FMCS Reinvention

Significant changes are taking place in the American workplace, reflecting the development of new technologies, heightened domestic and international competitive pressures, the deregulation of significant industries within our economy, and growing diversity in the workforce. These profound changes require a continuing reassessment of the FMCS philosophy, training programs and structure.

The last two and a half years have been marked by fundamental changes within FMCS to make us even more attuned and responsive to the needs of customers, and more supportive of the needs of our mediators. The focus has been on building an FMCS that is customer driven and geared toward continuous improvement in our services and performance, and on continuing to strengthen and enhance the Service's leadership in collective bargaining and labor-management relations.

The Mediator Task Force Report on the Future of FMCS, issued in July 1994, did not gather dust on a shelf. Task Committees, whose membership included fifty employees, nearly forty of them mediators, began work in early fiscal year 1995 to develop action plans which focused on specific areas addressed in the Task Force Report: Customer Service, Training and Professional Development, Evaluation and Rewards, Technology, and Resource Clearinghouse. A Strategic Action Plan for fiscal years 1995-1997, incorporating most of the Task Force and Committee recommendations into one comprehensive document, laid out the reinvention blueprint.

And in 1995, that blueprint started becoming reality. Major initiatives were undertaken to create the FMCS of the Future envisioned by the Task Force: customer driven, geared toward continuous improvement in its performance and services, populated by "360 degree" mediators who could deliver all the services offered by FMCS.

Mediator Hiring Standards Strengthened

The hiring criteria for new mediators were strengthened, and, at the same time, made more flexible, in order to attract and employ only those individuals who demonstrated the desire and ability to quickly develop into "full service" mediators. In the past, the standards were rigid, requiring a minimum of seven years experience in a leadership or spokesperson role in collective bargaining negotiations. The new criteria specify "substantial full-time" experience, but still demand a thorough knowledge of collective bargaining, as well as knowledge of joint processes to improve labor-management relations.

For those who do not meet all the qualifications for a mediator position, but do have progressively responsible experience in the negotiation and/or administration of collective bargaining agreements, or experience in Alternative Dispute Resolution, there is provision for consideration of employment in a developmental position.

Training and Professional Development

A Training Coordinator was hired, and immediately began the process of conducting a Capabilities and Interest Survey of the FMCS leadership, mediators and National Office staff. Based on those surveys, Individual Development Plans were created which specified needed developmental training or education activities. An overall training plan combines mediator training at the regional level with an annual National Professional Development Seminar, an intensive week-long effort which focuses on "take home" skills. Mediators interact with top practitioners from the private sector to remain abreast of the latest dispute and preventive mediation techniques, and attend classes and work sessions conducted by FMCS colleagues with particular expertise.

To ensure that training and professional development achieve the desired results, the criteria for individual performance appraisals have been completely rewritten to accurately reflect and positively reinforce the attainment of competencies required for successful individual performance, the Service's progress toward a staff of full service mediators, and, ultimately, the ability to better serve customer needs.

FMCS Restructures Field Organization

Seeking the "optimal system for the delivery of services," the FMCS National Director discussed the Service's field management structure extensively with FMCS District Directors, with top officials in other federal agencies, with leaders among company and union customers, and asked for recommendations and comments from every FMCS employee. The result was a major change in the structure and role of the Service's field managers.

Nine districts were consolidated into five regions, each with a leadership team: a Regional Director and two Directors of Mediation Services. Eighteen supervisory-level positions were reduced to fifteen, and a uniform 20:1 manager to mediator ratio was established.

Leadership Roles Redefined

Every bit as important as the change in field leadership structure was a redefinition of the leaders' roles, responsibilities and philosophy. Instead of a traditional top-down, "manager" approach, the focus is on motivation and coaching rather than supervising. The team leadership structure also allows specific assignment of primary responsibilities among the team members and, therefore, increased attention to each function. Very simply, a team can be much more effective than a single manager.

The Regional Directors, in addition to providing overall leadership and oversight of the FMCS Strategic Plan within the region, are specifically responsible for customer outreach; developing and strengthening the Service's alliances with the labor-management community, state and local government officials, professional associations and educational institutions.

The Directors of Mediation Services each work hands-on with approximately twenty mediators, providing resources, counseling, administrative and supervisory support, and paying close attention to the mediators' professional development and human resource needs. The Regional Director and two Directors of Mediation Services function as a leadership team to deal with such matters as customer feedback, delivery of services and mediator performance appraisals.

The fifteen new leadership positions were opened to all qualified mediators and managers in the Service, creating the largest opportunity for upward mobility in FMCS history. Thirty-nine candidates were considered for the positions, and, through a series of exhaustive personal interviews, the selections made. Seven of the fifteen new leaders rose directly from the ranks of field mediators. They came together soon afterward for five days of intensive training, and one week later, joined their colleagues at the National Professional Development Seminar. The Regional Directors and Directors of Mediation Services officially assumed their new responsibilities January 1, 1996.

National Office Leadership Team Restructured

The concept of team leadership was also applied to the National Office, with the Director's Special Assistant assuming the new position of Deputy Director for National Office Operations. This allows one Deputy to focus on the daily operations of the program and support functions in the FMCS National Office, and the other Deputy to oversee field operations, particularly critical during the period of transition from the previous district configuration to the new regional structure. This new Deputy Director position is the highest office ever held by a woman at FMCS.

Technology Upgrade

In 1994, only 25 percent of the Service's 200 mediators had access to computers, only a third of the field offices were equipped with fax machines, and there was no network linkage of any kind. Reports were still being completed on typewriters. Much of the casework files and reports were being transmitted by mail and delivery service.

An immediate commitment was made to upgrade the agency's communications technology. The process of furnishing mediators with the basic tools to perform their jobs more efficiently began. Computers and fax machines were, and continue to be, provided as quickly as possible. A computer network was established in the National Office and with Regional Offices, and mediator field offices are continually being added to the network. Included in the fiscal year 1996 Budget is funding to complete the technology upgrade, and reduce the field offices' reliance on traditional clerical support.

National Customer Survey

Also funded in the 1996 Budget is the first-ever National Customer Survey, initially the product of the Customer Service Committee, and further refined by a team of senior research professionals from M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management and the University of Massachusetts. The survey instrument will probe business and union customers' awareness and attitudes about FMCS services, and will provide a baseline of information to measure the Service's future performance. A professional research organization will design and draw a scientifically-representative sample of customers and potential customers, conduct the survey, compile and analyze the data and produce a report of its findings.

The FMCS of the Future

The American workplace is undergoing extraordinary change. As Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service customers strive to build, maintain and increase market share in this dynamic environment, they frequently turn to FMCS for new and different mediation services. If FMCS cannot provide what the customers want and need, it will quickly become obsolete.

The Mediator Task Force provided a vision of FMCS in the future. The Strategic Action Plan provides the roadmap to that vision. They are steps in a systemic approach to reinvention, and an entrepreneurial approach to management of a government agency. Example after example from leading business organizations illustrates that up-front investment in people, through education and training, as well as information technology, reaps tremendous rewards in employee performance.

Clear focus on customer needs, improvement in the quality of services and strengthened mediation performance will enable FMCS to continue serving the needs of the collective bargaining community and the American taxpayer. It will require an FMCS which is staffed, equipped and fully prepared to maintain its leadership role and responsibilities in labor-management relations into the next century.

" ...If FMCS simply does what it has always done, even if it does these things very well, better even than other organizations, then time will pass us by, and our services, while still important, will find fewer customers, and we risk becoming an organization of the past."

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Last modified: February 09, 1998