Curtis Elke

Leading Change

During my nearly 33-year professional career in public service, I have had several opportunities to lead agency-level organizational change efforts. As a senior leader, I model strategic thinking, creativity and innovation, and flexibility in guiding subordinates, colleagues, and senior executives, through organizational change processes. As the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Minnesota Acting State Conservationist, I oversaw state conservation, partnership, and business operations that collectively deliver proven and cutting-edge conservation solutions to strengthen and support Minnesota’s natural resources. An opportunity to lead change occurred in FY2018 when I received challenging feedback from several agency core conservation partners and key stakeholders in the state.

Due to the expansion of voluntary conservation programs, there were concerns noted about the decline in timely customer service and landowners not fully understanding the conservation programs. As a result, the state experienced a lull in approved contracts. Consequently, NRCS Minnesota employees did not fully embrace a streamlined application process because the uncertainty of the forthcoming revisions would increase workload demands beyond the staff’s capacity to deliver timely results to Minnesota landowners.

I conducted an in-depth analysis with five field office service centers to provide a first-hand perspective of the experience of our customers. Through active listening and observation, I acquired valuable insights into the pain points faced by our customers during their interactions with our staff and program policies and procedures. I selected employee listening sessions as a proactive method, and convened multi-disciplinary field office and conservation district employees, state office specialists, and the State Leadership Team to address workload prioritization to help expand and implement financial assistance programs statewide. I led my State Leadership Team and facilitated statewide sessions that generated feedback that identified workload efficiencies, training needs’ analysis for skill gaps, and additional staff capacity support to successfully deliver conservation solutions. After reviewing the listening sessions’ findings and companion implementation strategy, I determined that change was necessary to preserve employee, partner, and landowner confidence in our ability to timely deliver more conservation programs beyond our existing customers.

I presented my vision to NRCS state leadership and attained buy-in to implement Minnesota’s revised customer service delivery model. The model I approved fostered a diverse, resilient, well-trained, and technologically supported workforce environment able to: 1) uphold NRCS’s scientific integrity, and 2) leverage innovative partnerships to efficiently expand NRCS’s voluntary conservation programs. As a result, NRCS in Delaware adopted my strategic vision for an optimized service delivery.

I led communication messaging to socialize my planned vision for Minnesota’s enhanced customer service delivery model and ensured NRCS state office and field staff, conservation partners, multiple federal and state agencies, diverse producers, and Tribes collaborated seamlessly to implement the plan. I empowered statewide staff with the necessary resources to drive scientific, technical, and operational innovation. I oversaw a strategy that galvanized our employee, partner, and customer confidence in expanding conservation programs that stabilized funding for Minnesota farmers and Tribes and ensured a time savings of 4500 hours, for a reduction of a third of the time of hours customers spent completing applications, from 3 hours to less than 1, thereby, making NRCS programs more attractive and improving the overall public image of the Department.

My approach achieved a 96% implementation rate for FY 2018 planned conservation practices compared to the National average of 85%. This new approach elevated Minnesota above average nationally for increased financial assistance that doubled the annual approved contracts from 600 contracts to over 1300 contracts in the first year alone. I received a performance award for spearheading this effort.

Leading Change – Example 2

Another example of my ability to lead change occurred in FY 2023 during my tenure as the USDA-NRCS State Conservationist for Idaho. I was responsible for a $74.2 million budget and the full range of conservation programs for the state. Program practice payment caps are financial limits predetermined by the State Conservationist regarding the funding amount allocated on a certain conservation practice to a customer. These caps were originally designed to distribute funds more broadly among customers but were now acting as a serious barrier with getting program funding obligated and in the hands of our customers. The program practice payment caps were increasing staff workloads and increasing risk to time management constraints and causing a bottleneck in dispersing funds. My challenge was to create a paradigm shift from a status-quo culture operating with program caps to a more open-minded one operating without program caps. Part of my challenge was also to justify the removal of the caps and to gain staff buy-in regarding the new process we were collectively creating. I knew that they would need to own this new decision for it to work across the organization since it had been so ingrained in our culture for the last few decades.

To this end, I led a teamthe program advisory committee—which was made up of several field office and front-line customer-facing employees, program managers, and senior leadership. Under my leadership, we met multiple times. During these sessions, I documented and shared the current challenges with the caps, how it was hurting our customers and the timelines associated with dispersing funds (which were lengthy). I then laid out my vision of what the “to be” process would look like without caps. Although I met the usual resistance associated with most organizational changes, I created several different implementation models and showed stakeholders how each one would be implemented in the new environment and the overall impact to Idaho. I formed multiple working groups, and each completed a “mock-up” of their implementation model and documented the pros and cons, along with an overarching set of standard operating guidelines. Through this process, I was able to lead the committee to consensus regarding which model would be best for Idaho. We initially had 14 practice caps and the committee collectively agreed to eliminate them with negotiated consent to keep one. Based on my Subject Matter Expertise, I used my authority to make these changes in a transparent way, receiving the full support of the program advisory committee, customers, state technical advisory committee and congressional delegates.

