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Using a Senior “SWAT” Management Team to Drive a Mission Critical
Initiative Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
by Alan Morantz
IPAC Case Series
Editor: Andrew Graham – andrew.graham@queensu.ca
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variety of governments, with a strong focus on the many activities of the federal government. We thank
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Using a Senior “SWAT” Management Team to Drive a Mission Critical Initiative Human Resources and
Skills Development Canada
Author, Alan Morantz, Ottawa, Canada
Financial support from the Canada School of Public Service to conduct this work is gratefully
acknowledged. The views expressed in this report are not necessarily those of the Canada School of
Public Service or of the Government of Canada.
Abstract
This case outlines the creation and performance of a high-‐level rapid response senior management team
within Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), to ensure the fast and successful
delivery of a range of assistance programs under the Economic Action Plan. The case focuses on the
issues that arise when convening a forum for Associate/Assistant Deputy Ministers in order to produce
an integrated strategy, and explores challenges and opportunities relating to change management, risk
management, and organizational alignment.
The case can be used in an academic setting for exploring these topics as well as in the organizational
setting to understand the steps taken and the lessons learned. The case is based on interviews with the
individuals involved in the implementation of the initiative and review of supporting documents and
HRSDC-‐internal assessments. There is a Teaching Note for this case.
Date of Publication: 2011
Cover photo: Bernie Kasper, Madison Indiana Photography -‐ http://sindianavisions.wordpress.com/
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Using a Senior “SWAT” Management Team to Drive a Mission Critical Initiative
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
Prepared by Alan Morantz
Origins and Goals
The Economic Action Plan (EAP), announced in January 2009, was the federal government’s response to
the deepest global recession since the 1930s. In the EAP’s first year of implementation, close to
$32 billion in support was provided to individuals and businesses most affected by the economic
downturn. An additional $28 billion was delivered in the second year.
HRSDC delivers a range of programs and services near and dear to Canadians. They include Old Age
Security, the Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance, Canada Student Loans and Grants, the
National Child Benefit, and the Universal Child Care Benefit. The department is organized around three
business lines: programs that support human resources and skills development; the Labour program;
and Service Canada.
HRSDC was one of the key federal departments responsible for executing the EAP’s commitments. The
EAP-‐related measures represented a temporary increase to HRSDC program funding of approximately
$6.3 billion. For example, there were new measures to help workers receive training, and better
protection for wages and severances in the event of their employers’ bankruptcy.
Given its extensive portfolio, HRSDC has significant interaction with Canadians from all walks of life,
including youth, working adults, workers who lost their jobs, seniors, Aboriginal people, veterans,
Canadians with disabilities, and newcomers to Canada. As examples, HRSDC’s Service Canada, the
federal government’s integrated service organization, has more than 600 points of service across the
country as well as a national telephone information service (1 800 O-‐Canada), a network of specialized
call centres, and a well-‐used website. In a typical year, approximately 10 million Canadians visit a Service
Canada location, 52 million people contact call centres, and 33 million access the Service Canada
website. The close to $100 billion business of HRSDC is supported by a massive IT infrastructure.
The EAP presented HRSDC with a tall task. In all, HRSDC was responsible for 14 EAP-‐related
commitments. To add to the challenge, these commitments had to be operationalized within four
months of the Budget announcement to respond to the urgency of the economic crisis. In an interview
with the Ottawa Citizen, Mostafa Zommo, Associate Chief Information Officer for HRSDC’s Information
Technology Branch, outlined both the stakes and the challenge:
“Implementing these EI programs was a way to help Canadians withstand the hardship
that came with the downturn in the economy. Our department was integral to the
response the government put together . . . We all understood that an urgent response was
needed. Unemployment was rising quickly, which motivated all of us to deliver.”
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Meeting these goals within such a compressed time frame would be a challenge at the best of times.
These were not. The rising employment insurance claims were already placing significant pressures on
HRSDC’s service delivery infrastructure. The concern was that delivering on the EAP commitments would
put a heavy load on the existing technology infrastructure and stretch the department’s capacity to
fulfill all of its obligations. The risk of systems failure was just one element of the uncertainties that arise
in such situations. The larger risk was that the Department would fail to respond quickly enough to the
government’s direction.
To address the challenge, the department’s senior leaders opted to create a new forum, known as the
“SWAT team.” This group comprised high-‐level managers from all the key branches of the department,
including both the portfolio and corporate functions. The SWAT team represented the primary
accountability, control, and reporting framework; it would oversee the development and
implementation of HRSDC’s plans to meet its EAP commitments, decide on resources, and assess and
develop a plan to manage strategic risks.
This case study examines why a new rapid-‐response management team was created instead of using the
existing governance mechanisms and committees, how the SWAT team members approached their
work, how they followed a risk management approach, the challenges they faced, and lessons learned
along the way. It discusses some of the unintended consequences, largely positive, that resulted from
the SWAT team approach and speculates on possible impacts on how the department will approach
decision-‐making in the future.
SWAT Team Design and Performance
In January 2009, as soon as the EAP was announced, HRSDC leadership considered the department’s
options on how to fulfill its commitments. What had to be done?
• The broad policy announcements of the Budget had to be made into reality with legislative
changes, new policies, and modification of existing programs,
• All the policy pieces had to move forward for funding approval from Treasury Board,
• Virtually all of the existing programming had to be changed in one way or another,
• Employees had to be brought on board with training and shifts in responsibilities,
• IT had to prepare the technology backbone, making the adjustments quickly and with minimum
error.
