Straight Talk

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Straight Talk

• VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., USN
  (Ret.)Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and
  AtmosphereNOAA Administrator
• November 30, 2005

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Todays Menu

• Goals of the Summit
• Update from Previous Summit
• Recent One NOAA Success
• Current Challenges
• Got an Act-On Plan?
• Straight Talk Communications

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Goals of the Summit

• Where is NOAA as an organization going and how
  can we improve in Challenge areas?
• Building Hazard Resilient Communities
• NOAAs Value to Business
• Capitalizing on Policy Opportunities
• Building External Relationships
• Government/Academia/NGO/Private
  Sector/Congress/Media
• NOAAs Workforce Needs
• Planning, Recruiting, Retention, Training
  Education

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Goals of the Summit

• How well is NOAA implementing the Strategic Plan?
• What are the impediments to successful action?
• How are we going to meet our Strategic Plan
  Goals?
• Sit down together
• Identify obstacles and figure out ways to move
  forward to action
• Not about creating new management processes but
  using existing structures

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Update from Previous SummitOODA Loop
Orient
Observe
Decide
Act
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Update from Previous SummitOODA Loop
Ecosystem Approachto Management
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UpdateCommunications

• Office of CommunicationsGoal to provide
  effective communications both within and outside
  of NOAA
• Required notification to Hill on Office of
  Communications is at DOC
• Chief Administrative Office working necessary
  steps to make Communications Office a reality

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UpdateCommunications

• NOAA Executive Intranet central, dynamic
  location for information for NOAA leadership
• NOAA Web Presence
• Single point of access to NOAA products and
  services
• Prototype NOAA Intranet created June 2005
• Rollout of New Look and Organization for
  NOAA.gov3rd Quarter FY06

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UpdateIntegration

• Important to reward integration efforts
• Awards and promotions based on effective
  integration
• Linking integration to performance plans
• Important to act on it in our management
  structure
• Integrating NOAA infrastructure, e.g. facilities,
  IT
• Multi-disciplinary job announcements
• In what ways have you made progress in these
  areas?

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UpdateOrganizational Mission Excellence

• Requirements based PPBES
• Real program tradeoff analysis
• GPRA Goals
• Realistic measures
• Integration of Performance Plans with GPRA goals
• Real progress towards achieving NOAA mission
  goals
• Completed operational ocean observing system?
• Ecosystems based fishery management plan?
• Operational climate monitoring system?
• Real hurricane intensity forecasting improvement?
• Assimilation of NASA NSF research into
  operational satellites?

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UpdateOrganizational Mission Excellence

• Have you planned for success in your program?

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Recent One NOAA Success
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Recent One NOAA Success

• NOAA Incident Coordination Center (ICC)
• NOAA Safety Program
• A shared successattributable to the integrated
  efforts of the many, rather than the few
• GEOSS
• NOAA Target Architecture developed for future
  integrated observations
• NOSC developing iterative process to move NOAA
  towards the target

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Recent One NOAA Success

• Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA)
• Adopted in 1976, and last reauthorized by the
  Sustainable Fisheries Act in 1996
• provides for federal management of fisheries in
  the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone.
• NOAA Administration wrote a bill to reauthorize
  Magnuson-Stevens Act transmitted it to Congress
  Sept 19
• Chairman Stevens (R-AK) and Co-Chairman Inouye
  (D-HI), co-authored S2012, (Magnuson-Stevens
  Fishery Conservation Management Reauthorization
  Act of 2005) and introduced it Nov 19
• NOAA received accolades for their efforts
  coordination from Senate DOC

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NOAA Organic Act Working Success

• NOAA Formed by Executive Order 4 in 1970
• Since 1970 over 200 Disconnected Authorities
• NOAA Organic Act serves as a Charter Providing
  Coherent, Cohesive Set of Authorities
• Key Recommendation of the Ocean Commission
• Explicitly Authorizes Broad Education and
  Outreach Effort that Bridges Programs

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Current ChallengesNOAA Budget
Conference Mark
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Current ChallengesNOAA Funding Trends(Constant
Dollars in Billions)
Data Source DOC Summary of enacted BA
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Current ChallengesOne NOAA vs. Budget Year 2007

• In FY06.

NSF 5.6B
NASA 16.5B
NOAA 3.9B

• NASA vs. NWS
• NASA vs. OAR
• NASA vs. NOS
• NASA vs. NMFS
• NASA vs. NESDIS

• NSF vs. NWS
• NSF vs. OAR
• NSF vs. NOS
• NSF vs. NMFS
• NSF vs. NESDIS

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Current ChallengesPresenting One NOAA

• Acting as One NOAA
• Internally
• How are you communicating this to all NOAA
  employees?
• How are we coordinating with each other?
• Are we efficiently and continuously making
  decisions?
• Externally
• With the Public and With Constituents?
• On the HillLegislative Affairs?
• On the Web?

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Understand you are a part of this organization
This organization is a part of You
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Current ChallengesPresenting One NOAA

• NOAA is one of the best-kept secrets in
  government.

Its remained a collection of somewhat separate
agencies as opposed to a coherent whole.

• Andrew Rosenberg, member of the Commission on
  Ocean Policy and former deputy director of NOAA
  Fisheries.Government Executive, August 1, 2005

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Current ChallengesWorkforce Management

• 52 of all NOAA employees are eligible for
  retirement in the next five years
• Are we investing in the future leaders of NOAA?
• Mentoring
• Training
• Rotational Opportunities
• Are we effectively using career development
  programs?
• Leadership Development Competency Program
• Presidential Management Fellows
• Sea Grant Knauss Fellows
• Are we filling our critical occupation positions
  with good people?

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Action Plan

• Are you representing One NOAA in your
  communications and actions?
• Are you involved in continuous decision making?
• Are you growing future NOAA leaders?
• Are you moving NOAA forward and making it a
  goodnot just a luckyorganization?

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Action Plan

• Breakout Sessions
• Use existing processes and mechanisms to find
  executable paths around road blocks
• Find opportunities, create action plans, be
  accountable to these plans
• Not to add workbut to find ways forward for NOAA

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Rigorous vs. Ruthless
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Straight TalkCommunication
We Live in A Sea Of Bubbles...
Everything we do, say, or write that is apparent
to one or more individuals
Good internal communication...
EASY
EASY
EASY
REALLY DIFFICULT
EASY
EASY
...begins to look like external communcation
DIFFICULT
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• Questions