ALC-Highway Commission Review and Advisory Subcommittee

I think both as is preferred because we'll switch off throughout and that way we ought to worry about. It is not in his office. Okay thank you. Okay great thank you. Do we have capability this chair artists green. Yes. Looks like I can so I thank insured now unless I should hold out for until. I think we're after right. Would you believe he is ready for up the project our presentation. Okay thank. But now that. Okay yeah. Okay. Great. Second there okay okay okay. For a about ready to to start. A chair sees a quorum of members just wanna go through a couple things real quick about today kind of the we're gonna we we think we've established a process that may change your but just a quick run through on that and so we're gonna have got house essentially they're going to present a information on each of the recommendations in today's topics that's organizational structure in people capabilities there are four recommendations related to those two items and then we'll have a a portion time that are not within respond to the recommendations then we would allow the the committee will will last committee if there's any interest in moving forward with recommendations if there is a interest in moving forward with recommendations Then then we'll ask anyone in the public it's also here to to make some comments if not then the recommendation would no longer be considered following the meeting staff member who or the staff will contact members who were interested in moving forward with recommendations to see how they would like to proceed at the following meeting will have a vote at related to those recommendations and how we move forward the updated information recommendation including any draft reels were presented at the beginning of that meeting that time will have that both that we just discussed if there is a if there is no motion the motion fails then that recommendation will not be moved or will not move forward will not be considered one thing to keep in mind that at the only members that are allowed to make motions and vote on recommendations are members of the subcommittee and then also keep in mind that these are just proposals at this time recommendations of the subcommittee will not be final as we vote on the final report in November and and also our next meeting one will vote on the recommendations that we for you know go over today I will be on August fifth that we're will take up portfolio planning at just real quick we have any questions on then. So again we're gonna have got house is going to present our daughter is going to respond and providing comments they have related recommendations will be discussion of the subcommittee on if it's something that we would favor if that is something would favor there's public here they would be brought up to speak or make their comments at that time then at the next meeting or but between now and the next meeting staff will get with the members that were interested in the recommendations or expressed interest in moving forward they'll draw up with that recommendation should look like for a vote at the beginning of the next meeting senator Chesterfield your. They recognized for a question yeah just quickly Mr chair and all of this is what you have already sent Hester requiring. Yes ma'am okay so we've already read it we have we dismissed. What what I think we're gonna allow is to go ahead and have got house you know go through that if you look at if you that if you kind of look to head but you're going to see is we're dealing with only to the the two small packets you know stable together assets that you have your desk and so the first is at a recommendations report from god house in in the opening statement there are a couple of larger documents that are just in the past that are for reference if you do not like to to see those or look into those but if you've read ahead I think what you'll find is then I won't speak for or not but they went through and feel like most if not all of the recommendation so for something and like to pursue then I think that's what senator Chesterfield was for the referring to. House. That's right. Yeah. Yes ma'am I'd waive any other questions. And if not may make sure I'm gonna stick on track here I'm gonna turn it over to god house let them begin their recommendations report. Thank you care good afternoon members find and tax and I am a director with state and local government or I have. one introduce yourself about your experience my name's soccer go play I'm a manager in the state local practice for got house. All right thanks for having us back again virtually this afternoon to discuss additional detail related to our recommendations related you organizational structure and people capabilities or are not will quickly to give you a little bit of background we will thank you much time there will review that the recommendations again for the you he okay area and a time for the action as needed. And. So we wanted to just remind everyone that as we prepared recommendation we wanted to make sure they were aligned to a future date that center or the department that focused on four key objectives the first recommendation back okay on a more strategic are not which is paying closer attention to a more portfolio view relate. Did you to contact the department of your personality and ability for the department as well and so for example day one of our recommendations this really you okay on thank you performance indicators or KPIs that'll help the department with internal and external accountability. Secondly we focus on a more efficient are not one that okay bye member Jean Leding practices that are developed and using data to develop document and implement offenses and procedures are measurable and repeatable across the department. We are looking forward to an optimized are not that is a guest on the future of business needs unstable the recommendation for more engaged and prepared staff FOR the department and then finally we focus on a more transparent are not that engages proactively with the older and we believe that the KPIs for the day will thank you Mr the department can report the broad range of their stakeholders including a committee of the traveling public. Again our focus on two key focus area organizational structure and people capabilities again our objective is to B. forward okay or are not and overwhelmingly we wanted the sure that our recommendation I'll and you more than one of those. Active On that and I think that's reflected here will proceed with actually going through the recommendation we're gonna give you a little bit of background for each of those again just quickly revealing the finding for each so that you I understood where we started and where we were coming from if we completed those recommendations and then we'll actually talk to the recommendation a little bit more quick under. So in organizational structure is invention there are two recommendations yeah and I I understand running a recommendation by recommendation and so the the first one is really related to finalizing those key performance indicators of the guys and implement performance manager and then you know directly impacts or dresses I would argue operating struck organizational structure finding two point one which is currently performance caters or KPIs are limited to system condition and operational effectiveness is not yet sure and so some of the supporting evidence from this particular finding there there's you know more within the current state record but you know our doubts for approximately forty one performance indicators approximately eighteen are focused on that operational effectiveness which at the time of our review approximately twelve or under the. We also noticed that the strategic goals and objectives lack underlying performance targets so when you take a look at the strategic item those goals and objectives that just was a lack of performance targets that align to those again during the time of our review if you're the district and division GP eyes did not exist and then there was no at least based on our review there was no operational plan to actually implement the strategic plan that. And so with that we wanted to advance this first recommendation under organizational structure and alternate or. Okay thank you. Okay so the idea behind the recommendation of finalizing KPIs and implementing performance management is that what gets measured get done as we noted in the findings are not has a lot if the eyes related to system condition but have not really focused on performance measures that are focused on the internal agency operations and operationalize being the land that the agency you have the ballot so we recommend that they're focusing on this effort actually with respect you that operational Ising distributed plan It was born out in our current report among others Virginia and Maryland both Bob measurable improvement when they went through the process of identifying tracking and publishing their progress or key performance metrics. And I really the impact of the this is you know at the crop lots of different areas right you can see better quality and financial decision making when you understand number one how the progress against strategic objectives when you are measuring the operational outcome