As a result of my efforts to lead change, a culture shift in the state was realized. With the elimination of 13 funding caps, program participation significantly increased, and customers were incentivized for adopting conservation practices, as they received funds more quickly and there was less financial burden on their part with the implementation of the new model. There was a 425% increase in program participation, enabling us to allocate over $38.6M to support 626 customers through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. This marked a substantial increase in program funding, soaring from $9.1M and 405 customers in just one year. These tangible outcomes underscored the effectiveness of this strategic change and demonstrated the positive impact of my leadership in fostering innovation, flexibility, and strategic thinking within the organization. This accomplishment showcases my ability to drive change, adapt to external factors, and envision a more efficient and effective future for our programs. Staff, customers, partners and congressional delegates all offered accolades for my leadership and work completed on this initiative.

Leading People

In my role as Acting State Conservationist of Minnesota in 2018, I was responsible for the full range of conservation programming and operations across the state. I inherited a diverse team of 280 federal and over 50 contract staff (11 direct reports) whose primary responsibility was to provide services for its 112K farmers and ranchers. I quickly realized that staff morale, performance levels, were low and attrition high (14%); and the current environment was not conducive to meeting our mission as our customers were suffering. Trust between staff and leadership was eroding by the day and communication was challenging at best. The state missed the mark on accomplishing the state goals for the previous year. There existed over 30 employee relations cases upon my arrival. I faced the challenge of building a cohesive team that could meet our mission critical goals.

First, I observed that most supervisors spent the entire day in their offices and, as a result, communication with the employees they supervised was suffering. I immediately led by example by initiating a new office culture that emphasized a walk-around management style. I made contact with all employees in the office each and every day. Some conversations were in-depth, but some were only to provide thanks for a job well done or a quick, encouraging comment. This new direct leadership style immediately built trust with the employees who knew their concerns were being heard and addressed. I made this practice mandatory for all supervisors and, as a result, they were able to identify and resolve small issues sooner, preventing their escalation into major problems, while also building good rapport with staff.

Second, I identified that management and team meetings were not occurring, leading to inconsistent managerial decisions and a resultant lack of information delivered to the workforce. I addressed this deficiency by holding a series of town hall meetings, in which employees communicated to me that it was common practice for one supervisor to deliver a managerial decision and another supervisor to deliver a different message. These inconsistent and sometimes opposing decisions negatively impacted morale and productivity. The employees also expressed a sense of frustration about the lack of information flow from management. After validating this feedback, I implemented regular management and staff meetings where all policy, operational, technical and administrative decisions were discussed and memorialized them in meeting notes. I directed the supervisors to use these notes when holding mandatory weekly team meetings with their staff. I also directed the supervisors to hold bi-weekly meetings with their staff. My goal was to ensure that information was received accurately and timely throughout all levels of the organization. It took time, but I felt strongly that I needed to invest in my people, to understand them better, and for them to understand the type of leadership characteristics that were important to me and to our customers. Through these meetings, I focused on the development of individual leadership skills within the team and provided each leader with timely, ongoing, and direct feedback so that he or she could, in turn, perform and contribute to the organization at the highest level—I frequently used the phrase ‘highest and best use of skills.’ I also invested in their technical development by offering increased funding and supporting time away from work responsibilities for training. I took my team’s development very seriously.

Third, as Agency head of this large team, I could see enterprise-wide issues and patterns. I used our annual planning meeting to discuss broader issues about our vision, mission, and goals. I reviewed our vision and mission and discussed where we stood on current goals. I then solicited thoughts on what goals we should establish for the coming year. I led the creation of future goals and asked the team to take stock of where we stood on achieving those goals. I created space at the planning meeting for staff to share their successes and frustrations.

Fourth, I provided the opportunity for team members to lead and to interact with others from other districts. For example, I created a “trade show” type forum around Employee Wellness and Employee Recruitment/ Retention. Based on my knowledge of the team, I chose one or two people to lead each discussion. The sessions occurred simultaneously. Each participant was required to choose one session to attend for 20 minutes and then to rotate to a second session. I did the same regarding core competencies. I selected a team member who had exhibited that competency to lead a “trade show” session for their peers who wanted to develop that skill. These peer-to-peer sessions facilitated cooperation and trust among the team. With a diverse team of over 330 personnel who were geographically dispersed, I also implemented an additional activity to develop cross-agency relationships. I selected one employee or team of employees that had achieved success overcoming an obstacle that was common to other districts within the state and asked them to present to their peers and take questions so that best practices were shared across the team. This served to not only bolster their technical skills, but to also build comradery.

