(JEFFERSON CITY, MO) – Today, the state of Missouri hosted its second annual Show Me Excellence Summit. This year’s Summit was held virtually with the theme “Better Together.”
According to Governor Parson’s office, the Show Me Excellence Summit brings together team members from Missouri’s 16 executive departments and the offices of the Attorney General, Treasurer, and Lieutenant Governor as well as private-sector partners and state government continuous improvement experts from across the nation. Over 1,500 state of Missouri team members registered for the summit this year from Cabinet leaders to frontline employees.
“Our Cabinet team is committed to making real change in how state government operates,” Governor Mike Parson said. “Today’s summit was about helping our team members learn new skills to better serve their fellow citizens, and I was honored to sign a proclamation declaring October 26, 2020, Show Me Excellence Day in the state of Missouri.”
“We believe making opportunities for our team members to learn, build new skills, and the put them to use is the best way to lasting improvements in our state government’s efficiency and effectiveness,” State of Missouri Chief Operating Officer Drew Erdmann said. “The summit was another milestone in building a community of operational excellence leaders in our state government.”
Bob Chapman, CEO of St. Louis-based Barry-Wehmiller, and Kristen Cox, former Executive Director of the Utah Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, delivered keynote addresses at the summit.
Recently named the number three CEO in the world by Inc. magazine, Mr. Chapman leads a $3 billion global capital equipment business with more than 12,000 team members. His experiences at Barry-Wehmiller inspired his Wall Street Journal bestseller, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family.
“People are capable of doing amazing things if we just give them the environment in which they can discover, develop, share, and be appreciated for their gifts,” Bob Chapman said. “I enjoyed addressing these public servants to help them create dignity-honoring work environments for their teams and ultimately serve our citizens better.”
As former Executive Director of the Utah Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, Ms. Cox led an improvement in state government performance of more than 35 percent. She also recently co-authored the book Stop Decorating the Fish about driving change in the workplace.
“As government leaders, we need to learn how to focus—both ourselves and our teams—on what will really move the needle,” Kristen Cox said. “I was impressed by how the state of Missouri is seeking out new ways to inspire its teams to work together better.”
Experts from Missouri, the private sector, and other state governments led 21 practical skill-building virtual workshops for summit participants. Workshop topics included process mapping, leading a team huddle, creating and maintaining a high performing workplace, and managing change efforts.
Jamie Rodgers, Deputy Director of the National Association of State Chief Administrators (NASCA), moderated the concluding panel discussion of state government leaders from Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, and Utah. The panel participants shared their firsthand lessons learned in building operational excellence communities within state government.
“Team Missouri is viewed as a leader in transforming state government,” NASCA Deputy Director Jamie Rodgers said. “The summit was a great opportunity for leaders from Missouri and across the country to come together and learn how to be even more effective public servants.”