and tracking the progress against those in understanding what might need it you occurred to continue to make forward progress toward the target center sat through the you performance indicators and also again as we talked about a moment ago the performance indicators and the measured of metrics can help provide transparency both to you and you the traveling public they give um you all with an opportunity to have a very active practical and sensible measure of the progress the department making toward their strategic objectives well as just daily operational out like staff retention resource allocation and use that stuff kinds of measures that are are important for you you as a governing body as well as with the traveling public. Okay let's talk a bit more specifically about the implementation roadmap we talked last month about the consideration and more on the impact and and implementation we want to take a little bit further into the implementation here you can understand what it means you adopt the recommendation. And so first first step would be to finalize the PP I that that the department has remained fairly identified as part of their strategic planning so as I understand that there are about eighteen that operational in nature nonsense and conditions you guys that that are not as working toward that really only all of them are in planning and not all of them are necessarily reflective of operationalize thing that you get plan and so we want to and. You know continued to formalize and finalize the API and of finalized KPIs based on the operational I think that you're detect land on we also want to make sure that that yes I have been identified and we want to formalize that a part of that formalization box that is actually benchmark those that benchmarking is going to happen with a variety of was the in part we would recommend that are not review those attentional KPI with other state and so and our recommendation report for example we provided and he's state that we think are reflective of a similar environment you are not operational structure we might recommend that that are not review their KPI again those eight as well. And then we also would recommend that they review those the proposed Hickey I with you and other stakeholder groups two validate that they have meaning to you as again as governing body on and as as we look forward to future decision or the department. secondly we would like for the department you consider how frequently they're going to measure though they're KPIs bill having having those measurements without actually practically documenting and formalizing how the what how and when those are going to get measure doesn't really you know make or that forward progress we want to thank thank about and document how frequently we're going to measure each of the API and also developed the tool that in a facilitate that ongoing measurement you know you don't want to do that haphazardly you don't want to do that and the monthly meeting and write it down and minute you want some sort of tool that going to maintain that measurement and eventually if we had a next the bottom in here on item number one we're not adopt the dashboard that's going to help show that forward progress and consider making that dash board available publicly. Secondly or the next step would be to send a baseline for each Hickey I and that's really just the state this is where the department is and then applying a target based on the strategic plan and rolling that out you that that that that district and division but I'm going measurement and progress tracking this is going to take continued monitoring and tracking by are not yours that you in store and we've been **** as many working group or project teams make sure that that were required to ask and monitoring maintenance in ten years and then finally will want the department if you API call so it's important to understand where you are from a baseline perspective but that the think about privacy in forward progress you also want to think about future they call so we actually recommended it using the Federal Highway Administration transportation performance management framework as the basis for that effort the department there other remarks certainly that the department is by the department should evaluate their maturity again this work again another framework I dedicate my gap in performance and begin that long term goal goal toward of treating certain maturity level. The long term progress will require regular communication likely to require some change management help personnel adopts new requirements and adopted processes and on going investment in future opening up finally we recognize and the department continues to re evaluate their KPI with some frequency and with your stakeholders so we're gonna go back to the number one here on the implementation read about we're going to you know re think about our plan we're going to rethink about what our stakeholders need and ensure that their continued value and of the community and the agency in terms of maintaining and operationalize thing that you guys and a measure of what we. And I think we were going to and forgive me procedurally it sounded like perhaps are not with going you have an opportunity to respond to each recommendation or shall we just continue with the entirety of our nation. Let me check real quick with that because I think we're no. Would you would you all prefer to respond each recommendation has come back up towards the end and and kind of run through these all at one time. Okay all right yeah they will go ahead have or not come up and we will do that and while directors making way also just wanna think this notice that I think I would do I think we have all the commissioners here my rye even well appreciate you guys and your involvement in really you know demonstrating get I guess somewhat the by and for what we're doing in Baptist stating and being here today and with that director you are recognized responded recommendations by a I guess for recommendation number one okay thank you. Thank you senator DISMANG I appreciate this opportunity at it as he said I'm Laurie tutor on the director of the Arkansas department of transportation and we have all five of our commissioners here today and I really appreciate them here to for support and they're it but they do have by and there were there right behind me on one wanting to make the department the best it can be. And we have chairman Robert Moore from Arkansas city vice chair Alec farmer from Jonesborough a commissioner Philip counsel from Springdale commissioner Keith Gibson from Fort Smith and commissioner Marie holder from little rock so I'm glad to have them here today in before I get started I wanted to have an opening statement and just tell this committee I thank you for this efficiency review it's been a very positive experience for me and the staff is we've gone through it and it was a great exercise it allowed me I from the beginning I was the lead person at that point person point of contact. And I was trying to sit through as many interviews as I possibly could in and was the every all the documents went through me and that I learned there's a lot I know about the department I've been there for thirty six years but I learned things that I didn't know and I remember things I didn't know but I'd forgotten so it was a great experience and we looked at everything and and a lot of the recommendations are great recommendations that we're excited about. Our staff did a great job answering the questions they were very transparent and they talked about what worked what didn't and got house was nothing but professional at all times they did a great job of coming through a tremendous amount of data and they were a pleasure to work with it was amazing to me that they were able to put together such a comprehensive report and such a compressed amount of time given the amount of material because it's really easy to understand the big picture the DOT is responsible for taking care the highway system and that's that's pretty easy to say but when you start looking at all the moving parts and what it takes to do that it gets complicated in a pretty quick way so you know to take to start off at ground zero and then learn all about our to our department in to put together such a comprehensive report was pretty amazing. So we feel like this recommendations not not only today but other recommendations throughout the whole report will be a great tool moving forward and overall it is given this direction hammer how to bring proved and it's also given us some confidence that things that we already had in the pipeline that we're reading in the process of developing or implementing we're going in the right direction so that that's all been a good thing so I just want to thank this committee for funding this efficiency review it's going to be great for us. So let me talk about finalizing key performance indicators and implement performance management and I have to be Frank with everybody a lot of these new terms are kinda out I didn't understand there I had to learn a lot about these the new industry. But when I figured out what they were talking about I said okay I get that but anyway we are we do have it a mature and key performance indicators for system condition we had to do that is part of