Through the tall windows of the meeting hall, distant mountain peaks could be faintly observed. The National Park Service training conference was coming to an end after two weeks and the closing address was being delivered to the gathered multitude. The featured speaker was moving in for the kill with all the vigor he could muster. “Now listen up fellow rangers and resource professionals, we didn’t wrack our brains and tear out our souls to come up with the Vail Agenda, Ranger Futures, Ranger Careers, VERP (Visitor Experience & Resource Protection), Mission Renewal, the IDP (Interpretive Development Plan), the Interpretive Renaissance and most recently the Reorganization of the Associateship just to simply amuse ourselves! No brothers and sisters, these are the intricately planned stepping-stones that will take us into a new century of resource protection. Confident of a thankful nation’s mandate, we must continue to be stewards of excellence by engaging people in building enduring connections with America’s special places!”
The gathered assemblage of rangers, agency wonks, and training junkies immediately stood and roared back a deafening wave of applause. On the podium the deputy assistant undersecretary bowed in earnest gratitude at this spontaneous display of unbridled enthusiasm by such a large gathering of agency professionals. He needed to say more.
“Let me conclude, that each of us must take back to our units the igniting spark of support for this exciting new initiative. Let us each together move forward in support of this necessary move towards a more nationally monitored field-based approach to problem solving. This latest WASO program, Hands Inside The Pocket (HITP), spells out how to come up with solutions at the grass roots level. The dictates of the plan will facilitate more independent action as oversight from WASO increases with concomitant reductions in monetary support. It’s all so very simple folks! Now let’s go back to our home parks and light some fires for HITP!”
Tilden Goodstuv, Assistant Chief Naturalist, began leaping up and down as every pair of clapping hands stood to give a second demonstration of enthusiasm for this captivating and inspirational leader. It was as if a Pentecostal auctioneer of God had just thundered a sermon to the faithful. Tilden was so charged up that he started giving high fives to all those seated around him. Their befuddlement and sudden fear at this overt display of personal zeal was hardly noticed by youthful Tilden. He was swimming in the moment, almost speaking and thinking in tongues, profoundly moved by the meaning of what had just taken place.
While gathering up his things he noticed that the departing speaker was walking up the aisle of chairs Tilden was sitting in. Hastily reaching out his hand toward the departing hero he said, “You were really great. I can’t wait to meet with my staff next week and rev them up on this new phase in their careers.”
A beaming Mr. Deputy Undersecretary replied, “Thanks, I’m sure that we in WASO are going to need all the field level support we can get in this initial phase of implementation.”
“I’m so glad that I taped it. Now my wife Penny can get a chance to hear it too.”
Looking at Tilden’s conference badge the deputy under secretary asked, “Where do you work Mr. Goodstuv?”
“I’m Assistant Chief Naturalist at Grand Milkbags.”
“Ah yes, in Nevada?”
“Wyoming. We’re near Jellystone Park. You know, like in Yogi Bear?”
“Oh yes, do you know Herb Wormley, Deputy Assistant Administrative Officer for Yellowstone?”
“I met him briefly at the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Interagency Regional Impact Study Conference (GYEIRISC) back in 1999”, Tilden eagerly replied.
“Great guy. We used to be good friends when we both worked in the old Mid-Atlantic Regional Office in Philadelphia. Tell him I said hi the next time you see him.”
“You bet I will. Take care!” Tilden exclaimed as he began vigorously shaking the under secretary’s arm like he was pumping a well.
Backing away from Tilden, the under secretary said, “It was nice meeting you Mr. Goodstuv” and headed out the door.
Tilden stood for a silent moment glowing in a sort of sacred reverie.
Later in the lobby, his hand cupped over the mouthpiece to keep out the noise, he phoned Penny, “you’ll never guess who I met today honey.”
A story blog that will chronicle the inner workings of that most noble of governmental agencies: the U.S. National Park Service. This serialized novelette will chronicle the exciting adventures and intrigues of the dedicated professionals who serve in the elite ranks of the green and gray. It is to these selfless souls that I write in full and honest candor. All of the acronyms are real, the names have been changed to protect substantial retirement packages.
