The three publics of nonprofit/government organizations

This is an excerpt from the blog entry, "Making Transit Sexy," from 11/1/2005.

A long time ago, I read the book Strategic Marketing for Not-For-Profit Organizations by the U of Michigan Social Work professor Armand Lauffer. One of the concepts that has stuck with me over the years is that organizations have three publics:

1. The input public that provides the organization with resources;
2. The throughput public that does the work of the organization; and
3. The output public to whom the organization's activities are directed.

Transit marketing, promotion, and publicity has at least two different segments of "output publics" -- (1) the people who are interested and involved in the planning issues around transportation and (2) the people that "consume" transit services.
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That blog entry went on to compare Arlington's communication of transit information vs. DC's methods. The DDOT website is very much focused on how the organization runs and organizes information in that fashion. There is the companion GoDCGo website, that was built partly in recognition that DC needs a transit promotion website, but I have never been enamored with it.

But thinking about the three publics possessed by organizations, and particularly WMATA:

Input public
- USDOT, FTA (capital monies)
- GSA/Federal agencies (transit benefits)
- jurisdictions in the region that provide annual appropriations
- bus riders
- subway riders
- resident vs. non-resident users

Throughput public
- operations workers
- the unions that represent the workers
- program staff
- people who work on transportation issues for the local governments including MWCOG
- advocates
- Board of directors
- locally elected officials (plus certain state government officials from Maryland and Virginia) of the jurisdictions that WMATA serves

Output public
- riders
- USDOT/FTA
- Congress
- GSA/Federal Agencies
- representatives of the local governments which provide annual funding

you can see how managing WMATA is a very difficult job, and that if the structures and systems underlying the organization aren't absolutely solid, then failure shouldn't be a surprise.

In the bookstore, I was flipping through the new book by James Collins, How the Mighty Fall -- Collins has written other books, made a name for himself, around the qualities that define the characteristics that make for successful corporations on a multi-decade timeframe -- and of course the discussion, because I am constantly writing about the need for robust organizational functioning on the part of local government, resonated with me. (Business Week article on the new book by James Collins.)

From the book:

Stage 1: The Hubris of Success.
When the rhetoric of success (“We’re successful because we do these specific things”) replaces penetrating understanding and insight (“We’re successful because we understand why we do these specific things and under what conditions they would no longer work”), decline will very likely follow.

Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More.
Companies in Stage 2 stray from the disciplined creativity that led them to greatness in the first place, making undisciplined leaps into areas where they cannot be great or growing faster than they can achieve with excellence—or both.

Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril.
In Stage 3, leaders discount negative data, amplify positive data, and put a positive spin on ambiguous data. Those in power start to blame external factors for setbacks rather than accept responsibility. The vigorous, fact-based dialogue that characterizes high-performance teams dwindles or disappears altogether.

[NOTE: when you read this paragraph, think about DC Government]
[WMATA's board, or at least its current Chair, might be at this point too]

Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation.
The cumulative peril and/or risks gone bad of Stage 3 assert themselves, throwing the enterprise into a sharp decline visible to all. The critical question is: How does its leadership respond? By lurching for a quick salvation or by getting back to the disciplines that brought about greatness in the first place?

[Is the current time a key breakpoint for WMATA, is it in stage 3 or Stage 4?]

Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death

The longer a company remains in Stage 4, repeatedly grasping for silver bullets, the more likely it will spiral downward. In Stage 5, accumulated setbacks and expensive false starts erode financial strength and individual spirit to such an extent that leaders abandon all hope of building a great future. In some cases the company's leader just sells out; in other cases the institution atrophies into utter insignificance; and in the most extreme cases the enterprise simply dies outright.

The point of the struggle is not just to survive, but to build an enterprise that makes such a distinctive impact on the world it touches (and does so with such superior performance) that it would leave a gaping hole—a hole that could not be easily filled by any other institution—if it ceased to exist. To accomplish this requires leaders who retain faith that they can find a way to prevail in pursuit of a cause larger than mere survival (and larger than themselves) while also maintaining the stoic will needed to take whatever actions must be taken, however excruciating, for the sake of that cause.

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The issue becomes whether or not the elected officials in the Washington region have it within them to pull up WMATA from the abyss, and make it, once again, a great organization.

The reality is that since 2003, WMATA has been on a significant decline, their achievement of many record ridership days from 2006 to 2009 notwithstanding.