of one of the federal highway acts and moving forward Missy And see this map moving America programmer sent out for you it is anyone at one of the federal highway legislations required that we do measurement single sitting on the system condition and so we have been working really hard to do that for our system condition over the last several years we have looked at doing operational effectiveness KPIs but we haven't fully developed in but it is a good it it is a good practice it is something we need to do and we've talked about doing we just didn't quite call it that and this information will increase our transparency and enhance our credibility not only with the road users but also with the legislature so that you do know how we're spending our money how what kind of progress or making of we want to report on that and we are in the process of. Redesigning our website so this is perfect timing for us in fact I have a meeting on Friday to talk about where we've done as far as progress on redesigning our website so I'm going to give them direction we need to be sure we have it easily accessible dash board to show our progress on certain measurements that show or efficiency at the department. And it's going to be a great way to show how we're moving forward with our strategic plan which is direct already directing our priorities and resources in and the document that you were sent in the appendix you'll see the of our strategic plan see what that's about. But in closing on this I notice what god has said and I'm going to address that what gets measured gets done but I'd like to give you another aspect to this in this this is what I think what's not what's not measured it we don't get to take credit for and there's been a lot of efficiencies that we've implemented over the years but we're really bad isn't engineering organization to brag on our sales and say look what we've done in the county which many we're saving because we've implemented this change we're not very good at that but we're going to get better in this is going to help us get better and not only will we establish measurements for things that we're not doing that we should be doing but also it'll be an opportunity for us to show the public to show you that we really do have a progressive and and focused efficiency. Desire at the department and I would like for that to be considered as we move forward that way there is a lot that we've done in the over the last ten years that we've never. Reported on or taking credit for so I wanted to say that in the last thing I want to say is Not every size fits all and I know we need to see what other states do and we do that we belong to national organizations will we go and learn about best practices we do it every year we go to different national meetings and that is why we go so we don't recreate the wheel but not every state you know not everything everyone's doing fits is going to fit Arkansas so we're going to take these recommendations and we're going to do our best to accomplish but it needs to be what works best for Arkansas on how we do things and then within one more thing and this plan okay all of these recommendations require two things and one of them's going to be money so it's going to be contingent on having enough funding available to implement it to really implement rights so you know we're going to work really hard and will do as much as we can within our funding available and then if more funding becomes available we will be able to do even more and lastly when we come to the legislature and we need additional titles for additional personnel to accomplish this then will need to have that support as well from the legislature so with that I'll I'll just stop for any questions you might have about this particular recommendation. Thank you directed with any questions. All right seeing none and you're welcome to stay there and we can run through to and then and kind of all the same process with that will turn it back over to got house. Thank you senator so before jumping into recommendation to just want to yourselves a very quickly and the key findings that that second recommendation addresses and that's second recommendation under organizational structure is specific to strengthening our knowledge management really and anticipation of us some increased risk meant to that obviously yes the staff. over time and this particular recommendation primarily addresses to keep finding organizational structure eight three point one which is the standard operating procedures within the department are extensive but not necessarily regularly updated. And organizational structure ninety three point two which is that the department has identified minimizing knowledge loss as a strategic are or the however at the time of our review those efforts were not sure in terms of supporting evidence you know and and director tutor mention there's a significant amount of documents and data and they had it you know over I easily in excess of fifty standard operating your documents however there were no standard protocols for developing or maintaining those SO eaves and in other each division and district have their own internal or all around I maintaining those those SO peas AT and maintaining their all. As I mentioned before department has identified knowledge transfer is a priority risk eight or ten and H. R. in terms of some of their efforts has at the time of our review developed Eight a matrix to identify at least those key positions that are risk for knowledge lost about those next steps again I'm at the river not. So again just wanna ground ourselves and and in the key findings and supporting evidence that related to this. So moving on. Long. Just one thing on my on my laptop here the second recommendation as I mentioned is around strengthening that knowledge management and in anticipation of increased a retirement. We believe that you know again either even though the department has identified this at the strategic priority and had a I'm of the review launched some efforts in this regard you know aligning those efforts to some leading practices are it is really going to allow the department to mitigate knowledge lost due to turn over and on top of that also you know I have the opportunity to identify some some additional operational efficiencies and. What we found out along those lines in terms of that anticipated impact is that you know again at the time of the review we noticed about twenty six percent of of staff for eligible retire in the next years and so this having a formalized knowledge management I would help minimize that that knowledge that's potentially going to walk out the or as a result of that and again will help identify some operational efficiencies that we had identified at least with Virginia that they had identified some significant cost savings and cost avoidance frankly I'm due to some better resource sharing that was directly tied to their knowledge. There there are some considerations here in in the sense that the department might need some new IT systems or software to implement this recommendation although some of you know applications are already exist that can help you know provide a bridge until some you know maybe some more maturity systems are are developed so the example of that is Microsoft teams that they you know treating that comprehensive standard operating protocol inventory will help your time is their efforts so just getting our arms around you know what SO peas existed and where to be lacking that that that that inventory exercise could help them mitigate that the significant undertaking around you know how to actually develop this knowledge management platform and then ultimately leadership support and change management might be needed so that that changes. I'm gonna talk about the implementation roadmap and just a little bit as we provide a little bit more more detail there but I wanted to just identify you know what we found in terms of some leading practices. And and specifically around the driver so we take a look at the bottom all right hand corner of this slide you know some some real drivers what we saw with other state DO cheese for implementing a majority knowledge and. Was that they were seeing similar to our doc you know loss of some of their most experienced at all but they also stretcher to realize that there is some potential significant efficiency gains and areas of innovation that they could explore by having that more mature knowledge kind of work there was also they're also starting to see that there is a desire within the staff or more electric I think learning and and you know which college management framework help with that. Because we've all seen that there's been this exponential increase in information and content and so having this that such a system would help you know catalog categorize it and and structure in a way that it was easily accessible as many people as possible and and the true value behind it is that you get this resilience in effective structure in which you can easily share knowledge I it's going to enable some quote unquote smarter intelligent decision making because now you you have just that much more information upon which to base decisions. Engine before it also enables effective and innovative. Organizational policies and practices you're you're just