Seeing possibility where others see complexity

In an increasingly digital world, Americans expect their interactions with government at all levels to reflect the ease and convenience of all their other online experiences. To meet those expectations, agencies have invested in ways to provide fast and easy responses to people’s common problems, verify identities online, digitize forms, streamline websites and unify often tedious paperwork.

For the champions of the customer experience, improving the hundreds of ways people interact with government services every day is the North Star in their careers.

The Service to the Citizen Awards: Champions of Change Program spotlighted some of those leaders at a gala event on Sept. 18. The awards’ stated purpose is to recognize “public servants and their industry partners who excel in delivering impactful, efficient and effective government services while rebuilding public trust in government.”

Honorees of the program, which was established by the nonprofit Public Service Leadership Academy in 2018, are selected by a committee of private-sector leaders and former federal executives. This year, about 100 federal, state and local government officials and teams as well as government contractors received recognition, and 18 federal agencies were represented among the recipients.

“Every public servant, whether career or political, takes an oath not to a party or individual, but to the Constitution of the United States,” said Martha Dorris, founder of the Service to the Citizen program, at the awards gala. “They commit to a cause greater than themselves, embracing a role that offers unparalleled fulfillment. On their first day in office, they pledge their true faith and loyalty to the United States of America. All public servants honored here today have taken this oath of office and dedicated themselves to serving in government.”

Meeting people where they are

Among the winners, six individuals received major accolades:

• Government Executive of the Year — Brian Peltier, head of technology, customer data and artificial intelligence at the Social Security Administration
• Industry Executive of the Year — Amy Gilliland, president of General Dynamics Information Technology
• Lifetime Achievement for Delivering Services to Citizens — Joanne Woytek, program manager of the Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement program at NASA
• Lifetime Achievement for Delivering Services to Citizens — Steven Jones, director of the Comprehensive Health and Exposure Monitoring Policy at the Defense Health Agency
• Customer Experience Trailblazer — Jennifer Plozai, acting director of governmental and public affairs at the U.S. Coast Guard
• Rising Star — Nazmul Hassan, acting assistant commissioner of import operations at the Food and Drug Administration

“My goal is to hide the complexity of government and make it feel simple for the person when they need us or [for] the employee serving,” Peltier said at the gala. “My vision is simple: to be able to choose how you interact with us, move between channels when you need them and still get the same level of service. Maybe your aunt wants to come in her Sunday best with you all to apply for retirement. Maybe your sister was injured and needs to apply for disability from home. Neither experience is more important than the other. What matters is that we meet people where they are instead of forcing them to meet the government where [it is].”

A person who excels in advancing the customer experience is “someone who sees possibility where others simply see complexity,” said James McCament, chief digital transformation officer at U.S. Customs and Border Protection and one of last year’s winners.

“It means families receiving benefits without confusion or delay because agencies invested in simpler, more intuitive digital services,” he added. “It means our veterans accessing care with greater dignity because VA teams redesign processes around the lived experiences of the people they serve. It also means seniors navigating Social Security with confidence because SSA modernized systems [and] strengthened customer support. It also means communities receiving critical information faster because [the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Agriculture Department and the Department of Health and Human Services] improved outreach, accessibility and multi-level communications. And this also means travelers moving through airports more smoothly because frontline teams at CBP and [the Transportation Security Administration] strengthened communication, improved signage and modernized digital tools, ensuring that millions of people experience government…and its most visible touchpoints with clarity and confidence.”

Pioneers at the state and local levels

The awards go beyond recognizing federal work to highlight state and local government individuals and teams that often have to do more with less and frequently work on the frontlines of meeting residents’ needs on a daily basis.

MaryAnn Monroe, vice president of the CX accelerator at Maximus and a judge for the awards, told Nextgov/FCW that “the growth of the state and local governments that are nominating and winning these awards is very encouraging, and it just goes to show you that the people who are working in this space and working to improve government services every day span all governments.”

Monroe and Jim Williams, a fellow judge and a partner at Schambach and Williams Consulting, explained that winners demonstrate both innovation and impact by doing something in a way no one has done before and meaningfully improving people’s experience with government.

Customer experience has also moved beyond the domain of one particular office to become a priority across many aspects of government operations. “One of the things that I think has shown an evolution is where so many different people sit within a government agency who are driving these improvements,” Monroe said. “It has evolved and embedded versus just sitting in one, perhaps, chief experience office. You find people who tackle it from a CIO…IT, CTO [role], lots of different [offices] at the organizational level as well as the agency level.”

And the trailblazers don’t have to be the officials in charge of such offices. Williams and Monroe recalled last year’s Rising Star — Laura Walker, a GS-9 claims specialist at SSA who introduced customer resolution and new-hire training programs that sought to prioritize and streamline customer support. She now works as a strategist and service design analyst and provides internal consulting in SSA’s Office of the Commissioner.

“Here’s a woman at GS-9 in Arizona who literally is changing her entire agency,” Williams said. “It’s that little seed over here that is just being broadcast. Back in her agency, people are seeing this recognition and asking: ‘What did she do?’ And then they’re telling her story, and it’s inspiring others to adopt what she did and take it further.”

How AI is improving the customer and employee experience

New technologies have redefined what agencies are capable of providing to its customers, and few can match the impact of AI’s rapid expansion. Williams cited the example of someone calling the IRS to ask a question and getting an answer from an agency employee. AI can be used to double-check the answer and ensure it is consistent with information that has been given to other taxpayers with the same problem.

“I think AI can be a very good tool, and people are starting to use it like that,” Williams said. “Do we have to be careful about it? Absolutely. But yeah, I think in terms of customer experience, AI is a tremendous tool in the toolbox.”

Monroe said AI can augment not only the experiences that customers have with various agencies, but also the experiences that employees have working in government. In particular, the technology can reduce the time employees spend on tedious tasks so their energies can be redirected to more meaningful work.

Ultimately, Monroe and Williams said the future of the customer experience will extend beyond improving operations in individual offices or agencies. If there is a service that involves multiple agencies, the focus should be “how do they work together from the view of the citizen to improve things?” Williams said. “I think there’s so much room for improvement across federal, state [and] local” governments.

During the gala event, several awardees said their focus on improving the citizen experience is rooted in the oath they took when joining the government and their commitment to serve the American people.