It was clear, given the tight and politically sensitive timeframe, that there had to be a forum in which the
department’s senior management could drive an integrated process in a focused way. It was also clear
that the existing mechanisms would not suffice, even though they might work well in normal
circumstances. This was a new normal.
In terms of its existing governance model, HRSDC has two corporate committees that bring together
senior management: the Portfolio Senior Management Board (PSMB) and the Corporate Services
Committee (CSC).
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The PSMB is the main decision-‐making body of the department. It determines strategic directions and
priorities, approves portfolio-‐wide plans and strategies, and makes decisions on strategic issues that
affect the portfolio as a whole.
The CMC oversees the management agenda that supports the objectives set out in the Integrated
Business Plan and the Management Accountability Framework. It has oversight of corporate
management strategies, processes, and operations in areas such as Human Resources,
Finance/Corporate Overhead, Information Technology/Information Management, Planning, and Risk
Management.
For the extraordinary job at hand, it was clear that both the PSMB and CMC were ill-‐suited to lead the
EAP process. Their mandates were too broad and neither committee could apply a singular strategic and
tactical focus on carrying out the department’s EAP obligations. Given the urgency and the work that
had to be completed, building a “SWAT” team of senior managers was considered the best way to
marshal and align resources and to maintain the focus. This would reinforce the urgency, focus senior
resources and ensure that the best use was made of the short timeframe.
In February 2009, just one month after the Budget was delivered, the SWAT team was created. The
team was chaired by the Senior Associate Deputy Minister and Chief Operating Officer for Service
Canada and included as members the Assistant or Associate Deputy Ministers from the business lines
and corporate support branches. The composition of the SWAT Team can be seen in Figure One.
Composition of the HRSDC “SWAT” team
Chairperson
Associate Deputy Minister of HRSDC
Members
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Management
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Canada Operations
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Research
Assistant Deputy Minister, Program Operations
Assistant Deputy Minister, Public Affairs and Stakeholder Relations
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Audit Executive
Assistant Deputy Minister, Citizen Services
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Skills and Employment
Assistant Deputy Minister, Innovation, Information and Technology
The SWAT team was not just a rubber-‐stamping body created to offer the illusion of co-‐operation. Team
members were expected to work through the strategic and tactical considerations for all of the HRSDC’s
EAP programs – together and in support of each other. While members were not relieved of their
considerable ongoing duties, they were expected to work on this major project as “all hands on deck”
contributors. Underscoring the seriousness of the endeavour, the team met weekly and attendance of
all Assistant/Associate Deputy Ministers was mandatory. Substitutes were not permitted, although this
requirement was loosened once the EAP initiatives entered their implementation stage. This was an
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important requirement for the team to come together around the project and not simply act as an
assembly of separate interests.
In April, a Project Management Office (PMO – not to be confused with the Prime Minister’s Office,
which had a lively interest in the outcomes of this coordinated effort) was created to support the SWAT
team, led by an experienced Director General from HRSDC. The PMO was staffed with one analyst and
one support person (two additional analysts were retained during a particularly busy two months) and
was supported by a virtual network of HRSDC Director Generals representing Strategic Policy, the Chief
Financial Officer Branch, Program Branches, Operations Branches, Service Management, Legal Services,
Communications, Human Resources, Systems, and other groups where appropriate.
The PMO’s mandate was to provide the control and oversight function, mobilizing timely action and
course correction when issues arose, and updating central agencies and the Minister’s office. The PMO
maintained an extensive tracking document, keeping tabs on each of the EAP programs affected, and
providing a rolling snapshot on each initiative every week. Significantly, the head of the PMO reported
directly to the Chair, and therefore had the clout to negotiate timelines and ensure commitments were
honoured.
The first six-‐month period was a steep learning curve for the SWAT team, and adjustments were made
as the practical realities of implementing such an ambitious policy shift became clearer. One area that
needed improvement, for example, was in communications to the rest of the department. In an effort to
address this perceived shortcoming, a committee of Directors General was created in May 2009, to
share information with staff responsible for carrying out the department’s EAP commitments. The
committee met every six weeks. Approximately four months into the SWAT process, Directors General
were occasionally invited to SWAT meetings to present on agenda items, particularly relating to risk
assessment. Setting up a form of double-‐loop information sharing also served to clarify the meaning and
intent of both the program and internal perceptions of what was happening.
The SWAT team approach allowed members to learn from one another in a collaborative atmosphere.
The collegial environment was established, in words and deeds, by the Chairperson, to whom the
reporting lines all led. As well, the nature and urgency of the challenge discouraged any posturing or
confrontation.
“It meant that the silos were broken down,” says one person involved in the process. “If things weren’t
moving forward, you’d know all about it the next week. There was no hiding if things weren’t
happening.”
As a result, there was real-‐time alignment along with sufficient frequency of interaction to enable quick
corrective actions and responses. The SWAT team members had to review all elements of the EAP
programs at the same time, so there was the opportunity around the table to not only develop policy,
but to think through and agree on how to operationalize and deliver on the policy. Risks arising from
policy design, implementation and the globally-‐based economic factors in play could be assessed readily
and mitigation strategies quickly put in place. Red flags would go up early. Team members were not only
the experts in their areas but they also had the authority, by virtue of their ADM-‐level positions, to
marshal resources and carry through on commitments. The SWAT process bred a culture of shared
accountability. “The attitude was ‘That’s not just your problem, that’s our problem,’” recalls one person
who was part of the SWAT process.
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