Next, I initiated a new mode of e-communication that served to level the playing field for staff. The “Minnesota Message” Communicator was a weekly tool that became a regular and consistent way for all staff to be informed about the same information. It allowed them to have conversations about current events in the organization and facilitated them feeling part of a larger team. It was also an opportunity to spotlight new employees and recognize employees for outstanding actions. This has proven to be a very positive and effective method of communicating within each state and this concept is now being used in many states.

Last, I encouraged creative thinking and allowed the expression of differences of opinion. My team had diverse opinions about certain topics that created healthy debate; but ultimately, we resolved differences, and I made the final decision. I created an environment where everyone felt respected and that their position had been heard before that decision was made. There was one instance when the team could not come to a final decision related to the use of request for proposals (RFPs). The discussion got heated and resulted in me halting the conversation and using a white board to map out the discussion perspectives using a weighted pros/cons/cost/benefit approach to provide a visual for the team, which helped us identify the best path forward. In another example, during our planning meetings, I noticed that there was a rich diversity of thoughts in the room, but not all voices were heard. It was especially true for some women colleagues and those for whom English was not their primary language. With over 30 years of mentoring skills under my belt, I leveraged my experience as a mentor to encourage these quieter employees to speak up and gave them a safe place to do so. I reminded the larger team of the value of diversity and inclusion, and the detriment of our unconscious biases.

As a result of my ability to lead people, employees now saw themselves a part of a team. Morale increased as well as productivity, as evidenced by 120% of our goals being met in 2018 compared to 88% in previous year. Additionally, several projects that had been stalled for years were successfully implemented—all contributing to meeting USDA’s mission. The performance of my direct reports improved to the extent that many were submitting packages for promotions, and over time, we were seeing an increase in the numbers of internal promotions that were occurring from just 7 to over 90, which greatly impacts the organization’s ability to retain employees. The number of employee relations cases dropped to 0 within 6 months. My direct reports told me that I was the best supervisor they ever had because I provided them with timely feedback and was so thoughtful and caring about others development. Many other employees also commented that they learned much from me and my fostering an environment that promoted cooperation, trust and sharing of best practices.

Leading People – Example 2

Another example of my ability to lead people occurred in my current role as State Conservationist of Idaho (2015 to present) within USDA-NRCS. I knew that I had brilliant staff in the regions I oversaw, and I wanted to encourage them to provide me with new and innovative ideas on how to deal with some of our challenges related to operations and improving customer service. My challenge was to foster a team environment where new ideas would be sparked, and innovation would be the norm.

I know in theoryand have witnessed in practicethe prominent role diversity can play in stimulating and inspiring innovation and allowing for improved team performance. To this end, my immediate action as a leader was to exploit the diversity of my team. My hope was that this would in turn, re-energize the influx of new ideas and stimulate a new solution set to deal with NRCS’s current and future challenges. I decided to embark in an activity to reorganize the current office teams so that I could pair those with different characteristics together. For example, one of my employees had a multitude of ideas, but was an introvert. I paired him with another employee who was not afraid to share with others, but who was quick to speak before thinking. I coached each of them individually, then together, on how to draw upon each of their strengths and leverage them so together, they could create synergy. Over time, these new teams created synergies in which the result was stronger than the original pairings. I tasked these new teams with projects that had increased visibility, giving them autonomy to think outside of the box, and giving them full credit for the outcome.

I also spearheaded an “Innovation Award” for staff to encourage novel ideas. This award was presented quarterly to the recipient who provided me with an innovative idea to improve our business operations. I always received several innovative ideas each quarter with the understanding that the one selected would be piloted. One such pilot was to offer training on resume writing and interviewing so internal staff were better prepared for promotions. The results of this Innovation Award have resulted in staff being much more prepared and confident going into a job interview and selling themselves in a well written resume. Leveraging diversity in this manner has proven to be very effective in soliciting innovative program suggestions while simultaneously building my team.

