[The following article appears in the November, 1993 edition of
the _Public_Sector_Quality_Report_, pp.1-2.]

           New FQI Leader Hunt Is Self-Described Change Agent

     Earlier this year, at about the time the Washington,
D.C.-based Federal Quality Institute (FQI) was blowing out the
candles on its fifth birthday cake, Michelle Hunt was named FQI's
new executive director.

     Hunt came to FQI from Herman Miller, Inc., where she was
vice president of quality and people development for the
international office furniture company. Hunt previously worked in
Michigan's Department of Corrections and had served on a
Clinton/Gore transition team which focused on personnel issues.

     FQI was formed in 1988 (a joint effort of the Office of
Management and Budget, the President's Council on Management
Improvement, and the Office of Personnel Management) to act as a
catalyst for quality improvement in the U.S. government. FQI has
evolved to offer fee-based quality management consulting
services, sponsor conferences and seminars, administer two
federal quality award programs, maintain a supply schedule of
private-sector consultants, and act as an information/networking
resource agency.

     Hunt joins FQI at a potential watershed in the
organization's history. Some observers question whether FQI
wouldn't be better off leaving consulting work to the for-profits
and instead focusing its resources elsewhere. Meanwhile,
implementing the National Performance Review promises to present
new challenges for the FQI staff.

     PSQR recently caught up with Hunt to get her thoughts on the
past and future direction of FQI.

     ù On what attracted her to the job. "I'm a change agent,
always have been. I realized that even if we change every other
system--corporations, education, community--that until we can
help government work better, we're all going to be limited in the
amount of change, innovation, and creativity we can actualize
because we'll keep bumping against a larger system. So the
challenge of joining a team to improve and change the largest,
most complex, most powerful system in the world--I think there
were compelling reasons to do that."

     What didn't attract Hunt was her new salary and the prospect
of leaving friends and familiar territory. As a single parent
turning her back on a corporate job and a support system,
"Certainly there were huge sacrifices to do this," she says. "All
kinds of sacrifices, including monetary. So this involves serving
my country."

     ù On what made Herman Miller a leader in quality management.
"I think what made it special is we continually struggled with
aligning our beliefs, our mission, our strategies, and our
structures, and as we struggled to align those we involved every
single Herman Miller person. Leadership's role was really to
create a shared vision and involve everyone to provide input into
that vision."

     Hunt says communication was the key to involving all
employees in the organization's improvement. Each month top
managers composed a video tape describing the company's progress
toward strategic goals. Not only did every employee view each
monthly tape, they also participated in monthly give-and-take
"leadership meetings" with director-level-and-above execs.

     ù On the strengths she brings to FQI. "I think it's the
point of view I just outlined. My approach is to get as many
stakeholders to partner in the journey as possible." Hunt
indicated she intends to reach out to the private sector for help
in furthering quality management in government. "I've got a
tremendous network of people throughout the country who have been
on this journey, who are willing to help, and who see it as their
duty and responsibility to help."

     ù On FQI's accomplishments. Despite what Hunt describes as a
lack of leadership under the previous administration, she says
FQI "seeded the principles of quality throughout the federal
government, and that's a tremendous battle. I think that's a
tremendous accomplishment."

     ù On FQI's mission--past. present and future. "FQI's mission
is clear--to advance quality throughout the federal government
continuously." Hunt says she and FQI staffers are in the process
of collectively redefining FQI's mission, and "surely one of the
key things is to be partners with the agencies and to promote
strategic quality change.

     "Strategic involves total system change. Rather than just go
in talking about the principles of quality, we have to go in and
attack the whole body, the whole system, the whole organization."
How? "It's always people," says Hunt. "The key to liberating
people is leadership, creating the environment where people can
sensibly and rationally change the irrational."

     ù On FQI's organization and services. FQI has been a
relatively lean operation, with a staff of 30, including 20
senior executives. At least half of those senior execs are
"detailed" by federal agencies. The salaries of the other 10 are
paid with fees generated through the sale of FQI services. Hunt
says the emphasis will remain on staying lean and adaptable,
organizing staff teams around consulting or research projects as
they arise.

     She says FQI will continue to provide quality management
consulting services because she believes federal employees bring
special expertise to the task and because FQI's services
generally are more affordable than private consultants' services.

     ù On FQI's evolving role. Hunt says building "networks of
networks" will be a primary goal. "One of our big services is
networking the resources that are out there. We have built a
network of state, federal, private sector, associations, and
non-profits who can come in and help each other in the journey.
When we have an idea or a need, a lot of those groups are linked
electronically and we can go to that network."

     In addition, she says FQI will be a key support agency to
the President's Management Council, a newly-formed panel charged
by the NPR with leading the "quality revolution" in the federal
government. "We'll get projects out of that which are significant
and cross-governmental," says Hunt.

     ù On measuring FQI's performance. "The most important thing
is the hardest to measure--because you're not doing the
transformation, you're just exposing people in agencies and
providing tools for change. I think the measurement of success
will have to do with demand. If we are performing, people will
demand our services."

CONTACT: Michelle Hunt, executive director,
Federal Quality Institute, (202) 376-3755.

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