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June 2003
DOT leaders share issues, strategies at Minneapolis forum
Carol Molnau
James Codell
From left to right: Tom Warne, John Brandl, Steve Lockwood
From left to right: Robert Skinner, Bud Wright, John Horsley, Lance Neuman
The forces facing state departments of transportation (DOTs) whether political, institutional, economic, work force, or technological are challenging department leadership today in ways never before experienced. With the added challenge of budget deficits in many states, this environment is affecting how each DOT carries out leadership strategies, delivers programs, and operates its transportation systems. In efforts to foster in-depth discussion of and develop action plans for addressing these, and other, issues, CTS hosted a three-day DOT leadership forum. The event, which took place May 4–6, 2003, was sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Transportation Research Board (TRB), and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), with funding provided by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP).
CTS director Robert Johns, Lt. Gov. and Mn/DOT commissioner Carol Molnau, and AASHTO president James Codell kicked off the first day of the form, which included presentations built around three forum topics strategic leadership, program delivery, and system operations and set the stage for more focused interaction later in the forum.
"Because DOT leadership is being challenged as never before," Molnau remarked, "events like this are valuable in gaining resources and sharing best practices that will enable us all to carry our leadership strengths in finding new and better ways to build and manage the nation's transportation infrastructure." In that same vein, Codell urged participants to candidly express their thoughts and ideas throughout the coming discussions.
During an opening presentation, John Brandl, a professor at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, predicted that tough times for state DOTs will persist. He offered a ray of hope for DOTs, however, noting that their prospects are better than in other parts of state government. DOTs have more powerful accountability devices, he explained, and what they do is more visible and tangible than other sectors of government, allowing citizens to easily recognize what they are getting for their money. In addition, unlike many other parts of state governments, DOTs use competitive contracting more than other areas, which leads to innovations that better serve the public.
Steve Lockwood, vice president with Parsons Brinkerhoff, added that competition for scarce resources, along with other physical, environmental, and social constraints, will drive demand for operational efficiency. He suggested that state DOTs could better handle the transportation demands of a just-in-time society by improving their systems operations. Such improvements would also help recapture lost capacity on urban and rural roadways, on which, he explained, half of delay is due to non-recurring congestion not capacity shortfalls from construction work zones, bad weather, poor signal timing, breakdowns, and crashes.
"There are, indeed, significant opportunities for innovation and change," agreed Tom Warne, president of Tom Warne and Associates. "Strong CEO leadership is the key to making those changes." According to Warne, the new DOT CEO must be entrepreneurial, technology savvy, willing to reduce institutional barriers to change, and able to focus on customer service. Leadership also implies mentoring and motivating others to succeed. "We need to recognize that leaders are not special," Warne said, "but they do have a special opportunity to effect change. As CEOs, we need to bring leadership to our DOTs to build a grander vision of the future."
Forum invitees also took part in a series of unique conversation circle discussions designed to address each of the three forum topics. In the strategic leadership-focused session, one of the main issues that surfaced involved strategic planning versus strategic management. Most participants agreed that there is a big difference between putting a plan together on paper and actually making it work. Others added that strategic planning must be doable, and that as managers, DOT leaders must be able to communicate the strategic plan effectively and also be willing to accept failure from time to time.
"As a CEO, it's up to you to communicate to upper and middle management that they will be responsible for the success of your department," Codell explained. "To ensure continued success, you need to recognize the need for upper and middle management to be given the reins to move forward." Another theme that developed from the conversation circles was the notion that DOT leaders must work hard to build public trust and should focus more on how DOT projects impact customers.
"The culture change in AASHTO is working. It is clear that all CEOs here are looking for a better way to deliver in an increasingly demanding political climate where you want to do more and more. This is impressive," said John Horsley, executive director of AASHTO.
"I was struck by how many tensions were mentioned that state DOTs have to deal with, including the balance among quality and schedule," said Robert Skinner Jr., TRB executive director. "No one likes silos but it's not clear what the alternatives are. I also noticed that there has not been a lot of discussion about money not as much as I expected."
The event culminated with a large-group brainstorming session followed by small work-group sessions geared to finalize action plans to carry out the initiatives and ideas generated throughout the forum. The group came up with 21 specific action plans, which the sponsoring organizations, through an NCHRP panel, are now in the process of prioritizing for future implementation.
"The one thing that has become clear in our discussions is that these three topics [strategic leadership, program delivery, and system operations] are not separate and distinct; they are intertwined," observed Frederick "Bud" Wright, FHWA executive director. "We have a complex web of relationships that have to be nurtured. All of those entities are part of a transportation delivery team. We can't have success at FHWA, unless the entire team is successful. We can only be successful if you [state DOTs] are successful."
A powerpoint presentation with highlights of the workshop is located at www.cts.umn.edu/Publications. A proceedings will be posted later this summer.