Under my leadership, my team led the adoption of some extremely innovative ideas—some of which NRCS has implemented nationwide and have had a positive impact to the Department in terms of increased effectiveness and efficiency. With more than 50 staff participating in just the first year, many on my team received accolades and monetary awards for their innovative ideas, and they were publicly recognized for their efforts. For example, I awarded an employee for her innovative approach to gather and identify the underserved customers in each county. We used the data provided and every county had an outreach plan to address the identified underserved regions within each county. This has already evolved into nearly 180 more previously underserved customers (Black, Hispanic, beginning farmers, Asian) now having a contract with us. This demonstrated her being a visionary leader and example for the rest of our staff. Additionally, the team now rallies around “catching somebody doing something innovative” so they can submit them for an Innovation Award, and this has increased morale in comparison to years before and from continual employee feedback.

Results Driven

As the State Conservationist and allowance holder for Idaho in the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), I was responsible for overseeing the full range of conservation programming; supporting Locally Led Work Groups (LLWGs), State Technical Advisory Committees (STACs); and $74.2M in FY 2023, a budget increase of over 40% compared to FY 2022.

LLWGs were comprised of grassroot partners, farmers, ranchers, and agriculture interest people from the community. Over a period of time, they had lost interest and were not engaged. Their impotence was hindering their ability to provide essential feedback on program funding to address community needs and resource concerns, which was hindering their ability to receive the right program funds for their communities. In essence, we weren’t serving our customers. My challenge was to reinvigorate the LLWGs in an effort to increase stakeholder engagement to ensure they had a voice at the table and were valued.

I began by embarking on a plan that would force me to identify the root causes of their low level of engagement, then I would take action accordingly. To this end, I gathered as much information from all 17 LLWG’s as I could regarding why the participation of members had greatly declined over the past several years. I led focus groups, talked to community leaders, sent out surveys, and worked within their communities. After a year of collecting this information, I learned through this data that the communities basically could not see the benefits to them of our program offerings. Armed with this knowledge, I developed an innovative engagement strategy that involved some traditional and some innovative ways to reach out to these stakeholders in an effort to “market” to them and increase their level of engagement.

My first state-wide strategic campaign was dubbed, “Power Up.” I identified a facilitator who was familiar with Idaho culture to develop a “crash course” on the benefits to the LLWGs of the programs NRCS had available. At my direction, he designed multiple presentations that were tailored to specific LLWGs and illuminated the program benefits. Instead of just talking about them, I wanted our customers to SEE VISUALS of the benefitsin plain language, in graphics, and in pictures. I highlighted the projects that were completed in other communities that were like those that would benefit them and created marketing artifacts. I decided that bringing in a marketing consultant to showcase our conservation projects, would be the best way for the LLGWs to more deeply understand how our programs could be of service to them and their community.

Next, I wanted them to not only see our value-added from the marketing materials, but I wanted them to also hear from me and program recipients—to tell the stories of similar experiences from other customers. I began my state tour by attending community meetings and discussing real-life scenarios that involved challenging community issues where NRCS had come in and worked to rectify them. This was the first time anyone in my role or at my level had attended all their meetings—17 in total, representing 50 state counties. I allowed attendees to ask questions about our processes, described how funding decisions were made, and explained to them their level of involvement on projects. This sparked interest on their part as they saw the commitment USDA was making to them by me physically leading their meetings and putting boots on the ground in their communities.

My ability to drive results allowed me to build trust within the LLGW communities and reconstitute their involvement in community decision-making, as evidenced by a substantial 155% increase in attendance at meetings and a renewed interest in collaborative efforts which have resulted in 100% of the allocated NRCS program financial assistance funding going directly into the pockets of the customers and community. Through these initiatives, we have gathered hundreds of wild horses and returned them to the range, cleaned up 3 hazardous materials sites, repaired roads and recreation trails, planted over 2.4M pounds of seed, aerial applied herbicide for weed control on 27K acres, and planted over 490K sage brush and bitterbrush seedlings for the wildlife benefit, reduced wildfires in the state by 200%, funded over $20 million in water quantity pipeline projects to increase agriculture production, funded several thousand acres of cover crop to protect the soil, and much more. I was recognized by many state and federal directors, landowners, and media outlets for my leadership on these successful community projects.

Results Driven – Example 2

Another example of my ability to drive results occurred while in my role as NRCS Assistant State Conservationist for South Dakota in 2015, when I encountered a significant challenge related to wetland determinations forms processing in across four statesthe Prairie Pothole states (Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota). Each state was inundated with 3,000 to 4,000 wetland determination customer requests annually, which exceeded the individual full time employee agency expert workload capacity of 80 wetland determinations each year. We had 22 dedicated staff allocated to do this work. The existing process and staffing shortage yielded a consistent backlog of over 2,500 every year, resulting in a significant number of customer complaints, National Appeals Division (NAD) hearings, coupled with a host of congressional inquiries manifested from processing delays that often exceeded one to two years costing the landowner hundreds of dollars per acre in agriculture production due to approval delays. The trust and confidence of our stakeholders was eroding by the day.

