David Dyches, Deputy Director, Department of Government Operations
Michelle Brown, CX Champion, Department of Government Operations
Louise Schenk, Manager, Statewide Customer Experience
From renewing a driver’s license online to accessing critical social services, every interaction a citizen has with state government relies on a network of essential operations working behind the scenes. These operations–managing human resources, finance, technology, and more–are the responsibility of the Department of Government Operations (GovOps). This year, GovOps partnered with the Customer Experience Team to gather comprehensive feedback from its customers (agency leadership and employees)to make improvements across GovOps’ divisions and offices.
The survey asked the Governor’s Cabinet Members and senior leaders in each state agency to share feedback about all of the nine GovOps divisions they had interacted with. 126 out of 185 state leaders contacted responded to the survey.
Rather than take a superficial overview, the surveys took a deep dive into the operational details of GovOps’ divisions. Questions focused on whether each division is perceived as a help or an obstacle, what specific obstacles customers have encountered, how clear a stakeholder’s understanding of GovOps’ services are, how responsive and knowledgeable GovOps’ staff are perceived to be, and the overall return on investment of GovOps’ services.
The feedback state leadership provided in the survey helped GovOps uncover concrete issues impacting agency efficiency and effectiveness. Multiple divisions found opportunities to empower self-service and reduce administrative burden by upgrading technology, streamlining processes, and improving the usability of key systems. GovOps learned it can improve communication and coordination by establishing clearer communication channels, improving responsiveness, and fostering proactive engagement. Finally, some divisions learned they can increase their impact by taking a more proactive and strategic approach.
After collecting the responses, GovOps Executive Director, Marvin Dodge, thoroughly reviewed the feedback, reading comments and individual responses. Executive Director Dodge then followed up with each Cabinet Member for focused discussions on each agency’s specific needs, challenges, and how GovOps can better support them. Executive Director Dodge provided each Cabinet Member with a tailored summary of their agency’s survey results, providing a concrete starting point for these important conversations. Having survey results summarized in one place helped streamline the conversation and made these leadership meetings more meaningful and productive.
This comprehensive feedback process, from the initial survey to the follow-up discussions with agency leaders, is a big step toward a more responsive and effective GovOps. By listening to its customers and taking action on the challenges identified, GovOps is showing its commitment to improving its customer’s experiences and better meeting the needs of Utah’s state government agencies.