Long Island National Cemetery Case Study

Leading Change
When assigned as the Director of Long Island National Cemetery (LINC), I came into a facility with an abysmal organizational culture. The Cemetery Staff, Union, and Management were in turmoil. My challenges were to change the negative organizational culture at Cypress Hills National Cemetery (CHNC) and (LINC). I worked to improve management’s relationship with the workforce and union officials to reduce or eliminate the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Congressional, Unfair Labor Practice, and Equal Employment Opportunity complaints. Increases in the response rates for the All Employee Survey (AES) would contribute to the overall understanding of the factors contributing to the poor organizational culture.
LINC closed to
My review included time cost analysis on every facet of daily operations. I enhanced the Management/Union relationship by creating a Union Forum that outlined the methods for open and clear communication between the Management Staff and Union Officials. I engaged the Union and negotiated the revision of all Position Descriptions (PD’s). The outdated PD’s did not assign responsibility and LINC lacked the ability to monitor contractors performing critical tasks. Through dozens of staff meetings and presentations, I gained the support of my staff, which started realizing the importance of change, and the introduction of modern techniques and contracts. I was instrumental in negotiating with the District Office to obtain resources needed to contract out tasks with a potential to injure employees, such as headstone setting. I coordinated with NCA Policy and Planning Service and the Legislative and Regulatory Service to conduct detailed analysis of burial trends and future burial forecast, which produced detailed statistical data that defines the burial rate at CHNC and LINC for the coming 30 years. I developed and presented an Executive Summary to the Executive Director of the North Atlantic District that outlined the justification for hiring additional staff. The processes developed to address the workforce issues related to a large, closed active facility