I knew that something needed to be done to improve agency efficiency and effectiveness; we needed to improve because the status quo was not an option. I made the decision to lead this initiative to identify all the myriad parts and to build out a plan to tackle this issue. My challenge was to craft a comprehensive plan of action that solved the backlog and waiting challenges head-on but also secured additional funding for the Prairie Pothole Region. This was not an easy task. There was no roadmap to follow and historically, each state had operated independently since the food security act of 1985. Recognizing the need for a multifaceted approach and knowing that this initiative would encompass multiple states and stakeholders, I engaged in and led discussions with both national leadership and the state conservationists of the Prairie Pothole states, holding us all accountable for getting to a solution that would work for all parties involved. I gathered their ideas for moving forward and considered their respective solutions, carefully evaluating all that were presented. There was agreement around certain aspects of the plan, but diverse viewpoints were prevalent on specific parts of the strategy and that required me to make some difficult decisions while considering the impact of those decisions. Based on my Subject Matter Expertise and my leadership of this initiative, I formulated a strategic plan that encompassed multiple strategiesincluding wetland habitat restoration and creation, increased training for staff, and increased consistency in making wetland determinationsall of which contribute to the overarching goal of safeguarding America wetlands and gaining America landowner trust. A pivotal step in this endeavor was the submission of a collaborative funding request to the NRCS Regional Conservationist and Chief of NRCS which I authored, with support from the Prairie Pothole State Conservationists.

As a result of my leadership and successful advocacy and planning, my proposal was approved, and I led the implementation of my plan to improve NRCS’s level of efficiency and to restore stakeholder confidence in the agency. As a result of hiring 20 additional staff, a more robust training program, and increased communications to the landowner, first year results showed a 40% reduction in the backlog. Customer satisfaction improved—going from 195 appeal hearings to 15 in one year. This saved our agency time and money in dealing with appeal hearings and improved our agency reputation. NRCS allocated $3.7M in additional annual funding for the next 3 years, emanating from the national level. This financial infusion was further bolstered by the commitment of each NRCS State Conservationist that comprised the Prairie Pothole Region, who matched $1.3M from their own budgets to support our collective cause. The combined financial resources of $5M+ empowered us to implement a holistic and ecologically sound approach to mitigate, create, and restore the wetlands of the Prairie Pothole. By driving results at both the national and regional levels, I not only secured the necessary financial resources but also laid the foundation for a coordinated, results-oriented initiative that demonstrated the overall NRCS commitment to decisive action, technical credibility, and the highest standards of customer service.

Business Acumen

As the USDA-NRCS State Conservationist of Idaho (2015 to present), I adeptly managed the state finances to effectively fund partnership agreements, a staffing plan, robust training plan, and NRCS program delivery, while operating under a reduced budget during a demanding Idaho natural disasters year. I have 65 active partnership agreements in Idaho which help with the workload and getting conservation delivered and on the ground. There are 42 shared positions among other deliverables funded through these $6.2M in partnership agreements from my state’s $74.2M budget allocation. Each year I lead a team in developing our State Resource Assessment and our operating budget plan. In 2022 Idaho experienced a $3.5M shortfall in funding due to National non-forecasted cutbacks. It was my role and responsibility to find and fill in the gap for a $3.5M shortage so that my programs would not be negatively impacted. My plan was to make changes as I could and then to approach my partners for assistance. First, I reduced travel and expenses for the remainder of the fiscal year. I was now $2.4M short with these adjustments. My next goal sought and retained $800K match from partnership agreements. My last action was to justify and approach National Headquarters and request funding ($1.6M) later in the year, which I received.

I then leveraged my financial acumen and utilized my comprehensive understanding of NRCS’s financial processes to create a 3-year business strategy that included all our operations to align allocated financial resources with our mission goals. I prepared a budget for each unit (Engineering, Management & Strategy, Programs, Civil Rights, and Ecological Sciences), meticulously aligning each with our objectives to operate and deliver to the internal/external customer successfully. Every allocation was rigorously scrutinized to ensure that financial resources were judiciously assigned to address our most pressing challenges. Equally vital was the ability to not just prepare but also justify and administer the program and operations budget. I ensured that each matching partner dollar allocated would be justified by its potential impact to bolster conservation efforts.

