Director's Message

October 28, 2005

To: DHS employees

From: Bryan Johnston, Interim DHS Director

"To reach the port of heaven,
You must sometimes sail against the wind,
Just as you can sometimes sail with it.
But you must sail.
You cannot drift and you cannot remain at anchor."
--William O. Douglas

One piece of business to get to first before my last message -- I would like to recognize Shelly Watts, from CAF 2nd Floor, for her efforts around "Domestic Violence Awareness month." With a little help from her friends -- Carolyn Palacious, Rose Carson, Judy Kidney, Candi Quintall, Michellee Grogan, and Annette Tesch -- Shelly organizes this every year. She even gets her mother, Donna Watts, a retired state employee, involved. Congratulations on all your great work.

You and I have come to the end of another chapter in our lives. My brief tenure as your interim director concludes at close of business Monday. Thank you for your courtesies, your patience, and your hard work. I have enjoyed my time with you.

I hope you won't find this message too long.

In my very first director's message, on May 27, I set out what would be my goals while I had the opportunity to serve at DHS. Below you will find my "report card" for we how we did in meeting those goals. As always, I'd welcome your evaluations or comments as well.

"Keep up the morale of the DHS workforce." "A"

This one was easy. DHS is staffed by a group of caring, concerned employees who are very approachable. And if you think I'm just saying nice things on my way out the door, read this passage from an email I recently received: "Having worked in the private sector for many moons I found that I had unknowingly developed stereotypical images of state employees. Boy, was I wrong. This past year I have had the pleasure of enjoying co-workers who truly care about their work and devote themselves to it tirelessly." That's DHS.

I did take steps to foster that morale. I tried to learn as many names as I could, I spoke to people wherever I met them, teased the Green Bay Packer fans, made "purple" comments to SEIU workers who had decorated their cubicle spaces, created a Web survey for employees and others to express their views on the next director, made it to multiple offices (not quite to all 110, unfortunately), and just generally tried to be part of the culture.

I'm told my efforts were well received. There seemed to be a calming of the waters throughout the department. In one email, a kind employee wrote: "I needed to let you know how much I have appreciated your leadership and humor… Thanks for being a part of our team."

Maintain our credibility with the legislature. "C"

In retrospect, I should have chosen a better word than "maintain." There is more work to be done here. The Legislature has high, though not unwarranted, expectations. DHS needs to live up to those expectations.

Individually, our folks have great credibility. Gail Shibley, Ramona Foley, Bob Nikkel -- to name a few -- are sought out for their expertise. Our legislative reps work tirelessly to answer questions and anticipate needs. Nevertheless, DHS remains this giant image of the bureaucracy and any mistake or imagined slight is counted against the faceless organization.

Largely, our credibility problems have to do with the volatility of the populations we serve and the numbers we report. The Legislature needs, or at least prefers, predictability. We have a hard time delivering it. Vic Todd and his staff are hard at work but we have "miles to go before we sleep."

My role with legislators has been to answer questions directly and honestly. I've defended us where called for and admitted error where appropriate. I've tried to ensure that we respond in a timely fashion to requests for information.

Emphasize initiative to make DHS a "values driven" organization. "A"

I am very pleased to both give myself a grade of "A" here and, more importantly, to tell you that DHS is becoming a "values driven" organization.

My grade is simple. I promised to emphasize the values, and unless you haven't been reading these messages, you know that I have done that. I've taken each one of the five Core Values -- Integrity, Stewardship, Respect, Responsibility and Professionalism -- and written to you about what I think they mean. I've included the values in talks that I've given. I've encouraged cabinet to introduce the subject at the management trainings and participated in the discussions that have outlined the next phases of the values work at DHS.

The more important activity here, though, is what some of you have done. Some managers are in front of our roll-out. Some have posted the values with our mission statement. Some discuss it in their evaluations of employees. I've been a witness to discussions on unrelated topics where the values are quoted for guidance. In SDA 1, a group of leadership students identified projects to bring the values into daily activity. The future is bright here.

Prepare the Department for the next Director to be successful. "A"

Organizations have personalities. In my opinion, the DHS I first encountered is not the DHS I leave. When I came, Gary Weeks, a popular, well-known director, had announced his departure almost six weeks before. During that time, it was unclear who would take over the department. When I was announced, few people knew who I was. (In SPD, somebody had stuck my 10-year-old voter's pamphlet page on the wall -- I was much cuter then). Many people were frightened and had their heads down.

The atmosphere today is aggressive. In each cluster, people are on the move, doing the standard tasks and breaking new ground. There is a buzz of activity and a sense of accomplishment. I don't see anybody ducking.

Bruce's decision to not take over until after the Senate had confirmed his appointment has worked well on a variety of levels. Although a number of us knew him, the delay has given all of the department time to get acquainted. It has also given him time to be reflective about what he has undertaken and how he might proceed. It has allowed me to profile him in these messages and given people the chance to learn that he has a great reputation. All of this leads to a smooth transition and one that can be seamless.

Emphasize our efforts to protect kids and implement the national review done by the National Resource Center for Child Protective Service (NRCCPS) of Oregon's child safety intervention practice and operations. "A-"

I give myself a good grade here, but only because I've had the good sense to stay out of the way. Ramona Foley, Jim Neely, Mickey Serice, and from DOJ Hardy Myers, Larry Young and Kevin Neely deserve the credit. Progress is very good, but the work is ongoing.

Thursday at the Legislative Emergency Board, a package was approved that will add attorneys at DOJ and paralegals at DHS with appropriate clerical staff in both departments. This will permit our caseworkers to focus on social work, not legal work. This move would not have happened without the hard work of the parties I've named. They responded to legislative direction and crafted a proposal that covers the state and the field in an efficient and productive way. Oregon's kids will be well served.

A process manual, covering the "A to Z" procedures of the child protection duties is currently being written. Not only will the manual make uniform the approaches, it will also enrich the practice by defining state of the art for each step. But I also recognize that a critical issue that existed when I arrived and remain for the new director is the issue of capacity. During this interim, staff are working diligently to quantify the issues and to be prepared to address workload capacity as a major recommendation of the NRCCPS Report.

Spotlight the Oregon State Hospital and our efforts to embrace a better future. "B"

The spotlight is on, but it doesn't shine bright enough, yet. Right now, the effort is under way in Salem but we will need to broaden the outreach to touch the rest of the state. The OMHAS folks have done a very good job of communicating with the professional field, and many legislators about the plans and recent developments -- but I'd like to see an even broader audience reached.

The grade reflects my not making this a high enough priority. I submitted one editorial to the Statesman-Journal and encouraged the planning of the celebration that will occur at the Elsinore Theatre in Salem on November 10, but the effort to reach the rest of the state has been inadequate at this point.

There you have it. Thanks for almost six months of education. I don't know yet what my professional future will hold. I'll let you know.

This message is intended for all department employees. Please read it electronically, if possible. Managers and supervisors are asked to share the message each week with employees who do not have email access.

If you have a disability and need this message to be provided to you in another format, please send an email to dhs.forms@state.or.us, or call (503) 947-5107. You can also fax your request to (503) 373-7690, or call (503) 947-5080 for TTY service. If you know of others who need this accommodation, please let them know it is available.