What are our goals? Poster 1

Just to think about it. I still remember the ISD that was work, life and family oriented. I enjoyed it better; it was warmer and I always felt that people loved to go to work every day; employees were motivated, engaged and proud to work for ISD. Unfortunately, many things have changed over the years. I think it is becoming colder and more corporate. I always think about a business owner who when asked “What is your secret for your company’s success? he always replies, "I take care of my employees; they take care of my business.” His business has always been successful.

It would be great to have an RDO again.
it really helps to reduce missing work for appointments especially when you have family and have an ongoing injury

Talent Management to include strong succession planning to retain knowledge and ensure continuity of operations.

Our managers and supervisors (all the way up and all the way down) need training on HR issues. Desperately.

I worry when I hear that we want to treat ISD like a “business.”

Success depends on stability and reliability. We don't have those things when people leave our department for reasons like no more alternative work schedule or teleworking.

Many sections are short-staffed, and they function only because staff are carrying extra load. That’s unfair and not sustainable. It feels like leadership assumes we can save money, improve, and still deliver all at the same time. We can’t.

Good changes take real support.

As we go forward, I'd caution everyone advocating for adopting private sector solutions to remember that ISD as a whole would be considered a "cost center" within the larger County business entity. From a private sector business perspective, you minimize how much your cost centers, well, cost, since they don't directly turn a profit.

The arrangement for procuring ISD funds is a private sector solution; though I'm not familiar with the details, establishing a bare minimum allocation from the larger LACO budget to keep the lights on would be another best practice. Funding shortfalls within the "Departments as customers" put ISD at risk of having to cut positions or entire services, which will have to be backfilled when the need eventually arises again. A budgetary version of UBI, if you will.
The real trick is minimizing ISD expenditures via improved efficiency and process streamlining. Identify bottlenecks, identify scalable technologies and alternatives that can be built out to relieve those bottlenecks, invest in heavily in those directions. Smartsheet, as an example, may be a glorified Excel on the surface, but can be built out to handle a staggering variety and depth of workflows. Accident reports? Smartsheet questionnaire, submit, gets validated by supervisor, automatically sends to relevant parties. Cross-division tasks? Task prioritization? Smartsheet. And so on.
Evolving the tools we use to do our jobs effectively will mean having SMEs on hand to build them out intelligently. That's going to mean either temporarily or permanently shifting people around to maximize utilization of their skillsets, and backfilling for the roles and responsibilities they were originally hired for. You will find no greater champions of change management than people who have been around for a good while, and are therefore invested in the health and improvement of the organization.

Knowing what data to ask for and how to interpret them in an actionable manner is a high skill in its own rank. It's rare in public sector, especially in large governments. However, a simpler and more effective approach is to follow the money; ask the one question we need to ask: What is the cost of our work product? To the County that is. If we were a private entity, would we have spent that amount for that work product? A division chief who spends three hours drafting a memo, is probably costing the county $300 of tax-payer money on drafting a memo to ensure it meets a specific format. Tax-payers would be better off having that memo drafted by a staff member whose pay is $20 per hour? or even better, send an email that costs taxpayers far much less than drafting a memo that takes 3 hours. And how much do meetings cost taxpayers? are meetings effective? Are they the least costly pathway to achieve the purpose? Every minute and hour spent doing something, is an hour spent not doing the other thing that needs to get done => Work delays and workload increase.
Our currency is time, and the currency of the County is the dollar value of that time. Analyzing the cost of each work product, can easily drive ISD toward a leaner and faster future that prioritizes value over semantics and flare.

To some degree, ISD must be run like a private entity. Looking with a fresh set of eyes at our human capital. Develop the human capital profile report. Identify talents from skilled, assets from resources, motivated from checked out, retainable from replaceable. Know your Jony Ive's from your Steve Wozniaks. Then design hiring, redundancy, succession, and retention plans for each group accordingly.

