The Park Circus: April 2007

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Input sought for new chapters

The first nine chapters of this blog-story (which follow below) were written in the months immediately after my departure from the National Park Service some years ago. I resurrected the manuscript from obscurity because the format of a blog seemed like a good place to display it and maybe would re-ignite a passion in me to finish it.

I have received some wonderful input from friends in the agency, both current and former rangers, about the direction of this storyline but am interested in gathering a wider scope of ideas and suggestions from other rangers out there that have read this blog novelette and may have things to contribute. I am particularly interested in the latest acronyms, initiatives and "visioning sessions" that might make this a more realistic and hilarious narrative. "Truth is stranger than fiction" was never more true than as it applies to the bureaucrats in the green and gray.

Thanks in advance.

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.