[The following is an undated text of a speech delivered by Bill Clinton, provided to me by Susanne Leckband in December, 1992. --Tom Glenn] TQM: Agent of Change in Government Operations Putting People First Governor Bill Clinton--State of Arkansas As I travel the United States making campaign speeches, I am often tempted to talk about quality management. But seldom do my audiences include enough people who understand quality management for such a discussion to be productive. So I am pleased to have an opportunity to address an audi- ence of quality management professionals. In my national economic plan, _Putting_People_First_, I make this statement: It is time to radically change the way government operates-- to shift from top-down bureaucracy to entrepreneurial gov- ernment that empowers citizens and communities to change our country from the bottom up. We must reward the people and ideas that work and get rid of those that don't. The ideas of W. Edwards Deming--known in the Federal govern- ment as total quality management (TQM), and in Arkansas as quality management (QM)--have becomes a powerfully effective force for change in American industry. Primarily a force in manufacturing until recently, with appropriate adaptation QM offers the framework and the tools to be equally effective in government. Quality management has an important role to play in the evolution of government philosophy and practice I call for in my Presidential platform. I echo some of Deming's _Fourteen_Points_ in my campaign themes: --A new philosophy of management, for long-term strategy and systematic overhaul from within. --Training and retraining of all the workforce emphasizing lifetime learning and self-improvement. --The necessity of committed leadership in system transfor- mation, of the need for more collaboration and innovation, and the need to break down barriers and flatten hierarchies. --Driving out fear and building security, putting everyone to work in problem solving, especially the people who are most directly affected by those problems and their solu- tions. We both believe that people are precious, and we have none to waste. We both say "put people first." Quality Management in Arkansas My personal experience with quality management began in the 1980's in an effort to help Arkansas manufacturers compete and win in a global economy. In November 1986 the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission (AIDC), the state's economic development agency, assembled Arkansas company managers, professional associ- ation members, educators and government employees. Their discus- sion provided the impetus for my commissioning an Arkansas Quality Management Task Force. Task force and AIDC services to business and industry now include an active schedule of: --QM orientation and training sessions --Governor's Quality Conferences emphasizing the importance of committed leadership by top management --Bi-monthly publication of a promotional and educational newsletter --A QM resource center with a lending library and computer- ized clearinghouse in QM training, curriculum, consultants and speakers. Community-Based Initiatives... The most important Task Force function has been its support of community-based quality initiatives. These initiatives combine resources and foster collaboration by local industry, business, government, educa- tional institutions and civic organizations. There are currently twenty-two community-based _Quality_First_ programs in Arkansas. It was in Batesville at Arkansas' first QM community cele- bration that I saw QM's potential for improving state government. I accepted an offer from Arkansas Eastman Company for the year- long loan of one of its executives, Asa Whitaker, to help state government launch its quality management program. Quality management in Arkansas's state government -- We began with 6 pilot agencies, including the Governor's Office, and today 34 agencies have been absorbed into the QM system. These 34 agencies represent 90 percent of all state employees. I believe Arkansas was the first state in the nation to have large numbers of state employees in quality management. Legislation in 1991 established a training fund, provided a mechanism for transfer or reallocation of funds saved by QM projects and created a QM board for oversight composed of private industry managers and legislators. QM tools training, team- leader, facilitator and performance management training are done in-house by an interagency training department. Citizen-customer satisfaction survey on state services... My office is currently conducting a customer survey in the public reception areas of the state agencies in the QM system. The survey asks citizens to rate state service in courtesy, clarity, efficiency, accuracy, professionalism, and helpfulness. The postage-paid survey reply card asks for comments and suggestions. Problems identified by our customers direct the formation of QM improvement teams whose numbers include frontline service employ- ees. Early successes... Our earliest QM successes came in solv- ing our most obvious problems. State government operates as a large information clearinghouse and the first wave of improve- ments came in the ways we process and disseminate information to the public. Early improvements also include better inter- and intra-agency communication and cooperation. Next wave improvements... The next wave, the one we are currently enjoying, is producing real service improvements and significant cost savings. It is also introducing hard questions about duplication of effort, budgetary practices and traditional, regulatory and legislative barriers to even greater improvement. In Arkansas, we call this "getting down to the lick log," the arduous work of institutionalizing quality: matching new language with new policy, transforming old mechanisms to fit our newly defined mission. Adapting QM for Government There is an additional challenge for government QM initia- tives, and it has been best expressed by David Osborne, who co- wrote _Reinventing_Government_. Osborne has observed that for those who would make systematic changes in the operations of government, QM offers only "half a loaf." Though "half" may be understating the case, it is true that QM business practice requires modification for it to be effective in government. Deming designed QM to improve competitive manufacturing operations. He was not addressing the issues of monopoly and was for a time skeptical that QM would work in government. Government TQM at its most effective would turn Deming's _Fourth_Point_, which concerns competition, on its head. Instead of "cease doing business by price tag alone," for government it would read "cease doing business business can do better." As Osborne's case studies indicate, entrepreneurial govern- ment pushes control of policy out of the bureaucracy and into the community to empower people rather than simply serve them. Whereas business wants to engender dependency in their clients, government must create strategies to reduce dependency and build self-sufficiency. Enterprising government entities, primarily municipalities, but also colleges and state and federal agencies, have bid away or privatized some functions--waste management, street mainte- nance, child support casework are examples--and earned or saved money with no loss or a net gain for taxpayers. Quality management in the Federal government... In develop- ing TQM missions, federal agencies must examine their processes for entrepreneurial potential. Eliminating those rules, regula- tions, budget policies and procurement practices which prevent improvement, impede greater efficiency, or increase cost must be a policy priority. Inter-agency collaborations must search out and reduce overlap and redundancy in programs and personnel, and they must encourage action from those affected by the outcome. By becoming more participatory and less hierarchical, enterprising agencies can be more productive while eliminating layers of middle manage- ment. Driving out dear... Finally, to drive out fear, build security and create an environment where improvement is possible, we must devise a system of reward for Federal employees based on their commitment to quality, along with training, retraining, and placement for those whose jobs change as a result of quality initiatives. Key ingredients to federal quality... As Deming has re- marked, quality management is not "instant pudding." The chal- lenge of transforming the Federal system from within is enormous. The desire and necessity to improve government systems and the identification of TQM as a means of improvement are only two parts to a three-part problem. The third part is committed and determined leadership to make those improvements comprehensive and continuous. The road to quality in all Federal government operations is lone and full of obstacles. It's time the journey is joined by committed leadership at all levels. Bill Clinton Governor of Arkansas