TO REORGANIZE OR NOT TO REORGANIZE?

THAT IS THE QUESTION

Bob Inzer, Clerk & Comptroller

Leon County, Florida

May 12, 2016

Should You Reorganize/Restructure

• You should have a purpose.– Don’t do it just because you might think you are

not a good manager if you don’t.

– Don’t feel constrained because this is what you know and this is how you are comfortable.

• Identify problems or opportunities in your office– What could I do better or more efficiently if I was

able to sit down with a blank page?

Begin with a SWOT Analysis

• SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

• Involve your staff, but expect resistance to change.

• You may want to consider outside assistance because sometimes it is difficult to see the forest for the trees.

SWOT Analysis: Employees

• Employee Experience

• Cross Training

• Retirements

• Underperformance

• Nesting

• New Challenges

SWOT Analysis: Physical Facilities

• This is an examination of both the physical structures and locations as well as …

• Is your current physical structure resulting in inefficiencies?– Too many divisions, departments?

• What opportunities do you have to change your current facilities?– If you have multiple locations, do you need them? Can

you afford to keep them?– Can you get your county

commission to modify your facilities?

SWOT Analysis: Customers

• Identify your customers both internal and external.

– Judicial partners, attorneys, county staff and commission, private citizens

• Are you designed to maximize customer experience?

• Are you designed to maximize your efficiencies?

SWOT Analysis: Management

• Do you have too many layers of management or too many managers?– Some organizational structures were designed to

reward employees.

– Some organizational structures were designed around managers’ inability to manage.

• Too many layers of management result in inefficiencies and hinder communications between you and your employees.

The Leon County Experience

• In 2001

– 208 employees

– 7 senior managers

– 18 supervisors: 8 court, 6 finance, 5 other

• In 2016

– 150 employees

– 5 senior managers, soon to be 4

– 13 supervisors: 5 court, 5 finance, 3 other

Leon County Experience: Employees

• Very tenured senior managers, supervisors and employees

• Employees nested, wanted promotions and raises, but not interested in learning new functions

• Employees were more administrative less paraprofessional

Leon County Experience: Customers

• Customers were confused. There were 8different locations for court services located in 2 buildings and on 5 different floors.

• Customers confused as to where to go for services.

• There was no opportunity to spread out customer surges.

Leon County Experience: Management

• Top down organization; supervisors and directors were maintenance managers and waited for direction from front office.

• Managers generally were hired from within the division and that was all they knew.

• The organization operated in silos.

– The same function in different divisions was handled differently.

Leon County Experience: Facilities

• Our court divisions were located in 8 unique locations in 2 different buildings and on 5different floors.

• Our other offices were randomly scattered around the courthouse and in other facilities.

• It took years to get the support of the County to relocate other Constitutional offices from the courthouse and to reconstruct the space to meet our needs.

Leon County Experience: Finance

• Two separate Finance Departments: One for Clerk and one for Board.

• When asked why, “This is the way it’s always been done.”

• We consolidated payroll and payables into disbursements.

• Practice was to create separate division for every function.

• The Finance Department is smaller today than it was 16 years ago.

Leon County Experience: Courts

• Prior to reorganization: 8 divisions created by court type– Felony, Misdemeanor, Family Law, Circuit Civil,

Traffic, Juvenile Dependency, Juvenile Delinquency, Small Claims

• After reorganization: 5 divisions– Criminal Intake, Civil Intake, Civil/Criminal

Administration, Cashiering/Special Processes, Court Attendance

• Consolidated services– Central Filing, Bonds, Appeals, Phone Banks

Leon County Experience: Other

• Chief Deputy assumed direct management responsibilities.

– Official Records, Central Filing, Archives, Marriage and Passports, Human Resources

• Eliminated records director, marriage supervisor and archives supervisor.

Lessons Learned

• Expect great resistance; change is tough.

• Leadership must have a vision, and be able to communicate that vision.

• Plan, plan, and plan.

• Train employees in advance for new responsibilities.

• Communicate to all of your customers.

Lessons Learned: Efficiencies

• We are a more nimble, better, and leaner organization delivering better services.

• Given the cuts we’ve gone through, we could not have survived had not we gained the efficiencies through reorganization.

• Supervisors and directors have developed into change agents.

• Employees are more cross-trained, and more paraprofessional than administrative employees.