A recent story made headlines in The Washington Post, providing an excellent example of how a lack of implementation can lead to embarrassing headlines and illegal and costly results.

This story came up because of a previous story The Washington Post (and other media outlets) reported involving Obama officials being invited to intimate dinners at the home of Post publisher Katherine Weymouth, each sponsored at a cost of $25,000.

In response to the initial story, White House counsel Greg Craig reportedly sent out an e-mail (megaphone management) with the 9-page White House policy attached that covered dos and don’ts involving gifts, relationships and invitations to events.

Lessons Learned from White House’s Failure to Implement:

  • Just because a memorandum is blasted out does not mean that anyone read it or understood it
  • Just because an e-mail with an attachment is blasted out again still does not mean anyone read it or understood it
  • Blasting out memorandums and e-mails provides little or no accountability with individuals
  • Blasting out memorandums and e-mails provides little or no audit-ready documentation if an employee or vendor or partner violates the policy
  • Not including key partners and vendors can lead to serious compliance and legal liabilities
  • Not including key partners and vendors lacks accountability, transparency and audit-ready documentation
  • What about personnel that started after March 20, 2009 and missed the memorandum blast?
  • What about personnel that will start after July 02, 2009 and missed the e-mail blast?

The GAO Congressional and Presidential Transition page states the following:

Although agencies have made progress in improving their operations in recent years, they often lack the basic management capabilities needed to address current and emerging demands. Accordingly, GAO has identified key government wide capacity building and management challenges.  These challenges must be addressed to effectively and efficiently implement new policy and program initiatives.

The lack of implementation is obviously a very serious challenge facing managers today.

Smart managers use proven implementation tools…smart managers click here.