leveraging and and relying on significant so the more greater level of content and data to make. With the implementation road map we kind of divide this up into addressing some near term. I challenge is and then laying the groundwork for a longer term plan and and so this first step is really identifying those near term at risk business practices and again the department has already taken some steps there by identifying some at risk positions tensely broadening that a little bit more to also identify potential districts and visions with the greatest greatest likelihood of turn over and in making sure that the catalog those as well as you know again not only you know you know staff members but also identifying and catalog along higher is also seized or applications or areas of subject matter expertise that might be lost because of retirement or through staff turnover so broadening at least that catalogue beyond just identifying you know specific at risk staff members at the same time that you're identifying what that rate is also identifying you know what you you currently have in terms of dollars so it's it's really training that inventory of their you know existing standard operating procedures as well as their training mechanisms so they can kind of understand you know what are the what are the knowledge gaps potentially at least from a documentation standpoint but then what are also the knowledge transfer yeah so it in in what ways are they missing opportunities share out that that knowledge and that data and that insight and perspective prosecutor organization. I think not done that first in that second step then is to think about some near term succession planning because to the extent that there may be staff excuse me. Leaving the department if you want to make sure that they are true pathways to to have that knowledge be transferred to staff that are going to the state continue to stay with our. And so it's really identifying that that group or candidate staff members will be the new owners of these at risk business process knowledge and and subject matter expertise and then I I ending phase of for which that knowledge can be effectively. Transferred and then make sure that that you know all sort of alliance to and implementation. And as the departments are contemplating that you know mitigating those near term In a knowledge management risks you know that the department should also consider laying the groundwork for a longer term in more formal knowledge management system so it's it's really designating that knowledge management team again at the time and and during our review I think date designated systems information and research as that intentional team that would be managing that the department may have moved in a different direction over this reporting what was the sort of under the during our review but you know it's not just sufficient to identify that one team but it's you know that the the responsibility obligation should be shared across the organization and so it's really also identify points of contact within each district and division that's going to help with that cataloging of your your SO ease identifying the owner is users and. There is identifying who will help develop and revise and update those SO peas and also to the extent that the department and you know has considered it is currently you know implementing communities of practice okay leave that and then also at this stage treating that centralized hub four or you know essentially we're housing all of that knowledge so all of those SO peas all those policies training materials and making sure that that that you know that information is easily accessible not only internally but to the extent that it needs to be available you know externally in publicly that that you know that that you know link is provided. And then finally as I mentioned before that there needs to be some systems for sustaining the change and so the department should consider to the extent that they have and you know so or you know what's that that cycle in which they are reviewing hiring as well as work force data to understand you know where those greatest sort of pockets of turnover and understanding again you know well who is at risk of Leding what does that mean in terms of the you know the broader districts and divisions of the impact on those districts and divisions and what's the impact on some key business process sees an application. You're going to this potential annual cycle but it it could happen at a you know a different frequencies as well. And then at the same time interpreting that rule out a greeting and and rolling out the standard I system for which you know that you know person now and staff members within the department so the knowledge management team the points contact with the districts and divisions are actually are reviewing all of those documents standardizing that process and then you know updating it and then gently at the same time going along with that knowledge transfer providing that formalized approach to enable knowledge transfer the election to be coaching mentoring communities of practice but you want to essentially enable that continuous knowledge management and you know to the extent possible because this is is such a significant addition Evan it has you know significant impact essentially determining if the employee incentives are appropriate and where you know where possible implementing them so it's really incentivize not only sort of the insurer I ending of knowledge within the department but then being able to transfer that and distributed across the organization and then use that to find some potential efficiencies or some innovative practices other which the. And I I think with that we could we can turn it over to a direct. Thank you and yes director you're recognized okay thank you. And. Our dot agrees completely that we need to continue our progress with the knowledge management program. Institutional knowledge is an asset that has to be preserved I mean there's just no no discussion about that. And we will continue to do what we've done and we will continue to try to improve on our knowledge management program we've been working on it since twenty eighteen we became part of a of a apart we started participating in American Association of state highway and transportation officials subcommittee which was actually focused on knowledge management where we work with other state DOT's to share best practices resources and lessons learned. And there's there's really not much we can say in that we you're speaking to the choir we know how much we need to preserve the knowledge at the department because what someone guns a lot and institutional knowledge goes with them and so some of the things that we've done and will continue to do and can continue to develop and and make better is the knowledge risk matrix that they referred to which identifies key positions of we're going to establish check ACT knowledge management steering committee to make sure that everyone continues to work towards a robust knowledge management program. Communities of practice which is just employees that get together and talk about what it's an internal sharing of information we've also established a a knowledge management librarian library and we are expanding that so that it's a one stop shop for you can go in and found out anything you want to know about certain procedures things that we do. And then finally were looking in implementing and developing a formal mentoring program so that those with all the knowledge can pass it on to the to the new generation of workers and and leaders were for prevent preparing our we have prepared and we're expanding on a leadership development program and a succession planning program. So and with that that's about it I mean you can read what I put together in our response but overall we completely agree with the need to the to do this much as we can with knowledge management. I thank you director of senator Chesterfield up thank you Mr chair in thank you madam director for being here just a quick question is there a career ladder in place for each one of the divisions within the department of transportation so that I know if I complete this kind of training I'm going to be moved up and get more money for it and that sort of thing that's I only have education to look at because we had occurred both clear career that if we had more experience we got more money if we increased our knowledge base we got more money is their career ladder similar to that within the department. Yes in no ma'am It's it's a little what what we do at the department we do have career ladders that's for sure and you you you can move up that career ladder one she you reach certain milestones so I'll give you an example like for engineers even even you start out an entry level position and as you gain knowledge in any any do a good job you move that but then you get to a point where you can't move up any further into you pastor per professional engineering exam. Once you get that then you're then that opens you up for additional promotions so that's an example and we do have that for different positions in around the department is that true for your people who work do all the hard work outside in the it's may and we have like once they get their their commercials