Critical Steps for Enacting Cultural Change

At the direction of newly appointed Secretary Debra L. Miller, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) underwent an agencywide assessment in 2003 to determine the performance of the agency, including the administration of more than 900 stakeholder surveys. Although the respondents gave the state's physical transportation system high marks, they clearly said that the way in which KDOT was delivering that system could be improved. The agency relied too much on one-size-fits-all solutions rather than being responsive to local needs, and, as a result, KDOT was criticized for being out of touch with local officials. KDOT needed to transition from making decisions primarily on the basis of technical information or formulas to making decisions on the basis of a more collaborative, inclusive approach. To shift the internal culture and its decision-making processes, KDOT developed a phased, strategic approach that was based on external data and that allowed innovation to be driven internally and externally....