September 11 Seven Years Later: Lest We Forget*

4
Workforce Development Takes on Culture Change
By Tracy Thorne, Director, TIS
ACall to Action: In a January 2008 letter to all
employees, MTA Executive Director and CEO
Elliot G. Sander coupled his goal of service
improvements with improved employee satisfaction. “One
of my top priorities for the MTA is to support and develop our
workforce in an environment that fosters career growth and
professional fulfillment,” he wrote. To that end, he had
assembled a Blue Ribbon Panel on Workforce Development –
experienced professionals charged to “help us identify ways
to create an organizational culture that values, engages, and
supports its employees.”
In January, Sander released the Panel’s report, Engaging,
Recognizing and Developing the MTA Workforce, which
emphasizes 61 recommendations. His specific goal: “a work
environment that allows for the greatest level of individual
fulfillment and growth. “ I have seen the transformative nature of
these values in my previous work and am confident we can create
a similar environment here,“ he wrote.
Nine months later, under the guidance of NYC Transit President
Howard H. Roberts, Jr. who shares Sander’s vision, a budding
Workforce Development Department (WFD) reports to Roberts,
and traces of cultural change are in place.
The department is led by VP Thomas M. Webb, a transit veteran
with more than 30 years experience. He began his career as a bus
operator in Boston with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority, moved into management and to other transit properties,
notably as chief labor relations officer for Southeastern
Pennsylvania Transit Authority in Philadelphia. A graduate of
Salem State College and New England School of Law, he worked
most recently as a consultant on organizational and cultural change
in transportation and other industries.
Citing the difficulties of cultural change in any organization, Webb
says he is excited to be here “because we have the leadership.
Sander and Roberts are solidly behind this program and want what
we do here to be an industry model.” He also cites a dramatic
culture change that dates to April 2007, the month Roberts returned
to NYC Transit as president.
After two tragic track-worker deaths in five days, Roberts reached
out to TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint, reversing years
of past practice. He invited the union to join the Board of Inquiry
that investigates accidents. He and Toussaint established joint track
safety inspection teams, safety stand-downs and a Joint Track
Safety Task Force. Says Webb, “Safety can transform the dynamics
of conflict. These steps have had significant residual effects on the
agency’s labor relations ever since.”
New Team
Based at 2 Broadway on the 20th floor, Workforce Development
absorbed Employee Recognition Programs (ERP) and Operations
Training. Its staff includes ERP pros Joe Loperfido and Larry
Sampson, Bob Darino from Operations Training, Mark Hellman
and newsletter editor Karen Belin from Human Resources and
Bonnie Lee, MaryAnn DeCarmine and Rosetta Kirkland from
At Your Service August/September 2008
Organization Development. Chief of Staff Sally Librera came
from Operations Planning and Executive Assistant Carmen Lugo
from President Roberts’Office. Their adopted mission: to establish
a sustainable culture of investment in people and continuous
improvement of process and service.
Webb’s group has defined six “elements” as cornerstones for
implementing their programs. With Training and Development and
ERP as core elements, the others are Special Projects, Task Teams,
Coaching and Communications. The goal for each is to stimulate
the kind of dialogue across employee ranks that will identify
perennial employee and customer-related issues, and seek
innovative solutions.
From Goals to Application
As an initial Special Project, WFD employed the agency’s new
partnering with labor to confront a chronic benefits issue -routinely
passing on rising prescription drug costs to employees.
“This year we said ‘no,’” says Webb. “President Roberts included
the union in the RFP review process [Request for Proposals] for
the next Prescription Drug Benefit Plan. With the union, we found
a consultant that will help us push back.
“This is huge,” VP Webb asserts. “It shows that this administration
will not back down and do what most other employers do. It also
reinforces that we are truly committed to protecting employee
benefits, and building a bargaining relationship.”
Another area of concern for Webb is alleged incidents of
discrimination at Subways’ Coney Island Shop. “These issues are
usually symptoms of a greater problem; no one wants to work
in a hostile environment.” He is hopeful that a sensitive team
approach in the right setting will lead to “ more appropriate
responses to workplace problems, and greater appreciation of the
department’s diversity. We are off to a slow start,” he admits, “but
we will not be discouraged from growing a value-based culture.”
Task Teams and Training
Task Teams will focus initially on assisting Subways’ new Line
General Managers (GMs), and resolving operational and workplace
conflicts associated with reorganization. The work will start with
the 7 and L Lines, realigned in December 2007. “Such problems
could run the gamut of operational and customer-service issues,”
notes Sally Librera. “Good solutions could be applied systemwide,”
she adds, now that the next phase of Subways
decentralization is set.
With bus operations, Webb believes SVP Joe Smith’s realignment
of his department with MTA Bus and Long Island Bus has great
opportunities for cultural team involvement. “This is great timing,”
he says, “for collaborative initiatives in an expanded, seamless
system.“
WFD is a big player in Training and Development with Operations
Training now its largest division. Its solid, skill-based courses have
mainly served Subways; i.e. Safety and Security; Electrical and
Electronics; Service Delivery and Operations Training; Track
Infrastructure/Maintenance Support, and Car Equipment/Supply