driver's license and they reach certain milestones and make they can move that but it's not an automatic well it is not automatic. Department wide there are few automatic promotions went to reach a certain went to do a certain thing but not very many of them so we can look into that again We've always we've always her walk this tight rope of. Wanting to the more from police but not actually having the resources to do it and do everything is recess expectativas what it put the public expectations are for the highway system and nine I mean I know that it that's true for every industry so it's just been a balancing act but we we truly care about our employees and we want to provide for them and in this we go into this in more detail and some of the other recommendations but we were always trying to increase morale and to make the highway department or the department of transportation. you know an employer of choice people want to come to work for us and they stay once they get there but it's it's it's very difficult but I will out we're looking into that and and possibly we can do more as far as but to put in their automatic promotions just because you eaves passed certain tests or whatever we've never done that all department wide blanket just a blanket thank. If you start out working on highways and you've been there for five years you're not going to have the same salary you started out with are you in okay that's that's that was my concern thank you Mr chair. Thank you senator any other questions seeing none. And I think what we're gonna do it rather than talking about the recommendations that preach when we'll come back then I'll kind of go through at least a little bit will my perspective is on on how to wrap all this up as far as a recommendation that we would have is a committee but if we can then we'll just move on to recommendation number three for the day. Perfect. And so we're gonna transition to the people capabilities focus area. And again to recommendations all right here in and other that just does a as in an FY are maybe a preview the implementation map for for both of these recommendations it what we really have one implementation that because there are so intertwined and so I think what we can do is talk about recommendation one and then a potentially turn it over talk about recommendation to turn over and and the implementation roadmap and then turned over again. That being said there there were two recommendations you printer people capabilities are the first one was related to ensuring staff and develop in their careers at are done this this last question I think offered a little bit of a preview as to this particular recommendation and also the findings that and this one address is six key findings from the current state report. And I'll go through them briefly people capabilities one point one which is recruitment retention are proving to be challenges at the department of PC two point one is that you know a staff definitely had a favorable view you of the benefits of the department but there was dissatisfaction station structure cheesy two point two is that they're they're repealing is strong competition for talent at at the department in in terms of the armistice your competing with externally offer staff members PC three point two is that that is the finding there is that the department has been looking at some flexible work strategies the compressed work weeks for example RPC four point one is that your career paths or you don't informally known but not you know formally started to find your indicated at least the I'm of our review and that in PC four point two which was the performance evaluations were not. Or completely trusted so again some highlights in terms of supporting evidence here the turnover rate again based on a review of the data that was provided to us is increased six point six percent in twenty sixteen to about nine percent of the average tenure at least of central office staff dropping for about six six years to two point five years between fiscal year you know your. We also noticed that based on the employee surveys fifty four percent of staff at least definitively agreed so agreed or strongly agreed that employee retention as a or at our dot and then up as as we mentioned before although those career paths are are known informally in the department there's a lack of clarity on on precisely how other folks in develop their careers amend what this career pathways look like at the department again at the time of a review and again based on an employee survey you know fifty three percent of staff you know definitively reported you know either agreed or strongly agreed that they they believe that they get a. And and so based on those those findings and that you know sort of subset of supporting evidence. We were asked to advance that recommendation around age it develop in their in their careers and so developing those those you know formal career ladders and lattices yes through that that exercise and implementing that with the staff may increase you know retention reduced turnover related costs obviously because turn over there is that there is a cost to that and strength in the the town I find while the same thing all right now and so you know we were it in terms of an anticipated impact we provided some direction all sort of quantification of what that could look like and so for the department if the improved retention they could increase some cost avoidance by approximately five million dollars per year. And I just talk about that a little bit but there are some detail there in terms of that calculation and the appendix that that you know everyone take a look at for some of you out there so you know what we noticed in our Leding practices reviews of the transportation. Asian consortium so central states of A which are not I believe is part date estimated the turnover cost to be about a hundred percent of the station. And so when we looked at you know the growth in our doubts turnover rate I we serve projected out that the turnover rate will rise to almost about fifteen percent and so if you look at that that turnover rate as its rising from year to year about twenty twenty four by fifty percent and thank god we are here is that this was pre coalbed so the labor market and economy has changed since then that the total cost given that you know the total cost of their turnover given that cost is estimated a hundred percent of of you know staff member salary about eight eighty four million dollars however if they just maintain their turnover rate at that nine percent it would cost the department estimated about sixty million dollars that that differential is about twenty five billion over five years or five million dollars per year I just a maintaining the turnover rate at at that constant ninety. There's obviously increased cost avoidance of that turnover rate goes down. We also noticed again taking a look at leading practices that by no implementing some some of these leading career development practices it makes a increase the likelihood that staff or retain to see that next role at the department rather than moving to a competitor and that likelihood would increase by about five percent and that was based on. On yes some Harvard Business a Harvard Business Review research around employee ratings and staff ratings. Opportunities at organizations across the country. There there are so considerations here and I believe director tutors with alluded to this and in that last discussion but you know the department you potentially consider career lattices when traditional care your letters are accessible so someone's rising. It's spot where they can move forward in that particular lane or trajectory they could consider you know moving across you know laterally or laterally and up depending on their. but then the other piece is making sure to align our development activities. The I will talk about the implementation roadmap in a little bit more detail after we talked about the the fourth recommendation but we did I know when we were looking and and doing our leading practices and that that you know any workforce development interventions truly truly need to be tailored to the skills of the culture and obviously the goals of of what ever organization is is actually implement and I'm and then there are some other I DO cheese that are using a number of practice is to strengthen growth opportunities for employees. So you know we decided right here in Oklahoma Texas and Montana through a combination of a compensation and houses and potentially recalibrating that as well as you know putting their managers in positions to provide or other staff members in positions to provide you know more direct hands on. Learning and development with staff members but also increase retention intentionally as well as then having that formal sort of plan for a career ladders and real lattices and career development. So with that applause because your transition to that you know the next. Yes we that the. The two things are as Connor and issue recommendations are very tightly coupled should we progress you an ACT recommendation and and the implementation roadmap or should we PAS no I I yeah I think we should probably go ahead and go through both and then just because the implementation is so. Yes I think that by. You. Okay so