Grand Canyon National Park
View from the North Rim
Dual career
The way to move forward
Rangers and politicians
Two peas in a pod
Ranger and intern
Preserving America's special places
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From a genuine WASO memo issued on 12/22/06 titled: Reoganization of the Associateship
I am pleased to announce that we have completed the reorganization of what used to be the Associate Directorship for Partnerships, Interpretation and Education, Volunteers, and Outdoor Recreation (PIEVOR). Effective immediately, the Associate Directorship will be called the Associateship Directorship for Partnerships and Visitor Experience (PVE). While the name has been shortened and simplified, the reorganization does not result in the elimination of previous activities or programs offered by this Associateship. Instead, the re-organization was designed to realign activities and functions to create a more understandable, efficient and effective delivery system of services to the field.
This Associateship was originally created from three different associateships. When this happened, the managers of the work units contained in the Associateship did not have the opportunity to work through what they had in common. The first several years were spent in putting together staff and policy direction for each work unit. The Harpers Ferry Center was relocated into PIEVOR in an effort to consolidate the interpretation, education and media functions into one consolidated work unit. Once this consolidation was completed, the entire Associateship undertook a series of strategic planning and visioning sessions to find the commonality of their purpose and to see if there was an organizational structure that might work more effectively and efficiently.
After several days of deliberation, those attending the sessions identified their unique core purpose as “engaging people in building enduring connections with America’s special places.” Each member of the Associateship felt that they had a role in “engaging people” through their respective programs. They all provided opportunities “to build enduring connections” emotionally, intellectually and physically by the work that they did. And finally, they all focused on “America’s special places” that individually and collectively define our American heritage.
Further, they concluded that we did this work in two ways. The first was through developing and enhancing partnerships. The second was through providing and enhancing the highest quality visitor experiences in the programs that we offered. Therefore, we collectively felt that our name should not represent “how” we did the work but rather reflect the “end results” of our work which was partnership enhancement and high quality visitor experience. That is why the name was changed to “Partnerships and Visitor Experience”.
Memo from the NPS Director on 3/29/07
Last spring, the National Park Service (NPS) began a look at our Human Capital (HC) functions through a unique NPS process called a Preliminary Planning Effort (PPE). Our goal was to get a better picture of our needs, as well as our capabilities throughout all of Human Capital (human resources, employee development, and equal opportunity).
This first phase of the three-phase PPE process concluded in January. The Steering Committee provided a report with a series of reccomendations for me to consider.
After very careful consideration, the National Leadership Council (NLC) and I believe that the National Park Service can benefit by moving forward with further review of Human Capital functions and activities identified in the report. We can pursue an in-depth examination of four specific areas where gains in efficiency and better use of our resources will better position us for the challenges and opportunities ahead. These four activity areas, which cover 122 FTE spread across a much larger number of human capital positions, are:
Writing and classifying position descriptions.
Handling time and attendance cards and payroll processing.
Administering and communicating benefits programs, processing benefits actions.
Processing SF50s, maintaining OPFs, medical records, and employee performance files.
Therefore, the National Leadership Council and I have decided to proceed with a Competetive Review of these four areas. Employing a Competitive Review process in these limited areas will both support the goals of the President's Management Agenda and benefit the National Park Service---and in particular our Human Capital employees---by committing to responsible change through a structured, and recognized process that has both internal and external transparency. By doing this, we will proactively determine for ourselves how these services are provided in a manner that works best for our bureau. I am confident the NPS team will put together a well thought out, competive submission.
In parallel with the competitive review of the four specified activity areas, the Steering Committee will pursue actions within the NPS to implement these additional recommendations to streamline, reengineer or otherwise improve service delivery. The Employee Development analysis will be conducted through a separate study chartered at the National Leadership Council meeting in January 2007.
What does all this mean?
Many employees in HC community will be actively involved--directly or indirectly--in the competitive review process, which as scheduled will take approximately 12 months. I have asked the Steering Committee to guide the process.
We will move forward in selecting teams to oversee the Performance Work Statement (PWS) and Most Efficient Organization (MEO) development. These will be selected by early April.
Death Valley National Park
Main park road in the early spring.
2 comments:
Hands Inside the Pocket? Tell me you made that up.
Moi?
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