Flexibility of schedule for field service workers (trades). Bring back 9/80 or 4/10 to the field employees.
I understand that this requires some degree of schedule shuffling, and staff numbers for availability of service, but if it is available for other departments, it could also work for ours.

activate AND SUPPORT curiosity

M&O should be a service by it self up to the GM.

Over the past year, I've seen a growth in ISD building an "urgency culture". I would recommend the Executive team to reflect about this when developing talent management pathways. As shared by others, there needs to be compensation for added workloads and we also need to be realistic about expectations (e.g., home-life balance). Some positions at ISD are not 24/7 on-the call positions, yet are being treated as such. This leads to burnout. Also, I recommend the Executive team to look at the org chart and promote staff who have been here longer than "new positions" opened up and are doing the same level of work, if not more. It is demoralizing to see that some staff are getting paid less for doing the same work, if not more, compared the new levels that were recently hired.

Addressing talent management should not only aim to optimize and upskill, but also focus on retention. By optimizing and upskilling, we are creating an environment where talent moves on to other opportunities based on skills that we have helped to develop. As we upskill we need to have a path upward, limited mobility adds to staff loss.

All of these processes sound great but when there is a constant staff turnover rate, these processes get interrupted. I agree with another commenter about building up and solidifying the team aspect. Retain talent by giving employees what they want in regards to teleworking and having alternate work schedule. When talent can be retained, it will help continue the flow of effective services. Services are often interrupted when staff has a high turnover rate and even when new staffing come on board, time is also spent on training.

3. Talent Management

Grow and support staff through ongoing training, skill development, opportunities to advance.
Redefine work based on current practices and revisit job descriptions to ensure roles align with present needs.

Cross-Functional Collaboration
Add: shared goals + communication structure.

Strengthen departmental collaboration through shared goals, unified communication channels, and coordinated workflows that reduce duplication and accelerate service delivery.

1. Streamlined Processes
Add: measurement and accountability.

Streamline processes with standardized workflows, clear ownership, and measurable performance indicators to increase accuracy, consistency, and reduce service costs.

Consider adding the following goal:
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Employee Well-Being & Work-Life Balance — Enable flexible, family-friendly work practices (such as telework, flexible schedules, and outcome-based performance expectations) that support employee well-being, reduce burnout, and sustain long-term productivity. Create an environment where employees feel trusted, supported, and rewarded for results—not hours spent in the office.

If we are attempting to streamline our processes, we should look at updating our manuals as well. The current purchasing policy manual is extremely outdated.

One of the most effective ways to attract and retain top talent is by prioritizing merit-based criteria rather than over-indexing on DEI-driven selection. While inclusion matters, hiring and advancement decisions must ultimately be grounded in demonstrated skills, experience, and the ability to deliver results. Continuing current practices without adjustment risks diluting productivity, efficiency, and overall organizational performance.

In addition, the existing talent and applicant banding model needs to be revisited. The current approach introduces unintended bias and, too often, prevents highly qualified candidates from even reaching the interview stage simply because they are classified below an arbitrary threshold. As a result, strong candidates are filtered out before they have any opportunity to demonstrate their true capabilities.

All banded candidates should be given a fair opportunity to interview. A lower exam score or initial ranking should not automatically disqualify an applicant from showcasing their skills, experience, problem-solving ability, or leadership potential during an interview. Interviews exist precisely to validate aptitude beyond standardized assessments. Reforming this process would lead to stronger hiring outcomes, a deeper talent pool, and better long-term performance across the organization.

Settle the "people" equation first because these goals will just be goals without MOTIVATED people working on it. Standardize and remove uncertainties with work schedules and wages. Find out really what will make people want to work and stay here at ISD. There is so much work to be done and too many customers that the employees should at least not worry about whether telework is here to stay or not or whether they will move or not or whether there would be promotional opportunities for them. This way, employees can concentrate with the actual work.

