At the Los Angeles County Department of Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services (WDACS), staff handling frontline services can spend as much as 60% to 70% of their time on internal workflow. Rather than devoting such an outsized amount of time to procurement, approvals and other internal tasks, the team’s goal is to spend more time helping clients. FUSE Executive Fellow Norvell Thomas developed an organizational revitalization plan to streamline the agency’s operations and implement new change management policies and procedures, as well as provide specialized training for executive staff.
To support this work, Norvell conducted an organization assessment of the entire department with over 600 stakeholders to gather information on their daily operations. Based on this assessment, he identified points of connection between workflows to ensure smoother transitions and developed a comprehensive change management plan. He also helped develop the department’s first Center of Excellence, which will support leadership’s change management efforts by providing resources and training for all departments on strategic planning, process improvements, and programmatic key performance indicators. Additionally, Norvell conducted several specialized trainings for executive staff in the areas of leadership development, change management, conflict resolution and team building. Norvell is continuing to work with WDACS to implement the change management program. By freeing frontline staff from administrative tasks, WDACS will be able to improve services to county residents.
