2007 Recipient Governor's Sterling Award

Florida Division of Blind Services is a 2007 Recipient Governor’s Sterling Award. Read more about how we are doing.

Our Vision

"By 2010, Florida's Division of Blind Services will be recognized as the leading agency in the United States empowering blind and visually impaired people to achieve self-determined goals."

Our Mission

"To ensure blind and visually impaired Floridians have the tools, support, and opportunity to achieve success."

Our Values

Decisiveness, Responsive to Challenge, Innovation, Maximum Efficiency, Reliability, Confident Use of Advanced Technology, Quick Action, Flexibility, A Collaborative Approach, Integrity, and Pride.

These values are the basis of the reward and recognition system. This helps to ensure that they are understood, applied by all employees and reinforced as a key element of our culture.

Leadership

The leadership system was developed by Senior leaders to create a sustainable organization founded on process improvement, systematic approaches, and DBS values. DBS customer needs and requirements are translated into process and program requirements which become the measures, standards, and targets by which all employees, key suppliers, and partners are held accountable.

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is managed through the nine-step Strategic Planning Process. As a key business process it has an owner and a control that includes schedules, measures, and targets. Each process is assessed to ensure it is effective, evaluated, and improved each year.

The Strategic Planning Process is benchmarked against Sterling and Baldrige Award standards. The Florida Division of Blind Services' strategic plan is the mechanism used to translate the Vision into accountable activities for every employee. By aligning processes and employee evaluations to the goals and core measures, all employees have a stake in ensuring successful outcomes for our customers.

Customer and Market Focus

The Florida Division of Blind Services' uses several approaches to identify customers, customer groups, and market segments. Market segments are identified in the Quality Performance Information System process of "Manage Market Information". The process owner and team review several sources of information including Federal and State reports, demographic trends, feedback from core process and program teams, and performance data.

Emerging gaps in services provided or unserved or underserved customers are reviewed by program managers. If emerging needs are beyond the scope or capability of an existing program, then a determination is made by the senior leadership team to classify a new segment and define its requirements.

Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management

Quality performance data and information are critical to Florida Division of Blind Services' strategic plan, business, core/value creation, support processes, and performance management systems. The selection of key types of information is driven from strategic challenges, business factors, customers, partners, collaborators, key stakeholders, and business, core/ value creation, and support process requirements.

The quality of information from each source is ensured with one or more process control systems managed by a process owner. Each of the ten information types has a process control system with a process owner, and each of these processes may have one or more sub-processes with individual control systems.

Human Resource Focus

The Florida Division of Blind Services' work systems are designed to meet the needs of the organization, its customers, and employees. All human resource systems have been designed using a process management methodology. Therefore, all are focused on the customers or needs of the organization, rely on measures for daily management, and have process owners responsible for the evaluation and improvement of each work system. The Florida Division of Blind Services' vision and segmented customer requirements drive all work in the organization. All work is part of a process, and all jobs are designed to meet process requirements. Through process management, DBS leadership can confidently set high expectations knowing that job design, compensation, incentive rewards and recognition, performance management, and succession planning will support the achievement and sustainability of high performance goals.

Process Management

Florida Division of Blind Services' core and value creation processes are those which create and deliver value directly for existing and potential external customers. These processes were formally defined by service delivery teams through a series of process management workshops. The teams used customer data provided by service delivery reports, customer satisfaction surveys, counselors and partners to define initial process requirements and develop the measurement system.

This approach enabled each team to design each core process to ensure it was capable of meeting customer requirements. It also ensured each process included a measurement system consisting of quality outcome measures and in-process measures. Each process and its measures were aligned to the organizational Vision, or Goal.

Results

  • Overall customer satisfaction in all program areas has exceeded 90% and has sustained high performance levels for the last three years.
  • Average annual earnings per Vocational Rehabilitation customer is 21.5% above national median.
  • 99.5% of Vocational Rehabilitation customers are competitively employed.
  • The Florida Division of Blind Services is exceeding the Rehabilitation Services Administration Federal Performance Indicator benchmarks on key measures.
  • Self-sufficiency and self-support have increased from 43% to 50% in the last three years.
  • 97.82% of Independent Living Adult Program customers "strongly agree and agree" that they are living independently and participating in family and community activities.
  • Children successfully transitioning from pre-school to school has increased to 86%.
  • Students successfully transitioning to work is up 19.3% in three years.
  • Blind babies transitions have increased by 65% in three years.
  • The number of Business Enterprise facilities is up 13% in three years.
  • The Bureau of Braille and Talking Book Library Services remains the largest library of its kind with the largest number of customers, items loaned, market share and repeat business.
  • Employee satisfaction exceeds 82%.
  • Over 90% of employees have completed Six Sigma "Yellow Belt" training.

Future

The Florida Division of Blind Services will continue its commitment to apply the Sterling Criteria of quality and performance excellence. It has resulted in dramatic results and transformed the agency into a high performing organization.

Always focused on the future, the Florida Division of Blind Services will realize its Vision: "By 2010, Florida's Division of Blind Services will be recognized as the leading agency in the United States empowering blind and visually impaired people to achieve self-determined goals."

For more information contact:

Florida Division of Blind Services
325 West Gaines Street
Turlington Building, Room 1114
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400
(850) 245-0300

Email steve.ritacco@dbs.fldoe.org

"Florida. A State of Excellence."