at the fed be there these these two recommendations are very tightly coupled for the purposes of developing people capabilities with and are not and so this recommendation is really focused on aligning Appicability if with the current and future organizational. so what we're really talking about here is taking those career ladders Maddox and that a doctor was just the thing and developing training and educational and programming that are aligned to those latter minuses so We make sure again that employees have the tools they need to which she each of the round the in the latter and op programming we need to make sure that there are there on the line standardized training and as direct educational curriculum for each each rung on the ladder or across allowed it and then work noting that training shows an investment an employee if which is an improvement and it's a proven employee engagement strategy for the department and they're employee survey right now reflect that only about forty seven percent of the employees Hey that are not values so when we interviewed training it in here and growth opportunities in zero air date today where we are showing evidence of investment in into the employees and help gaining an additional employee engagement beyond just that simply from an impact perspective hi the department can anticipate better qualified personnel for your business need staff that are more satisfied with their role in the motivation to achieve their work assignment we can anticipate the doctor more confidence that they can achieve the requirements of their job. One of the outcome of the two thousand nineteen employee survey with only fifty eight of the staff leave they had adequate training for their role and so it's likely to mean a review three turnover rate as we've already discussed and higher retention of employee and and when we have that accord by think we have general morale at a action profit organization but we're also reducing the cost that other related to that employee turnover. So for the purposes of this recommendation we pointed at you and I do have a standardized approach to training and health management or each their roles within the department and and again we've given you a very brief you at the curricula for bridge in action managers and supervisors you know from a consideration perspective obviously there's the and so after and developing training program to think through those at all levels of the organization and the very need both technical and managerial non technical skills that might be required for each round in the latter or the the latter. What what that implementation might actually look like each of the recommendations on both of these recommendations I should say. and. Your term here so for you know high level steps here as relates to the implementation roadmaps identifying talent needs developing career paths publicizing them and then aligning them with training and evaluation so this this roadmap sort of reflects the coupling of these two specific recommendations so there's the the the first you know broadcasters step here in this roadmap is is really identifying the skills and rolls essential to the department success and and really taking a look at the strategic plan as well as where there is over under utilized team. That this is a really using that to drive the the roles that are that are needed within the department as well as this. And then based on that validating you know any current and I just updated Allen gaps. And then finally and again you know pre coded so you have this this might impact of the timing related to to the study but cut you know acting a compensation study really invalidate and and evaluate the appropriateness of the current salary bands that exist are. Once those needs that are identified as apartment could potentially move on to I'm truly sort of formalizing in developing those are career path so the first thing obviously is identifying you know what already exists in terms of career within our and so this is going to be based on you know existing job descriptions and competencies data ontap promotions so how have people dressed in their careers of the department and then obviously interviews or focus groups with district engineers division. Or I to get that you know on the grounds perspective on how staff have traditionally Yeah progressed in their career in Arkansas and then identifying if there's any gaps in those in those existing career pathways and determining potentially again if new roles are are needed based on you know that identification of. identified in in that and then related to the compensation study again if if that study you know yield the findings are recommendations around an adjustment to compensation Thank you know obviously based on the study but maybe to ensure some salary progression and to assure that the career paths or competitive an appropriate that might be might be necessary it's really a consideration at this point. And then from there once those those career passive truly denser online or or or the the the groundwork for that has been created the next step is really publicizing those career really documenting the steps for advancement and and those steps would would potentially articulate you to one of the competencies that are required each level within a particular career path or maybe within art of a career last of one of the competencies of the current level one of the competencies of that that must exist at the next level I what years of experience are required what specific training needs to be completed the in house training and potentially what certifications are required again not only at that at like an individual staff members from level but that next level as well so that they understand how to actually rest and. And to pull items that they can that they can shoot for. And then once that's been treated making sure we're to develop and and continue to refine materiel materials and training materials really to help staff Sir. This state that sort of broadcasting of of that information and and strengthening the under standing. Among staff and supervisors around how their direct reports in actually regressed in their careers right so it's empowering thing are in them to support their staff members so that they understand how they felt. And then the last step is making sure that when when you develop those career paths and lattices you provided you know not only your supervisor is great for the staff with the information and help them understand how they can develop that it's making sure that you you then aligned existing internal training but also extra training opportunities of windows career absent lattices so that staff members can get the training that they need to start. Right so there's a number of steps there in terms of you know catalogue cataloging the resources for each of those competencies developed in suggested regular or specific roles and then looking at at that training performance as part of an evaluation system. And then the other piece there is is is and bedding that that that that training in the evaluation of progress against. Within as an example within that part of like the annual evaluation process but also than referring staff to specific training resources in the event that they need to improve out there. So there is that there is a fair amount in this implementation roadmap but these are the high level I step with advanced. With these two right H.. And with that we can we can pause and turn it over. All right thank you and director you're recognized respond. All right thank you. For the recommendation insure staff can develop in their careers that are dot. We we completely agree that we must continue to invest in our work force and career development. Our goal our ultimate goal is to increase employee confidence and satisfaction and reduced turnover and when I I haven't been director long but one of the first things I got **** what are some of your goals. And the first thing I thought of well if we can somehow as. Create or are making better our work force two with so that they're confident engaged in skilled in what they do that would be our first and most important goal and that would help everything else fall into place as to deliver our strategic plan to have a a positive influence with the public in with the legislature so obviously we have work to do but we have an excellent human resources division has worked really hard to it to do things to engage our employees to make it better for employees but we still have work to do some of the things that we have done is we have hired a classification compensation specialist who will do a study of all the and all the the jobs in and what the career paths are endment and whether or not they are being paid market value. Now let's just be honest here when you work for the state government we can't pay what the private industry pays issues were we were responsible for taxpayer dollars means you're not going to come to the department and make which you Canada private industry is just not going to happen. for for San jobs and. All I can tell you is I wish I could pay everyone as much as they could be paid out in the industry out in the private sector it's just not possible. And But we do have great compensation package we do have great benefits and we try to let