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This appendix discusses the processes that were employed to create an environment that would invite stakeholders to share open and honest thoughts about motor carrier safety programs.
In the course of conducting and evaluating its programs, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has developed an initial set of observations on its current state, some compelling reasons for undertaking change, and a general concept of a possible future operational model. FMCSA leadership then posed the following questions: Do stakeholders hold similar views? Are there additional ideas that would upgrade the FMCSA's thinking on these matters?
To seek answers to those questions, the FMCSA decided to organize a process to reach out to stakeholders and encourage them to share their observations and experiences in a productive fashion. As a first step, the FMCSA engaged Touchstone Consulting to be its partner in organizing, facilitating, and documenting the Listening Sessions. As a second step, on August 20, 2004, the FMCSA published a notice in the Federal Register to advise the public of the FMCSA's intent to hold Listening Sessions (Appendix H). The Federal Register notice included specific questions addressing the components of the FMCSA's oversight programs on which the agency sought stakeholder feedback.
Pre-session interviews were conducted by Touchstone Consulting with seventeen organizations representing a cross-section of the stakeholder community. The purpose of these interviews was to:
- Introduce the idea of the Listening Sessions to the safety community and spread the word of invitation;
- Test the Federal Register questions to understand how comprehensive the answers would be and determine the most effective use of the questions in the Listening Sessions; and
- Begin to gather and understand the breadth of opinions within the stakeholder community.
The pre-session interviews were conducted in confidence and by conference call. The results have been folded into the main report. Appendix D includes a non-attributable compilation of the points that interviewees made during these interviews. Appendix E includes a listing of the organizations interviewed.
Six Listening Sessions were held across the country in six different locations:
- San Diego, California, September 21, 2004
- Atlanta, Georgia, September 28, 2004
- Mesquite, Texas, October 5, 2004
- Chicago, Illinois, October 12, 2004
- Falls Church, Virginia, October 19, 2004
- Springfield, Massachusetts, October 26, 2004
In addition to being announced in the Federal Register, the FMCSA put information about the sessions on its website, sent email announcements of the events to over 28,000 motor carriers, and mailed invitations to approximately 350 organizations within the safety community.
Approximately 300 people participated in the Sessions. A full listing of the participants is included in Appendix C.
The FMCSA, in partnership with Touchstone Consulting, designed the Listening Sessions to achieve the most inviting, conversational, and inclusive tone possible.
The Listening Sessions were a success due to the following design principles:
- Create a 'safe' environment for participants to share feedback with the FMCSA.
- Demonstrate FMCSA's sincerity through visible senior management involvement.
- Use of a 'blueprint' with clear objectives to guide participants through the agenda.
Specific attention was devoted to making the Listening Sessions a time for honest and open comments. The rooms were chosen and furnished so that participants were in groups and encouraged to communicate with each other. Comments made within the small groups were recorded by the group and not tagged with an individual's name. Comments that the smaller groups decided to share with the entire group were also not tagged. FMCSA had determined, in advance, that it did not want comments attributed to a particular individual or organization and so no effort was made to tape or otherwise note the source of a comment. The FMCSA representatives who attended the Listening Sessions were instructed simply to listen to comments and answer clarifying questions as appropriate. This limited role by the FMCSA helped support the tone of openness and interest, and avoided creating the expectation that the sessions were a time to debate issues with the government.
The Listening Sessions included a series of short presentations by government officials so the participants could understand the approach and strategies of the FMCSA as they relate to the CSA 2010 initiative. In addition, FMCSA leadership was intentionally present so the participants knew their comments were considered valuable and taken seriously. Each session was staffed by senior people. In fact, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta appeared as a speaker at one of the sessions. The roster of senior staff involved with the sessions included:
- FMCSA Administrator Sandberg
- FMCSA Deputy Administrator Hoemann
- Associate Administrators McMurray and Shelton
- Field Administrators
The agenda was structured around Touchstone's simple strategic model of the Gameboard. The Gameboard (See Figure 1) is useful in organizing the complex conversations about business dynamics while a group is making a shift to where the business dynamics should be. It lays out visually the idea of exploring the current situation (Current State), then discussing the reasons necessitating change (Case for Change), and then describing the desired future (Future State).
The Listening Sessions were conducted as one-day workshops, with a Plenary Session in the morning and Breakout Sessions in the afternoon. The full agenda is contained in the Listening Session Powerpoint presentations (Refer to Appendix G) used at each session.
The Plenary Session opened with an overview by Touchstone Consulting and an introduction by a senior FMCSA official. Next, the FMCSA shared its preliminary thoughts about the Current State, Case for Change and Future State, and invited comments from the participants on the Current State and Case for Change. People were seated at round tables and given time after each presentation to discuss, upgrade, add, and challenge the content presented by the FMCSA. Groups captured their comments on flip charts and then reported their thoughts to the full session.
The afternoon was devoted to a thorough discussion of the desired Future State, framed by the questions from the Federal Register. To increase individual contribution, participants were divided into smaller groups of 15-25 people. The groups, which numbered anywhere from one to four depending on the roster size of the session, were then moved into separate rooms. One or two facilitators were dedicated to each group to help guide and take notes of the conversation.
Touchstone made arrangements to handle a small number of additional comments that were made either by people who had hoped to attend a session and missed it, or by people who decided to share their thoughts during the sessions but outside the formal note capturing process. Such comments were provided in both written and verbal form. These comments are listed in Appendix F.
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