RACIAL EQUITY INITIATIVE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER DEPARTMENT-WIDE INITIATIVES AND RESOURCES
To be meaningful , the implementation of the Racial Equity Action Plan needs to be embedded in department-wide work . In developing the Action Plan , the Working Group is leaning on existing initiatives that identified places of improvement and lessons learned .
Over the last 10 years , the department has invested in a number of departmentwide initiatives to empower employees and effect organizational change . These initiatives have been generally executive team-initiated and founded on the desire to be a better organization and to self-reflect . At their core , they ’ ve been focused on bringing people from across the department together to reflect on our strengths and the challenges we face , and to strategize how to implement positive change . In these 10 years , the department launched , among other initiatives , an iterative strategic planning process , the University of Public Works , a process improvement training program and an all employee survey . The last two follow our continuous improvement strategy based on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework . We ’ ve gathered information and we ’ ve worked to set the stage for organization-wide reflection and improvement . The Racial Equity Action Plan builds on this work and the lessons learned and the issues and problems identified .
BALDRIGE PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE PROGRAM
Public Works uses the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program criteria as an anchor for its continuous improvement efforts . The Baldrige Framework unifies the department ’ s initiatives such as strategic planning , hiring and employee engagement , process improvement training and projects and Public Works Stat ( our datadriven evaluation method ).
Baldrige , managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in cooperation with the private sector , promotes awareness and importance of performance excellence within organizations by providing organizational assessment tools and criteria . Baldrige specifies seven critical aspects of managing and performing as an organization :
• Leadership
• Strategy
• Customers
• Measurement , Analysis and Knowledge Management
• Workforce
• Operations
• Results
Public Works enrolled in Baldridge training beginning in 2016 and applied for a Baldrige state award in 2017 . We received detailed feedback regarding our submission and received Prospector-level recognition . The feedback was key in informing and shaping our Strategic Plan and other necessary initiatives .
STRATEGIC PLAN
First completed in 2009 , Public Works typically revises its Strategic Plan every three to five years . Though the Strategic Plan is developed by the executive team , the leadership for implementation
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