As part of this comprehensive budget strategy, I oversaw the internal procurement and contracting processes (in concert with NRCS’s financial, programs and technical services departments), to ensure that they were achieving our desired outcomes. This included procuring necessary resources, such as equipment and services, while adhering to the program's budgetary constraints. A critical facet of my financial management approach was the rigorous use of cost-benefit analysis. I consistently evaluated expenditures with a keen eye on their potential returns, prioritizing program initiatives and investments that promised the most significant impact in getting more conservation on the ground with the right number of people with the right skills in the right location to meet our 25K+ customers’ needs. My adept financial management skills translated into optimal resource utilization. By aligning our budget with program goals and justifying expenditures, I ensured that our financial resources were channeled effectively towards achieving our mission. I closely monitored expenditures throughout the program, maintaining a vigilant eye on program outcomes. This meticulous oversight allowed us to stay on course and make real-time adjustments as needed.

As a result of my financial management and business acumen, I was able to navigate complex budgetary landscapes within USDA and NRCS resulting in my ability to make up the budget deficit of $3.5M. Reducing my travel and expenses by $600K, reaching out to several key partners like National Fish and Wildlife Foundation matching $400K for the next 3 years thus aiding the balancing of my budget while also creating a great partner relationship. Additionally, I was able to obtain another $200K in matching funds from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and $200K from the Idaho Governor’s office, among others. The US Forest Service also contributed in-kind resources to help with the technical assistances involved in wildfire management. All these efforts mentioned helped us not only balance our annual budget, but also included all in-kind funding along with the other $1.6M used to treat nearly 8,000 wildfires that burned 417K acres of rangeland and forestlands in Idaho. My Idaho 3-year business plan is viewed across the agency as a best practice and is now mandatory activity for all NRCS state conservationists. My financial, technical, and human capital acumen has all played a pivotal role in achieving our department and agency goals.

Business Acumen – Example 2

Another example of my business acumen came to light in my role as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist for Idaho (2015 to present) and Acting State Conservationist for Minnesota (2018 to 2019), when I was entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing human capital management, a critical facet of effective leadership.

The USDA-NRCS was confronted with a multifaceted challenge. The organization grappled with a staffing deficit, exacerbated by a staffing freeze and historically low employee numbers. Meanwhile, the demands from customers and available funding remained consistent and growing, resulting in a severe strain on the remaining workforce with many needed collateral duties. During this period, I took on the challenge of orchestrating the Minnesota Staffing Reorganization Structure Plan (a 1010 process) requiring under-Secretary approval for an organizational change of this magnitude in 2018 and the Idaho Staffing Reorganization Structure Plan (another 1010 process) in 2019, both of which demanded astute skills in human capital management to reshape the workforce to align with organizational objectives within allocated budgets.

To address this challenge, a detailed plan of action was imperative to allocate staff strategically based on organizational goals, budget considerations, customer requests, and staffing needs. This was especially crucial given the static nature of customer numbers and requirements. The Idaho and Minnesota Staffing Reorganization Plans emerged as a response to this challenge. They each aimed to realign staffing levels in each state to better serve the evolving demographics, land uses, political districts, and USDA-NRCS program workloads. My challenge was to organize and craft each state plan and the associated guidance and communications, with the goal of enhancing the employee-to-supervisor ratio and ensuring the right number of individuals were in the right roles with the requisite skills.

The journey to address this challenge demanded a multifaceted approach. The endeavor commenced with a vision forged in collaboration with the NRCS state leadership team. Over the course of two years, I held more than 40 meetings, listening, and focusing on developing strategies for each aspect of state operations. Transparent and open communication was vital. I scheduled numerous town hall meetings with staff, legislators, and partners, and personally addressed concerns and questions about the proposed staffing plan. Multiple all-employee webinars were organized to ensure transparency and address queries involving everyone affected in shaping the plan. This staffing reorganization plan was not to be a top-down initiative; it was meant to be a collective effort. To this end, I engaged all NRCS employees, conservation districts and commissions; representatives from NRCS sister agenciesFarm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency, Rural Development; County Commissioners; Legislators; NRCS Regional Conservationists; and customers whenever possible. I then led a separate team to conduct a meticulous assessment of current staffing levels, historical and projected workloads, and to identify and categorize the skillsets of NRCS employees and contract staff. This analysis was used to guide future decisions on staffing.

The plan was unveiled through several webinars and several in-person presentations, clearly articulating the rationale behind proposed staffing structure changes and the potential benefits. A 45-day comment period through survey monkey allowed all employees and customers to express their thoughts and included anonymous submissions. Town halls were organized across multiple locations, strategically chosen for convenience, with nearly 100 participants at each location. These gatherings offered opportunities for questions, concerns, ideas, and expressions of support. After the town hall meetings and the 45-day commenting period concluded, I directed my team to collate and categorize all comments. These insights were shared with each State Leadership Team and factored into the final staffing reorganization plan. I received over 160 remarks from NRCS staff and 110 from customers and partners. Overwhelmingly 98% of comments were positive in the direction we were going. All this was invaluable in shaping the plan.

