). Instead, they
first look at each person as an individual on the basis of
talent, then help that individual discover how to develop
his or her natural talents into strengths within his or her
role. Individuals who focus on their Signature Themes --
their areas of greatest talent -- have the best opportunity
to build strengths and become more successful.
I am very excited about what StrengthsFinder
can do for us. This is, ultimately, an investment in each
one of you, with the goal that each of you will understand
1) your own dominant strengths, 2) how your strengths help
you in your existing position, and 3) how you can maximize
your strengths to increase performance in your current role.
We, individually and as an organization,
have far more potential for growth in our areas of strength
than in our areas of weakness, and I anticipate great things
as a result of the work we'll do in this area.
If you have any specific questions related
to Q12, Best Practices or StrengthsFinder, please feel free
to contact Joanna Barlow at (202) 401-0225. And as always, I
welcome your comments and feedback on any of these
engagement activities.
Thank you,
John Williams
Back to Top
8/29/03
Message from John Williams, Deputy Administrator for Management:
To: All DAM employees: Gallup Q12 2003
I'm very pleased to announce that our second Gallup Q12
survey is scheduled to begin Tuesday, September 2nd, and
will run through Friday, September 19th. Just like last
year, Gallup will e-mail you an invitation to take the
survey, and will provide you with an individual access
code to ensure confidentiality. We had a tremendous response
rate in 2002, which tells me you're very interested in
identifying our workplace strengths and weaknesses. This
year's responses will be even more important since they'll
give us a clear picture of the direction our culture is
heading, so I heartily encourage you to participate once
again.
I also want to take a moment to put this in the context
of a much bigger picture. The principle behind President
Bush's Strategic Management of Human Capital initiative
is to improve the way agencies are held accountable for
managing the single most important government resource,
and the administration has made it very clear that the
Human Capital initiative must now move beyond the planning
stage.
The work we're doing with Gallup's Q12 is putting us
at a significant advantage for the President's initiative,
especially in light of the results from OPM's Federal
Human Capital Survey (FHCS). FSA's data from the FHCS
clearly reflected our 2002 Gallup Q12 engagement data,
most notably in the areas of recognition and awards.
(If you're interested in seeing the FHCS data, click
on http://dc.ffasintranet.usda.gov/hrd/OD.htm and scroll
down to the FSA results in the green box.) These combined
engagement and improvement strategies will go a long
way toward helping us attain a results-oriented performance
culture.
I want to specifically commend those workgroups who have
made positive changes based on last year's Q12 survey
results. Many of you have embraced this process as an
opportunity to enhance your work environment and your
personal engagement, and we've heard some very positive
reports of your efforts. I trust that by now your directors
have passed on the link to the FSA Best Practices Report
on HRD's website. Our Gallup consultant interviewed many
of our top-performing groups, and identified quite a
number of exceptional ideas and success stories. If you
haven't already looked at the report, you may find some
very useful concepts.
I also realize that many of you have yet to make decisive
changes as a result of last year's survey. Some reservation
on your part is understandable, given the amount of skepticism
surrounding management initiatives which are frequently
seen as "the flavor of the month". But I'd
like to take this opportunity to express my commitment
to addressing many of our workplace issues, and I strongly
encourage you to make full use of the opportunities the
Q12 survey offers you. There is no better tool to identify
issues which are specific to your individual workgroups,
and which are therefore very much within your influence
to change.
We've decided to add a question this year for you to
provide feedback on the degree to which your workgroup
made use of last year's survey results, which we expect
will give us some interesting indicators. We'll be using
that data to help us determine our next steps, so this
year's survey is an important opportunity for you to
communicate your opinions on some very pivotal issues.
If anyone has technical questions during the survey process,
Gallup will include a toll-free number with your invitation.
If you have other questions, feel free to contact Joanna
Barlow, HRD, at (202) 401-0225.
John Williams
Deputy Administrator for Management
Back to Top
02-04-03
Message from John Williams, Deputy Administrator for Management:
I'd like to take a moment to bring you up to date on our
Gallup Q12 activities. I understand that most of you have
had your work group meetings to discuss your data and develop
action plans. I'm hearing some very promising reports about
your ideas, and if your group has not yet held its meeting,
I heartily encourage you to do so very soon. This is an
important opportunity I don't want you to miss.
Bernadine Karunaratne, our Gallup consultant, provided
a briefing to the Administrator and his Associate Administrators
on Monday, January 27th. She gave an overview of the survey
background and process, and shared the data from our first
survey. Mr. Little is very encouraged to see the steps
we've taken to improve our engagement, and he's looking
forward to seeing the outcomes. He sincerely appreciates
your willingness to "step up to the plate" to
specifically identify some of our organizational issues,
and particularly that we're taking the necessary steps
to address them.
