Washington State’s Government Accountability Program

1. Washington State’sGovernment Accountability Program What is GMAP? Amy Astle-Raaen, MSW Children’s Administration Supervisors Training April 21, 2009

2. Showing Improvements and Increased Accountability Increased accountability is everywhere in government these days • From the Federal “Government Performance and Results Act of 1993” to Medicaid’s “Pay for Performance” program there is increasing pressure on government to show the public that they are not wasting taxpayer money. • In Washington our Governor understands that state government agencies have cut themselves to the bone and are doing all they can. • But she has gone further and asked state agencies to show that clearly to the taxpayers. • She has mandated the Government Management Accountability and Performance program, or GMAP, • to show simply and with data that agencies are managing their programs effectively • and to solve problems collectively

5. What Topics are Covered? Current Topic Areas are: • Economic Vitality • Health Care* • Vulnerable Children and Adults* • Public Safety* • Transportation • Government Efficiency* • Environment (Puget Sound clean-up) • WorkFirst* * DSHS is involved in these forums

6. GMAP Principles • Engage the leaders at the top of the organization • Effective measures require clarity on: • which programs and services are expected to change • how agencies will use measure to manage programs and get results • Develop and use timely and accurate data to set targets and inform decisions • Reward candor and creativity • When the data indicates that action is needed, clearly specify action steps, leads, and deadlines • Persistent follow-up and clear accountability • Create a continuous learning environment (use process improvement tools)

7. This is not GMAP…

8. Learning Opportunity: How efficient are your processes? What stands in the way of increasing the agencies effectiveness?

9. Success Stories: Foster Care

10. Children’s Administration Performance Measures

11. Children’s Administration Performance Measures

12. Children’s Administration Performance Measures

13. Children’s Administration Performance Measures

14. Children’s Administration Performance Measures

15. Different Levels of Reporting Performance Remember, performance is not only reported to the Governor and her Cabinet • There are internal DSHS GMAP sessions coordinated at headquarters • Different regions and offices within the Children’s Administration have their own performance reporting activities

16. Using Performance Measures to Manage

17. Goals of Today’s Training • Understand your Administration’s core performance measures and how these measures align with the expectations you have set for your team members • Help set and manage expectations for your team using performance measures • Identify conditions that may affect employee performance • Provide tools and recommendations for incorporating these conditions into employees’ performance reviews

18. Recognizing extenuating factors is necessary when reviewing an employee’s performance External conditions can affect Performance • External conditions are felt among all team members; not just one employee • External conditions can be broken down into two types: Macro and Micro Factors. • Examples of Macro Economic Factors: • Increased Unemployment rates equates to Increased caseload • Stock Market and Recession equates to increased volatility • Examples of Micro Economic Factors: • Prolonged Adverse weather conditions not common to the area • State Hiring Freeze

19. Recognizing extenuating factors is necessary when reviewing an employee’s performance Internal conditions can also affect performance • Are the caseload sizes similar? • Are the distances traveled comparable among employees? • Is the caseload mix similar? • % of ICPC (Interstate Compact Cases) • % of ICW (Child is alleged or determined to be Native American) • % of Chemically dependent cases (two sub-categories: Adult or Child) • % of Mental Health cases (two sub-categories: Adult or Child) • % of LEP cases (Limited English Proficiency—sub-categorize the types of languages within caseload) • % of cases where Child has 4 or more placements • How does the employee’s caseload compare to the team average? • How does the employee’s caseload compare to someone of equal seniority and training within the Administration? If any of these conditions vary among the team members, then assessing ones performance against the whole team OR against each other doesn’t give the supervisor a true and accurate picture of the individual employee performance

20. How to use this information effectively • Since all caseloads have varying conditions, it’s important to identify and if possible, quantify the differences between the team’s caseload and Regional caseload.(see demographic pie chart) • Similarly, compare each individual member caseload with the team caseload. • By identifying and tracking these individual and team differences, the supervisor will be able to review the past experiences and predict, within limits, how the caseload processes *may* be expected to vary in the future. • Additionally, through tracking the Supervisor can begin to see whether the variation is related to general process issues or individual performance issues.

21. Example of quantifying data: Caseload characteristics/demographics Regular – Cases with no variables; limitations LEP – Limited English Proficiency Legal Cases – Court Waiting ICPC – Interstate Compact Cases ICW – Native American Chem.Dep – Chemical Dependency 2 subcategories/child or parent Mental Health – 2 subcategories/child or parent Ch.>4 Place – Children who have 4 or more placements

22. How to use this information effectively Make 3 comparisons to the employee’s caseload • Employee caseload to the team caseload • Employee caseload to another employee from the same classification and years of service • Employee’s caseload against self; reviewing snapshot of current caseload and if possible, comparing current caseload against any historical caseload data for same employee Be aware of the difference between “normal variation” and “change in the performance” within your team and individual caseloads. • Not every up or down in the data is significant! • Reacting to every up or down as if it were a significant event is guaranteed to waste resources and quickly de-motivate staff • Meeting or exceeding a target may simply be due to how the target was set In addition to keeping track of the quantifiable data (i.e. caseload make-up, number of visits, miles traveled per visit), a supervisor should also track changes within a team (both team and individual information). • A significant events calendar can be used to track these changes While tracking can become tedious, it does help in the PDP writing process. As a supervisor, if you see anemployee’s performance drop, review your monthly calendar and caseload demographics to see what, if any changes occurred that could help explain the drop in performance. Your PDP’s become less intimidating for employees and future performanceplanningis simplified. Employee’s benefit in that targets are more tangible and realistic. Employees can see and track their own successes, thus feel successful; not de-motivated.

23. Example of Significant Event Calendar 23 • Helpful Hints • Track increases and decreases in caseloads. • Are your team case load numbers aligned with the rest of the office? • Have you lost or hired staff? • Prolonged vacations? Prolonged Illnesses?

24. Thank you Amy Astle-Raaen, MSW Planning and Performance Analyst Planning, Performance and Accountability Department of Social and Health Services 1115 Washington St P.O. Box 45011 Olympia, WA 98504-5011 (360) 902-8293 astleae@dshs.wa.gov For more information visit the GMAP website: http://www.accountability.wa.gov/default.asp or the DSHS Intranet GMAP website: http://ppa.dshs.wa.lcl