Remarks for Chief Deputy Secretary Dan DeVane
AASHTO Standing Committee on Quality 2008 Conference Opening Session
Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at 2 p.m.
Raleigh
Introduction
Thank you, Rhonda, for that nice introduction.
First, I would like to welcome you all to North Carolina. I hope you thoroughly enjoy your time in the Tar Heel State. We are pleased to host this year's conference here in our capital city.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation is responsible for nearly 80,000 miles of state-maintained highways, the second largest state network behind Texas. We are also home to the nation's second-largest ferry system, Washington state being the largest.
Our department also oversees public transit, rail, bicycle and pedestrian transportation and aviation. In addition, North Carolina's Division of Motor Vehicles is part of the agency.
To help us carry out our mission and responsibilities, we rely on the skills and abilities of 14,000 employees. They do a great job.
Transportation has long been an important part of North Carolina's history and culture - evolving from the plank roads of the 19th century to a comprehensive multi-modal infrastructure. In fact, one of our state's nicknames is "The Good Roads State," which refers to the rapid development of our highway system in the early part of the 20th century.
Like many of your home states, North Carolina is facing the challenge of providing the best possible transportation system while dealing with a rapidly growing population, increased vehicle miles traveled, rising construction costs and decreased revenues.
Transformation
In an effort to respond to these challenges and to build upon our rich transportation history, NCDOT has embarked on a new venture to transform the operations and culture of our agency.
I understand that you will have the opportunity later in the week to hear from our Transformation Management Team and learn about the nuts and bolts of this process. I would like to briefly share how we arrived at the need to move our agency to a performance-based culture and what we have accomplished so far.
In trying to meet our state's growing transportation demands, we knew we would have to take on a wholesale transformation of our agency. Basically, we need to take an already good NCDOT and make it great in the eyes of our customers, stakeholders and employees.
The first step involved hiring McKinsey and Co., a leading business consulting firm, to help us better understand the key leadership and cultural elements needed to improve a high-performing organization. McKinsey was selected because of its proven results working with other high-profile agencies.
To develop recommendations for improvement, the firm worked extensively with our employees, stakeholders and transportation experts. They spent time learning what worked well, what could be improved and where change was essential.
Based on their findings, Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett decided to make transformation a priority for the department.
A transformation management team, comprised of employees from across the agency, was tasked with developing solutions that will affect change.
Specifically their mission is to work with the agency's operational areas to:
" Communicate a clear, consistent statement of the department's vision and goals;
" Develop a targeted and strategic prioritization of projects and activities most critical to our success;
" Improve employee performance, accountability and development;
" Improve internal coordination and communication; and
" Recruit and retain a highly talented workforce.
One of the first items that the TMT group tackled was defining the department's strategic direction, including our mission and goals.
A new department mission and goals statement were developed that are clear and easy to understand. NCDOT's mission is connecting people and places in North Carolina - safely and efficiently, with accountability and environmental sensitivity.
And our new goals are to:
" Make our transportation network safer;
" Make our transportation network move people and goods more efficiently;
" Make our infrastructure last longer;
" Make our organization a place that works well; and
" Make our organization a great place to work.
The new mission and goals statement also provides the basis to make the department's work measurable and hold managers accountable.
The department has also established a Strategic Planning Office, to help prioritize the projects, programs and services that best help us meet our goals and keep them moving forward.
To help measure our performance and accountability, the department has created a dashboard on our Web site that shows the public our progress in meeting our goals. This is an easy, visible way for citizens and other stakeholders to evaluate our performance.
As you can see, we have taken the first steps on the journey to a redefined department and have begun several major initiatives. We are looking forward to making continued progress in the future.
Continuous Process Improvement
While we are focusing on a department-wide change to improve our operations, the concept of employee-led innovation is not new to our agency.
For the past 10 years, both NCDOT and the citizens of North Carolina have benefited from our Continuous Process Improvement Program.
Each year the CPI program draws dozens of employee-submitted ideas on ways to increase efficiency, save money and improve safety.
When feasible, these ideas are incorporated into the department's policies and procedures.
Since the program began in 1998, employee-driven innovations have saved the
department about $118 million, which includes savings in time, labor and materials.
But what truly makes these ideas unique is that they are real solutions to everyday situations found throughout our state.
In fact, some of the most popular NCDOT services began with a submission to the CPI program. For example, the Division of Motor Vehicles online business systems are the direct result of this program.
Other CPI-born innovations include a process to tag damaged guardrails for quicker repair, the use of portable temporary bridges on construction projects, our current environmental permitting process and a standard bridge design system.
These innovations demonstrate our employees' commitment to making the best use of our limited state resources.
I'm pleased to say that you will all have the opportunity to see innovations such as these tomorrow as you join us for the 10th annual CPI Conference. You will also hopefully see ideas that you would like to take back home.
Conclusion
Whether it is through a wholesale change of the department's culture and operations or through employee-driven innovation, NCDOT firmly believes in providing the citizens of this state the best possible transportation system.
As professionals dedicated to improving quality in our transportation systems, I encourage you to seek out new opportunities for development this week, both for your state and your peers. We can each benefit from the experiences of others.
Again, welcome to North Carolina. I hope you enjoy meeting our employees, visiting our CPI conference and spending time here.