Director's Message

August 19, 2005

To: DHS employees

From: Bryan Johnston, Interim DHS Director

As you read this message, I'm happily speeding (just kidding -- I'll only try to keep up with traffic) to The Dalles. While there, I'll be visiting with Rene DuBoise and the folks in SDA (Service Delivery Area) 9.  I'll also represent the governor at La Clinica del Carino's open house. I write this message on Thursday evening.

At the end of my last message, I reported on a discussion going on in SDA 2 about employee retention and stress reduction. My last paragraph encouraged you to respect each other at work as one of the ways to make the workplace less stressful. What I didn't mention is that RESPECT is one of the values identified by cabinet as core to DHS.

Three years, and a number of directors ago, DHS started an inquiry about department ethics, searching for a tool that would be helpful in guiding the behavior and decisions of the department, its managers and its employees. After a great deal of research, drafts and focus groups, the effort led to a contract with an outside consultant to bring the inquiry to a close. I was lucky enough to be selected as that consultant last fall. I was engaged in that work when Governor Kulongoski asked me to take the DHS reins on an interim basis. With the helpful assistance of SEIU -- and building on the earlier efforts -- the work group submitted five DHS values to cabinet for approval and adoption as our core values.

"The 5 DHS Core Values: Guiding Our Work Life" is a document I hope you'll all come to know and use. We're currently engaged in a series of trainings for managers on the Values and we're designing how we will roll out the education portion for all of DHS.

I define core values as the essential beliefs of an organization -- those principles the organization uses to guide its behavior. They are that small set of principles that encourage a person to think or act in one way rather than another. Hopefully, they are the same set of principles that people think about when they are deciding what to do.

The concept of core values is certainly not new. Aristotle taught that we are what we do. What is new for many organizations is the effort to identify the organizational set of values and to keep those identified values in the forefront of employees' minds.

I have great respect for the Oregon National Guard (ORNG) on this subject. Right now, the ORNG has more troops serving in foreign lands than at any time since WWII, and until recently they were -- on a per capita basis -- more heavily represented in Iraq than the National Guard of any other state. Nonetheless, the ORNG is, at this very moment, actively drilling their entire force on the Core Values of the ORNG.

Many of the best corporations have undertaken to present their values to the world and to themselves. If they are successful, and by that I mean if they align their behavior with those values, the public comes to identify the company with the values. Disney values wholesomeness and imagination. Nordstrom's number one value is service to the customer. Sony demands creativity. While each of these organizations has other values, they have come to be identified by these key ones.

We're joining these enlightened organizations. Over the next several months you'll become acquainted with the DHS values and we'll move to being a value-driven organization. That move is a process and will be respectful and purposeful. My experiences thus far suggest to me that most of you won't notice any difference, certainly not in your own actions or motivations. DHS people regularly demonstrate all 5 of the core values: Integrity, Stewardship, Respect, Responsibility, and Professionalism. You'll hear more about each of these in the weeks to come.

I look forward to the journey with you.

This message is intended for all department employees. Please read it electronically, if possible. Managers and supervisors are asked to share the message each week with employees who do not have email access.

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