My keen understanding of human capital managementgrounded in a deep understanding of organizational goals, budget considerations, and staffing needsresulted in the successful implementation of two staffing reorganization plans for Idaho and Minnesota. The supervisor/staff ratio increased from 1:3 to 1:7 staff or 133 supervisors total in both states combined to now 57. This provided better customer service and more “boots on the ground” at the field office non-supervisory level. This modified staffing structure has placed the right people with the necessary skills in the right locations and allowed for each state to hire more staff with fewer GS-12/13 supervisors and four times more entry level field office staff also creating a greater opportunity to diversify our staffing.

This initiative has not only thrived but has also created new avenues for career development and progression for NRCS employees. It was embraced by NRCS employees in both states because they were integral to its creation, making it truly 'OUR PLAN.' This success underscores my proficiency in human capital management and its instrumental role in achieving organizational goals and objectives. This new staffing organizational structure has also added increased efficiency and effectiveness with each employee having a more defined role & responsibility.

Building Coalitions

During my nearly 33-year professional career in public service, and 14 years in private business, I have had several opportunities to build coalitions. As the State Conservationist for Idaho within the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) from 2015 to the present, and acting Director for the NRCS West Region Science & Technology Center in 2022, my responsibilities encompassed the comprehensive management of conservation activities in Idaho and the 13 Western States also including Alaska, Hawaii and the Marianna Islands. One of our biggest challenges as an agency is that each state has a tendency to operate in silos, missing opportunities to collaborate. Recognizing this, I embarked on a mission to foster unity, promote collaboration, and build strong external partnerships to achieve shared goals and objectives. My role required me to navigate a complex web of over 200 partner organizations and 13 NRCS State Conservationists/Directors.

My plan to collaborate at the highest possible level required a thorough understanding of both internal and external partners and agencies, coupled with effective influencing and negotiation strategies. After researching the key players, I started meeting with 25 different entities, prioritizing those who had the most influence within their organizations. We discussed problem areas, needs, and resources, and negotiated priorities to align with goals and objectives of our agency, each state, and each partner group to find common ground and to gain cooperation from others to accomplish goals. These meetings led to several new agreements with new customers being established and current relationships and projects being expanded upon. One example involved Pheasants Forever, whose mission is to conserve pheasants, quail, and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public access, education, and conservation. They are experts in biology, of which I negotiated a shared position agreement with them.

To build consensus and gain cooperation in complex situations, I employed a give-and-take approach that fostered cooperation among diverse stakeholders. For instance, during a meeting involving 24 wildfire partner groups in Idaho, I encountered varying priorities and resource constraints. I leveraged my influencing and negotiation skills to ensure all partners were aligned with the overall strategy. Then, by actively listening to each partner's needs and concerns and finding common ground, I facilitated consensus and cooperation. Through mapping out the challenges and outlining the government’s ability to meet them in whole or in part, I was able to ensure that all 24 groups had been listened to and heard. This resulted in a successfully coordinated wildfire response strategy that effectively utilized available resources and expertise from multiple partners and implementation of a emergency action plan.

In my state, where over 200 partners with diverse responsibilities, resources, and constituencies needed to be managed, I initiated regular meetings with each partner and State Conservationist. These gatherings were designed to facilitate relationship-building and trust among federal, state, and local directors. Importantly, I facilitated these meetings to inform the communities about our activities and to build trust in an open and relaxed environment. A core tenet of my approach was the continuous support, genuine interest, active listening, and creation of opportunities for mutual growth and collaboration with existing partners. This approach not only strengthened existing partnerships but also encouraged new ones to form. From these meetings, I was able to start new one-on-one dialogues with our partners and open the lines of communication even further for new project generation. I negotiated with them after understanding their goals, so that they could receive NRCS funding when appropriate.

My relentless commitment to building coalitions and fostering long-lasting relationships has yielded significant results. Idaho is now recognized nationally for having one of the most effective, robust and diverse partnership networks in the nation as evidenced by our ability to work together, our ability to get projects started and finished. Idaho saw an increase in the number of partner agreements (over $150M in water management projects) by over 80% with 30 new agreements, 16 of which were new non-traditional partners with whom we had never worked) and sharing and leveraging of human and financial resources. This resulted in more customers being served. Another result of sharing this best practice, several other states have already seen great partnership improvements and increased collaboration with partners. My ability to build coalitions has also been realized and proven by my working with Laotian, Moong, Black, Hispanic, and LGBTQ+ communities and partners through new agreements. These agreements have proven to be a testament of my passion and commitment to work with ALL groups.

