MAKING STEP WORK

Before STEP could be put in motion, Sandra Hale and Terry Bock, director of her management analysis division and STEP's executive director, had to build a constituency for it. Not only do the management styles of these energetic administrators complement each other, but their preferred roles are different—Hale is the "outside" person and Bock the "inside" person.

To diverse audiences and a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, Hale declared that it was time for a moratorium on government bashing. This practice had started in the late 1970s and had grown to a high pitch in the 1980s. The reputations of all public servants had been tarnished by these attacks.

Hale took on the critics at a 1987 conference that attracted key public and private decision makers along with hundreds of state and local government employees. It was one of Minnesota's typically arctic winter days, but the room was packed. "For every example of waste and mismanagement, you and I know of 10 examples of dedicated, superior performance and innovative thinking," Hale said. "This difference in perception is a problem we must tackle." Two years later the blue-ribbon National Commission on Public Service (also known as the Volcker Commission) would also call for "a renewed sense of commitment to a renewed sense of public service."

In an environment in which journalists and legislators instinctively probe for evidence of fraud and mismanagement, Hale has continued to emphasize that it is her mission to "expose good government."

Besides proclaiming this message in public forums, Hale worked informally to gain the support of community leaders, many of whom she knew through other civic ventures. With STEP already bearing the seal of approval of Dayton Hudson management, getting support from other affiliates of the Minnesota Business Partnership wasn't hard for Sandra Hale. She had chaired the board of the Guthrie Theater at a time when that repertory theater was the envy of regional patrons of the performing arts throughout the nation. She had also chaired the Minnesota State Arts Board, which had gained national attention during her tenure. Before 1983 she had been an associate professor at Metropolitan State University in the Twin Cities. Her ties to movers and shakers and behind-the-scene doers extended to a variety of fields.

While Hale was working the executive suites, Terry Bock was rallying managers in the line agencies. Because Minnesota is a strong union state, one of his first jobs was to enlist support from union