I met with the DAM Directors on Monday afternoon to hear
more about the action plans you've developed, and one of
the consistent themes I heard is a desire on your part
for more communication - that we managers need to provide
more information, more project direction, and a better
picture of our mission and our priorities. We also need
to focus on clearly communicating what we expect of you,
and we want to give more positive feedback for the excellent
job you do.
Several groups asked for all-hands meetings, and as the
division directors and I work on this area, I'd like to
ask you to discuss ways to improve communication within
your work groups, as well. Besides the broad recommendations
we are considering, it's very important that each work
unit look for ways to make constructive changes to improve
engagement, productivity and customer service. What makes
the Gallup tool so effective is that it identifies strengths
and challenges within each work group, and I want to be
sure you take full advantage of the opportunity to address
the issues which are specific to your immediate co-workers.
Another theme I heard is the need for more frequent recognition.
As you work with your fellow employees on the action plans
related to this issue, I'd like you to share some of your
ideas with me. As we're all aware, the funds available
for cash awards are very limited, and I want to encourage
you to think creatively about meaningful ways to recognize
exceptional work.
I'd like to specifically commend both the KC Administrative
Office and the Budget Division for their commitment to
the Gallup process. Between them, they've taken some excellent
steps such as incorporating their action plans into their
strategic plans; having monthly staff meetings to review
their progress; and working through challenging issues
such as recognition, opportunities for development, and
looking for ways to do what they do best every day. These
are the kinds of things which will make a significant,
permanent impact on our culture, individual engagement,
and customer service.
Full commitment to this process is very, very important,
and I'll be looking to your directors to provide continual
feedback on your action plans and the progress you're making
toward implementing them. In the coming weeks, we'll be
asking you to tell us about some of the things which are
working well for you, so we can share your "best practices" with
your fellow employees. I'm very pleased with the progress
we've made so far, and I have great expectations for what's
ahead of us.
Thank you.
John
Back to Top
9-24-2002
Message from John Williams, Deputy Administrator for Management:
I'd like to bring you up-to-date on our Gallup Q12 program.
The DAM Division Directors attended a briefing Tuesday,
September 10, on the results from the Employee Engagement
Survey. First, we heard some very good news - we had a
78% response rate, which is higher than Gallup usually
sees, especially on the first round.
I want to personally express my appreciation for your
responses. We are sensitive to the fact that it sometimes
seems as though we are "over-surveyed", so we
are especially pleased that so many of you responded to
the Gallup survey. That's a very encouraging sign that
you believed your responses would be heard. It challenges
us, as DAM managers, not only to hear you, but to act on
what you've told us.
We chose to conduct this program because Gallup has developed
an exceptionally high-quality instrument which has been
repeatedly validated, not only in measuring employee engagement,
but also in leading to significant organizational improvements.
We've invested substantial resources in this project because
we want to strengthen our workplace - which can only happen
if each of us takes personal responsibility for getting
involved.
While the response rate was good news, we also heard some
not-so-very-good news. We did not rank well on the overall
engagement index. We have far fewer "engaged" employees
than the average total U.S. Working Population, and far
more "actively disengaged" employees. This means
that we don't have enough employees who are having most
of their performance-related workplace needs met, and we
have too many employees who are unhappy with their work
situation - physically present but psychologically absent.
Gallup reported several consistent trends. We ranked fairly
well on the item that said "I have a best friend at
work". That's excellent news. As an overall organization,
we also tended to rank well on "My supervisor, or
someone at work, seems to care about me as a person." These
are indicators of a genuine sense of community.
However, we didn't do as well on the items "In the
last seven days, I have received recognition or praise
for doing good work", "There is someone at work
who encourages my development" and "At work,
my opinions seem to count".
Clearly, we have many opportunities for improving our
work environment. Over the next several weeks Gallup will
train each of your supervisors on working with you to make
those improvements. For every work unit with at least five
survey respondents, your supervisors will receive scorecards
showing exactly where your group needs to focus. Gallup
will also provide your supervisors with specific tools
to support your work unit's improvements.
I am committed to acting on the survey results. We want
to promote a culture in which employees are recognized
for excellent performance. We want to provide opportunities
for your development, and we want a culture in which employee
opinions count. In order to do that, each of us must take
individual responsibility for improving our workplace,
and for being a fully engaged work community.
I'm excited to see the opportunities in front of us. I
encourage you to stay actively involved in this process,
and I look forward to meeting the challenges before us
and creating an environment in which we all look forward
to working each and every day.