people know looking out you may not your salary may not be as much as you could make elsewhere but you know we're a community and and we we take care of each other we have great sick leave annually we have good insurance we have a good retirement plan and hopefully employees will respond to them people that want to come to the department are looking at that as well as with their their paychecks are although their paychecks are very important. Of we have instituted a performance based pay strategy so just because you've been in a position for thirty years but you're not performing doesn't mean someone that's been there for five years and is doing a great job isn't rewarded I mean that's the way it was before and when we in when we started going to this performance by a performance based pay strategy we were hoping that was going to increase morale we still have a ways to go to educate our employees because obviously from the review they're still Senate don't trust it but with the the point of it was is to reward those high performers that are doing a good job trying to trying to the progress in their careers and they get rewarded for that. In. So we're working on that employment engagement surveys have been conducted in twenty fifteen twenty seventeen and twenty nineteen. We pay very close attention to those we want to know where we can improve to increase employee satisfaction and as a result of the surveys and the answers that we got we developed a work for strategic plan which allows employees after one or two years of of being on board with the department to choose a career path as far as either the technical track or the leadership track. There are people out there that are excellent technical in their in their field and they and their greatest technical experts but they have no desire to supervise the others we don't want to leave them behind and if the only way you can make more money is to be a manager well that's not a very good model because we need those great technicians we also need great managers in some people are are more prone to want to be a manager later. So we thought that would be helpful in getting people looking at their individual desires and wants and putting them in that direction. And I I guess you can read through all the things that we have done and we're going to continue that progress and we will look at the recommendations and look for other ways to increase our morale among employees and and make them know that we want them to consider a career at the department and we will do all we can to make sure they can realize their goals. As far as aligning those career opportunities in those staffs with for future and current organizational needs we've done several things if you'll see there we we agree that we need to strengthen employee training we have trained employees from for as long as I've been at the department training's been a big part because a lot of what we do you can't go to school and learn you have to learn it on the job okay so there's a lot of training both formal and informal going on at the department. And we will continue to investigate ways to improve that we've established several different programs they're all there for you to read I won't go into each one of them but if you have questions about a mile taken afterwards but we think we're on a good path for on a good track to improve employee confidence and morale in into a reduced turnover and I think our I really think that the coveted as crisis that we've gone through has increased people's awareness of the know some jobs you may not make as much as much money but there's some security there and it might might increase our success for in the short term sure you know memories are short once this is over they might not be is we might be we're not going to let up because of it but we think right now more around not the better than it was before. So with that I'll just conclude my comments and let you know that employees are very very important to the department we couldn't do what we do without him and they're just we'll do all we can in and continue to try to improve on how they feel about working for the department. Thank you director I think we have of well so we don't have names by the way so I think forty nine but I think that senator rice. You are recognized thank you I'll be real quick because I I didn't know how what you okay you said more in the last few minutes that registered with me and I hope everybody here and a lot of about their those it. There there before the stability is job but they're only going to push so far they don't want to go more right that they may do their job good but they don't want to excel more they they don't look that leadership role and all and and when I heard the presentation I believe they mention fifteen percent turnover now I just think about in our state and your business how we went. Twenty thirty years and at and some more without an employee leave in but now it's just a revolving door. And you know there is a in you we know we try to. Meet with with money at all and you're saying you're limited and and I understand it but I of always like all of so would recognize it when they talk about work for the state highway and mother stays at the stability there and long term it's what people look for it but you really did site a lot and and and it back to three minutes or so I appreciate Karen I don't try to go over all of thank you senator rice okay have sender eaves on the eighty two. Johnson. Thank you director. You mention the performance salary that you've where is that you've again but it hadn't really had a great impact when did you start that it's been think we've we're into our third year of it is it is it pretty compare ball to other states and and In that Stapp under whatever you wanna call that the monetary incentive is it and. I don't know I I can't answer that I can I'll go get back with you on it and I'd have to talk to our human resources division had she's got all that information but I don't know how we compare other states are doing performance based or not this was sent this is been a dream of going to this kind of system for years and we finally implemented it. And she was the driving force behind it so I'll I'll find out for you applaud you for doing that and I and I think you know if it's not working. There's a reason this not theirs you know I mean there's there's gotta be enough incentive to want to to grab that letter so you know it and and those incentives you know don't necessarily impacted benefit. But can have a great benefit on your morale of your employees if if if it's functioning correctly so well that that's part of it you know we we set aside so much some so many so much money every year for a pulley races and they go into the system so you might get a two percent raise or you might get a four percent raise depending on your performance so there's just as fine a finite amount of money but the way it's distributed is based on performance and there's there's still some mis tres by someone police that they're not getting a fair fair performance evaluation or whatever but you're right we have to have in the funding in that finite pot to distribute to make a real difference to make it worth your while to perform well in this the tight rope that we walk is a state agency being paid with tax revenues you know we can't just we have to be careful with that funding send you will you will get backing based on performance for the people I mean that's that's my that's my gut feeling is is they want that the state employee to to be functioning at its highest efficiency and and and and wanting to do that job better so I think those performance things will will help greatly the first percentage might be thing that is is hard to. Hard for some to grasp you know the if you put a dollar amount on it might be it might be easier in the performance evaluation just here's my opinion on this is if you can have a checks and balances on that if if he's Phil Ochs he or she feels like a supervisor has a something against them then you know you can have a Texan balances in your in your system doing to give that employee Feeling of of. Fairness I agree and I think that maybe the next step because some employees may feel like they're not getting a fair evaluation and we can do some things to relieve that fear but I want to say your words are so encouraging because. And to hear legislators say it's okay to pay your employees more you all know how much that means because we always. And we we feel like will be we have to be very careful and but. If we could in and we wouldn't be criticized or or thought that we weren't. You know being good stewards of funding pay your employees more with without that fear that would be awesome so your words are very encouraging I appreciate that no matter what industry you're employees are your greatest asset that's exactly you know you can subcontractor things and and things like that but you're you're. These are the guys that they're going to see on the side of the road and you know. Yes two if you can incentivize them not to to lean on the lean on the shuttle to. working and then the then the then that's what the people are going to say I. I couldn't agree more so thank you thank you. I think Senator I think last question leased in the queue senator Chesterfield