What would I add or change? Let me start by sharing what I think. What a great idea it is for ISD management to implement the development of a virtual Open House for Strategic Planning. It is a good step forward towards transparency, where employees at ISD who really care, get a chance to see ISD’s vison develop under the direction of our director. I often hear employees asking the question “what is it that our management does”. Jokingly the most common answer is, “not much, but if they show up to work it’s assumed that not much is more than enough”. However, we all know this is not the case, managing an organization like ISD with the number of services it provides is a monumental task of checks, balances, and logistics where maintenance and break fix can wreak havoc on even the biggest budgets. One too many flats can really add up. So, with so many services to provide it is so important to have a plan. But, just as important is to share that plan so that the entire organization clearly understands it as a unified vision. The humor of it all is that when an organization is fractured, individually many of its branches, divisions and sections may already be exceeding in what’s important, such as Speed, Reliability, and Value. But because the vision is not unified what’s important is unclear and rather than allowing ourselves to be led by the vision where we are working together. The daily operations begin to drown out all the good will causing us to clash, struggle, nitpick to simply lose sight of our real accomplishment. Even simple things like no accidents for 365 days. Why because the organization forgets that its people are what’s most important. Looking at the proposed 2026 – 2027 ISD Strategic Plan
To intentionally align our people, processes, and systems with a shared vision —enabling us to meet today’s challenges, anticipate tomorrow’s needs, and serve each LA County department with speed, reliability, and value.
I would say we are more than just on our way. We are beginning to look ahead, see the further not for ourselves but for those we know will follow. Not alone but together as one.
So, what would I add or change, for now two things. The first is the understanding that our alignment is also unified from the top down with that of the CEO and the Board of Supervisors or whatever new is added to the board. As they have both stated in their strategic plans to include improving the lives of the constituency of Los Angele County. By empowering, partnering, through the sharing of information, and the use of technology. For the betterment of all.
Second, I would add awareness that attention is being paid to details where the implementation of new services and new technologies is reaching their full potential, that they are fulling the needs and requirements for which they were deployed. The time for allowing our production environment to be the test bed for premature solutions must end or at minimum open a new space that was once called devolvement and testing. The production environment belongs to the customers not to the fancy of ideas that a vender might sale us as a silver bullet or a dashboard with bell and whistles but no visibility or resolution to real business needs.

In large, complex teams, individual talent and potential can easily be overlooked without intentional and structured engagement. Adopting a more proactive, hands-on approach to talent management enables leaders to better identify strengths, address gaps, and nurture high-potential employees.

To optimize and upskill our workforce, we should actively invest in developing our people through continuous learning, coaching, and exposure to new challenges. Equally important is cultivating curiosity and a growth mindset by encouraging employees to expand their skill sets and think beyond their current roles. Building a deliberate pipeline of future leaders—by consistently developing successors—strengthens team performance today while ensuring long-term organizational resilience.

LA County has committed to reducing emissions and its impact on the environment through a Board approved Climate Action Plan and OurCommunity Sustainability Plan. ISD should work across divisions and offices to align efforts and coordination to improve energy efficiency, deploy advanced technology and energy solutions, and take important steps to contribute to the County's climate goals that are better for County operations, improves costs & efficiencies, and promotes healthier and more prosperous communities.

The silos evTo drive greater standardization, efficiency, and scalability, ISD must intentionally move beyond existing organizational and functional silos—even those within our own services. Long-standing practices, while familiar, can unintentionally limit innovation and perpetuate duplication of effort. A more integrated, enterprise-focused approach is necessary to support continuous improvement and organizational growth.

I recommend establishing deliberate cross-functional partnerships across divisions to holistically assess processes, identify systemic inefficiencies, and implement aligned solutions. Leveraging diverse perspectives enables more effective decision-making and helps ensure that improvements are sustainable and scalable. While longer-term initiatives will unfold over the next 2.5 years, it is equally critical to prioritize near-term opportunities that deliver immediate operational value and build momentum for broader transformation.en within our own unit make it difficult to

Coming from ITS, I want to say that making services more user-friendly involves not only making it easier for customers to have new IT requests handled, but also making existing services offered by e.g. web applications and dashboards easier to find and use. This requires skills ISD has not hired for, and that the County as a whole may not have specific items for - we need expertise in data organization and taxonomy (which might be available through Library Science programs), as well as user interface/user experience design and usability testing. This isn't something we can just send existing staff to a 1-week class for: we need actual specialists who can speak from positions of professional training and authority.