Thank you.
John
Back to Top
8-19-2002
Message from John Williams, Deputy Administrator for Management:
We had an excellent response to the recent Gallup Q12 Survey
conducted in the DAM divisions. The data collected has
been analyzed and Gallup has delivered the reports which
reflect the engagement of your individual workgroups.
As discussed in the overview sessions, Gallup trainers
will conduct 4-hour supervisory training sessions for all
supervisors in the DAM organization, the dates and times
for which have now been scheduled. Please keep in mind
this training is critical to the improvement of morale,
productivity and other engagement measures, and is therefore
mandatory. The sessions are scheduled in Washington, DC
and Kansas City throughout October, so vacation times,
fiscal closeout, etc., will present fewer scheduling conflicts.
If you have an unavoidable conflict which would prevent
you from attending any of your local sessions, exceptions
for highly unusual situations may be granted by Dennis
Taitano, Frank Shehan, Chris Reagan, Waymon Ponds, Kristine
Chadwick, and Frank Riley. Special arrangements will be
made for individual training in those cases.
Each training session will run from 9am to 1pm, will accommodate
30 supervisors, and will be filled on a first-come, first-served
basis. Please e-mail Bonni Goeddel right away with your
first and second choices to best ensure getting the session
of your choice.
Washington, DC:
Thursday, October 3
Thursday, October 17
Kansas City (including St. Louis supervisors):
Wednesday, October 2
Tuesday, October 8
Wednesday, October 16
If you have any questions, please call Joanna Barlow at
(202) 401-0225.
Back to Top
7-18-2002
Gallup Update and Upcoming Milestones
Once again FSA employees are proving they can live up
to high expectations. You were invited to be partners in
an effort to build a stronger workplace. The first milestone
is the completion of the Q12 Gallup survey, the goal of
which is to measure employee engagement and identify our
areas of strength and areas that require improvement. Gallup
has informed us that the response rates for the survey
are running well above average. Thank you for taking the
first step on a journey to improve our work environment
for all of us.
Gallup will take the next few weeks to analyze your responses,
prepare reports, and customize some training for our managers.
In early September managers and supervisors will be receiving
individual reports on the survey results and "how
to" training from Gallup. They will then begin scheduling
meetings with their work units to start the process of
developing actions plans to address any issues that were
identified from the survey responses.
We have some very exciting possibilities ahead of us.
Gallup's work with other government agencies has shown
us this can lead to significant improvements in work environment
and employee engagement. While this is not expected to
be a quick fix some improvements will be realized in the
near future and we will continue to identify our needs
and build on our strengths on a regular and on-going basis.
Your continued involvement is an investment in the long
term health of our workplace. Together we can build on
our strengths, create a great place to work and provide
better value for our "customers".
Again, THANK YOU to everyone who has already completed
the survey. If you have not had an opportunity to complete
the survey yet please do so by 6:00 pm CDT this Friday,
July 19th. Call the Gallup hotline at 1-800-788-9987 or
send an e-mail to surveyhelp@gallup.com if you need assistance.
Thank you,
The Gallup Q12 Project Team
Back to Top
7-15-2002
Hello Gallup Q12 Partners,
The success of the Gallup Q12 Study starts with you. All
of the employees under the DAM divisions are partners in
this process. The first milestone is the completion of
the Q12 Survey. To all of you who have already completed
the survey on the Gallup web site, THANK YOU! Gallup has
informed us that our percent of response for the first
week is, at 53%, higher than the average so let's keep
the momentum going. If you have not completed the survey
please do so by this Friday, July 19th.
If you did not receive your e-mail invitation from Gallup
with your access code please contact Joanna Barlow, 202-401-0225
or call the Gallup hotline at 1-800-788-9987 or send an
e-mail to surveyhelp@gallup.com.
The Q12 survey data doesn't just measure employee satisfaction,
it is a measure of our agency's performance and provides
a powerful tool in effecting change. Gallup's statistical
analysis has proven that employee and customer satisfaction
as well as mission success are part of the same equation.
The starting point for our success is people. That's why
the survey and your participation are so important. So
please help us meet the goal of 100% participation.
Thank you,
The Gallup Q12 Project Team
Back to Top
7-3-2002
Employee Survey: The survey can be completed online between
July 8 and July 18, 2002. The online address and access
code will be included in your e-mail notification from
The Gallup Organization. If, during the survey period,
you have specific questions about YOUR survey, call Gallup
at 1-800-788-9987 or send an e-mail to surveyhelp@gallup.com