Building Coalitions – Example 2

Another example of my ability to build coalitions occurred in my role as State Conservationist for Idaho (2015-present) and acting State Conservationist in Minnesota, and Arizona. In this capacity, one of my responsibilities was to cultivate relationships and forge meaningful collaborations with the Federally recognized Tribes within the state, necessitating a careful navigation of complex dynamics. (Nation to Nation) The historical backdrop revealed that these Tribes had been historically underserved in USDA program participation, a situation compounded by a significant deficit of trust. Building trust with the Tribes was a formidable challenge. Additionally, Tribes were not engaged and knowledgeable in what USDA-NRCS had to offer. NRCS also didn’t know what the Tribal priorities and needs were in relation to their culture and tribal traditions. My challenge was to build a coalition among the Tribes, USDA-NRCS, and other pertinent agencies and to rebuild engagement.

I developed a multi-pronged approach to restoring trust and engaging proactively with the Tribes. First, I personally reached out to all Federally recognized Tribes through a series of personalized introductory letters, conveying my sincere commitment to working with them on a Nation-to-Nation basis. I also met with 60 Tribal high school and college students to establish relationships and share career opportunities. Recognizing the importance of personal relationships, I actively engaged with Tribes by attending events like pow wows and establishing connections with key figures, including tribal land managers and tribal council members. Participation in cultural events such as rodeos helped bridge the gap and created common ground. I made it a priority to visit the headquarters of each Tribe at least once annually. These visits provided an invaluable opportunity to actively listen to their unique needs, challenges, barriers, solutions, and innovative ideas. My relationship with Tribes in Idaho, Arizona and Minnesota is extremely strong and thus communicated from them to other states how pleased they are with our Nation-to-Nation relationship. In a bid to enhance communication and collaboration, I strategically appointed an NRCS Tribal Liaison for each Federally recognized Tribe in Idaho. These dedicated liaisons serve as the primary point of contact, ensuring smooth information flow and fostering deeper understanding. To facilitate meaningful discussions and an open exchange of ideas, I initiated quarterly meetings that brought together representatives from the Tribes, NRCS, Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency Bureau of Indian Affairs, and state government agencies. These sessions enabled transparent communication and allowed Tribal representatives to directly address their concerns and requirements with USDA, Department of Interior, and state agencies. To navigate the intricate political dynamics effectively, I adopted a diplomatic approach, always mindful of the existing political realities and potential sensitivities. I remained acutely aware of the historical distrust that had marred relations between Tribes and the federal government, including USDA-NRCS. This awareness informed my staffs approach, guiding us in navigating these sensitive waters. Effective influencing and negotiation strategies were instrumental in the coalition-building process. This year we held a working effectively with American Indians at the Idaho Nez Perce Tribal headquarters for NRCS staff working with Tribes. This aided my staff in understanding the American Indian culture better and learning respectful and effective communicative ways when working with Tribes. It is because of this type of investment I have provided for my staff that we have the great working relationship with Tribes that we do.

Through my ability to build coalitions and my active engagement and trust-building endeavors, I successfully fostered consensus among the Tribes, USDA-NRCS, and other pertinent agencies. In 2022, I facilitated the establishment of dedicated funding for Tribes, introducing the very first American Indian Locally Led Workgroup. This mechanism empowered Tribes to determine their own resource concern priorities and NRCS would then allocate available funds according to their specific needs and priorities without having to compete for this funding with other interest groups and customers of NRCS. My efforts resulted in the cultivation of trust and mutual respect among all stakeholders involved. In 2023, NRCS secured an additional $1M in funding to allocate to all five Idaho Tribes. This funding supported over 1,400 acres of forest management projects for the Nez Perce Tribe which resulted in a 80% reduction in wildfires, a fish passage project resulting in increased water supply and water quality for safe fish passage, a buffalo fencing project for the Shoshone Bannock Tribe which resulted increased food for the Tribes, and agronomic conservation practices that support soil health and sustainable agriculture for the Tribes, all simultaneously supporting tribal traditions. Another $3M will be allocated in 2024 due to the success and Tribes wanting to work with us as we had in 2023. Additionally, I negotiated the installation of the first-ever Tribal easement to the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in Idaho. This 30-year easement will provide certainty and sustainability of their natural resources for improved water quality, shoreline birds, migratory birds, and fisheries benefit for the Tribe.