U.S. Department of Labor:
Giving the DOL a new measure of success

The Challenge

Since the mid-1980’s, Americans have increasingly demanded a more accountable government that responsibly manages its resources and demonstrates measurable results. The Government Performance and Results Act (the Results Act) embodied these demands in legislation; the President’s Management Agenda reinforced their focus on the effective and efficient use of resources.

Although the Department of Labor (DOL) had long been a results-oriented organization, it needed help to implement a comprehensive results-based management system that would:

• Focus the DOL’s resources and activities on priority outcomes
• Establish an outcome-based resource allocation process
• Measure outcome-based performance
• Create reliable accountability and reporting structures
• Achieve Peak Performance® from DOL’s budget process

Beyond measuring activities, DOL needed to determine whether the results obtained were solving problems that the American people cared about, such as injuries in the workplace, security of private pension plans and the employability of the Nation’s youth and displaced workers. DOL also needed a way to link its goals, strategies and measures to its budget so that senior management could get an answer to the question: “What are we getting for our money?”

The transformation, however, would require DOL to dislodge a budget structure that had been in place for years – a structure that the Department and Capitol Hill were used to seeing year after year. No comparable budget structures were in place, nor were there models to build upon. Moreover, the DOL executive leadership, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Congressional appropriations committees would be scrutinizing the results. To overcome these hurdles to Peak Performance®, DOL looked to SiloSmashers for expert help.

The Path to a Solution

SiloSmashers has worked with the DOL for several years to implement the Results Act. To facilitate its migration to outcome-based performance measures, the Department asked us to help refocus its strategic plan on clear outcomes. Our first step? We brought the appropriate DOL performance management executives to the table. Here, we facilitated effective discussions to determine goals, objectives and appropriate performance measures. We also collaborated with the DOL staff in the field, soliciting their input in developing objectives.

Building on the framework of the strategic plan, we worked with DOL to establish a new budget structure that would better link resources to results and fulfill the requirements of the President’s Management Agenda. Our project team facilitated a series of task group meetings that included repre-sentatives from the many agencies that comprise DOL. Specifically, we:

• Worked with the group to develop a single budget structure that every DOL agency could use
• Pioneered a Performance Budget Overview that allows executives to quickly understand the key elements of the budget – and reduces confusion for those who write the budget
• Developed implementation guidance and a budget document prototype, using one of the DOL agencies’ budgets as our content source.

The Results of Peak Performance®

Today, for the first time ever, there is a tool that allows the DOL, OMB and Congress to make budgeting decisions based on concrete, measurable performance data. The availability of these metrics is helping DOL to achieve Peak Performance®. Programs that work for the taxpayer can receive priority. Those that don’t can also be identified.

The DOL was one of the first three cabinet-level agencies to “Get to Green” on budget and performance integration, a key rating for the President’s Management Agenda. In addition, SiloSmashers was recognized for its assistance in modifying DOL’s budget presentation. This work was briefed to Congressional staffers and sited by OMB as a best practice for formulating a perform-ance-based budget. According to OMB:

“Everyone at the Department of Labor knows what they are supposed to achieve, because individual performance goals link to program performance goals which link to agency strategic goals. Individuals are evaluated based on their contribution to the achievement of the Department’s goals.”

On December 14, 2004, the DOL received the President’s Quality Award for its Budget and Performance Integration – the highest recognition by the federal government for managerial excellence.