Jeffrey DeWitt, Chief Financial Officer, D.C. Government, discussed “Continuous Improvement in Government.”
“Technology is changing everything rapidly. We all have to keep up. MGM just opened another casino very close to D.C. We have to compete with that. What D.C. has done is work on the culture of continuous improvement. Consider: Government is struggling to regulate Uber and yet driverless cars are maybe five years away. That is kind of scary considering D.C. traffic. How do we keep up as government?” said DeWitt.
The lottery did a best practices study. “The result was a focus on employee empowerment. Our strategic plan is called Be SMARTER,” said DeWitt. “Service oriented. Motivated.Accountable. Respectful. Trustworthy. Empowered. Results oriented. That is the culture we want. These are the employees and contractors we want.”
The D.C. government has a web portal for suggestions. The ideas are employee evaluated and if your idea is selected you get to be part of the team to implement it,” said DeWitt. “How do you get good government? You get to it by hiring and promoting good people. You get it by listening to the people you have. You can’t keep doing things the same way,” he said.