so that the C. right thank you Mr chair and let me just say director. how delighted I am to see. A female hating this department. I just think it's it's speaks volumes to how far we've come from it just being part me fella just a good old boys club it feels good what I'd like to know these are there clear indices that state if I do this then I will get the performance bonus. We did that there is a standard form that that goes through that talks about different competencies in different things about the L. public service public service minded being a team team player all the way to technical abilities and and how you perform your job so there is the employees know the bench marks they need to meet. To get a good performance evaluation one of the first to seem very subjective they are they are public service defined that for me does that mean if I'm going out and I'm volunteering for the the red cross and all that stuff are you talking about that A what are you talking about in my mind and I'm sure every supervisor probably interpreted different but in my mind public service means as an employee of the department. You go B. L. above in the on your duty to help the citizens of the state so if you're out on the job and you see someone that needs needs helpers in distress or or you just do your job so you make traffic or any easier in its all in with your mind set of being a good public servant as a state employee that's where I take it not what you're doing in your private I mean we can't but you know I answer that question subjectively from my own personal purse perspective a when I read that so I get your point that it could be interpreted of that the best number of ways in and that's something I'll take back to the office of doctor human resources that we need to be sure we take all the subjectivity out of is many of the competencies as possible because that's the that's the great complain I'm here is it okay is that so much of it is subjective it's predicated on what this palace thanks is public service or this boss over here may view it differently I catch and so you've got two different indices that they don't add up to the same thing and so I would just ask that we look at more objective criteria to determine okay what would lead to a meritocracy is for is the is the pay great increase our the the performance increase is concerned hi okay that that's a good point Preciado to bring it up I've never thought about it like that so thank you thank you so very much for all you don't think you should. All right thank you do with any other questions. Can if you don't mind I'm gonna make just a couple comments about you know how to proceed and in particular on on recommendations lack of these that are very specific in probably know not something that we'd be looking to put in the legislation but more that we want to track monitor try to make sure that we're on the same page so. I think that's going to be something that's going to repeat itself as we're working through recommendations is you know it's it is so much recommendation I think the first thing we need to do is make sure that we're all on the same page with what what this wreck recommendation says right so you know until my voice go clean their rooms we have very different definitions of claim and I wanna make sure that we don't get ourselves into a controversy because what we thought we were saying and recommendation what you thought you were saying you're seeing a recommendation are really the same thing and and so establishing some time of entity or communication or something to ensure that in an this isn't just carry for us as legislators to this would be for the the the commissioners that the commissioners think that when they say that they're agreeing to this recommendation that it equates to what the staff is saying that the recommendation does again just trying to make sure that we're all on the same page that we we don't get ahead of ourselves some in the the one that you would want to do is say that we're going to implement these recommendations go out hire consultants whatever it may be you know spend money buying a program that doesn't get to the end result that we all thought that we were getting to just because it was you know again we were seeing things a little bit differently as far as how we're reading the language at so this dam was meant one thing that I want to start thinking about is not what what is that oversight look like who you all should be involved who all is going to be part of this process moving forward it be it you know in my opinion it needs to be folks are obviously engage want to be engaged in so is it taking this committee breaking it up on folks that are interested in human resources clearly like senator Chesterfield is allowing those that are involved in technology or has more knowledge be involved there what does it look like I don't know at the same is true for the commissioners and their involvement with the legislators and staff and so on and so on and so on. On so if we can just start thinking about what we wanted to look like and and then let that be I think will ultimately be a significant part of our recommendations the in again that also includes we talk about budgeting and spending tax dollars today one men always so we all we all have to have by an an understanding all the way down to the taxpayer what that's going to look like in in regards justification whether be buying new program software performance pay whatever it may be so with that thanks that I I don't think it's a you know it's something that we just need to. Start discussing and start having you know input on as far as a committee so as we have those ideas and also input from the department is what they would like to see as far as that oversight committee or or group that's going to be involved in making sure these efficiencies occur making sure that these changes occur in that they're all agreed to Lastly and I guess I'll just say this for staff unit since all of these recommendations that we went through today these for are supported you know in general at least by our dot I would believe that these would need to make it into the final report as recommendations we can have a further discussion on again how we implement those or how we help help contribute to the delimitation. The deal if any members have any questions on that I know that was kind of. Little much of that make sense. All right well can I ask to yes ma'am six. Of as we go through this process I just like to ask the the committee to. It try I would these recommendations are awesome and I think they're going to give us a great. Be a great tool for us moving forward but I would ask that we not get to prescriptive. The chief keep it kind of pride instead of of saying specifically how we're going to accomplish this give us give us the opportunity to figure out what works best for the department to look at the value of what we're doing versus the benefit we're going to get from it and sit and just not make it where if we decide this is probably not the best fit we're not going against this recommendation if we keep it brought in F. then we can accomplish what everyone wants is to completion in the most efficient way possible. I would agree and and that I think that's. Part of why it's so important what we establishes process that we can get them in at some point the details are going to matter in the end some pointed details are going to have to be fleshed out the I don't think that they're going to be fleshed out in their entirety in this recommendations report that we're going to put Ford but at some point we need to have general agreement on what those details are going to look like what's realistic and what's not how do we implement had we track how do we budget that that sort of thing because the those will that matter I think in regards to success you know of the recommendations and so I I understand what you're saying as far as not being too specific at this point I would agree it's just at some point we are going to have to get there because of for not specific will never achieve a. You know it's a it's very hard to achieve a goal of we can't properly define clearly defined in the end I I completely agree in it and the other thing I'd like to say is. The the The act that put this recommendation in. Sorry this sufficiency review into place also requires an annual ruby. also that this committee is the highway commission review an advisory committee subcommittee and we report to you frequently and I think we're we're all set up to. As we move forward into implementing these recommendations getting into the details getting into the finance in on the new show a little bit of how we're going to accomplish it but there the the actual report this submitted to a LC possibly as a broader look and then as we move forward we get it we we bring you in and the commission and everybody to talk about how can we do this for the get the best bang for our Buck in an accomplished because something's well that's great to know but what is it do for you we want we don't want to do that we want to make sure what we measure and makes us better. Yes ma'am. Any other questions or comments. All right seeing none we did we have any other business come before the committee today. All right let's go clean rooms have a good day thank you.