User-centric design ensures that services are intuitive, effective, and informed directly by customer needs. As an Internal Service Department, our core purpose has always been to support our customers, and user-centricity should remain central to how we design and deliver services. Re-emphasizing this focus will help ensure that our solutions align with real user needs and drive meaningful value.

Optimizing and upskilling talent is a positive objective. However, when expanded responsibilities and advanced skills are added without corresponding role progression, compensation adjustment, or clear advancement opportunities, it can unintentionally place an unfair burden on employees. For upskilling efforts to be sustainable and motivating, they should be paired with defined career pathways and appropriate recognition.

To streamline operations and improve efficiency, ISD should implement a single, standardized system for all customer and internal intake requests. Currently, multiple teams use different systems, resulting in limited transparency, inconsistent processes, and challenges with tracking and accountability. A unified intake platform would improve visibility, coordination, and overall service delivery across ISD.

While we collect a significant amount of data, the more important question is whether it is the right data. We should first identify the decisions we want to inform, determine what data is required to support those decisions, and understand which insights cannot be achieved without data. From there, we can intentionally build a data repository focused on driving meaningful, data-informed decision-making rather than data accumulation.

If our objective is process streamlining, it seems counterproductive to stop supporting software that customers are still using. This approach forces users to learn a new system and migrate all existing reports, adding complexity, time, and cost that may outweigh any intended efficiencies in the long run.

We need to standardize our work so everyone knows their role. Having a clear process not only helps the department run smoothly but also makes it obvious where we can save time and improve.

Clear procedures reduce errors and ensure every task is completed correctly.

More training opportunities with vendors like Cisco classes

Simple is better. Need more standard templates and simple procedures.

hiring should never be based on quotas from politicians, but based on merit, performance and knowledge.

EES should be moved to public works. Maintenance portions of EES can stay but the rest of that service is out of place in ISD.

This is a great plan. Looking forward to a brighter future.

Foster a culture where small, manageable pilots of new processes are the norm. Follow these pilots with simple evaluations before any new processes are scaled up. There are organizations out there doing this type of work which provide lots of good best practices (one example: link).

For "Data Informed Decisions", I think it's important to go beyond just managing data and platforms. "Leverage Data as a core asset to make informed decisions, improve operational efficiency, and enhance the value we provide to our stakeholders".

Totally agree that streamlining processes is a great way to increase productivity while also driving cost reductions. Utilizing the right tools and following best industry practices will definitely be a strong advantage in achieving this goal.

Create a visible and user friendly ISD service catalog.

These goals look excellent for the elements of the department that support county internal services. I'd love to see a nod towards those divisions that provide programming to external partners. In some cases, these categories work, such as streamlined processes, user centric design, etc. But having, say, an additional goal that acknowledges the importance of strengthening partnerships, grant acquisition, etc., to address community-based sustainability needs--wording is not good, but you know what I mean--might be advantageous.

Yes!

Yes!

Build organizational capability through targeted hiring to enable dedicated customer attention, proactive problem-solving, and the development of solid client relationships

Communication Excellence
Improve internal and external communication practices to ensure transparency, clarity, and effective information sharing across teams and stakeholders.

Compliance & Accountability
Ensure services, processes, and decisions consistently adhere to County policies, regulatory standards, and best-practice accountability measures.

Service Excellence & Customer Satisfaction
Enhance service quality by consistently measuring customer satisfaction, gathering feedback, and improving responsiveness to ensure services meet evolving community and departmental needs.

Love the goals and the promising path forward—go ISD!