DSHS Strategic Plan- Office of the Secretary Strategic Goals

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In the strategic planning process, we identify three key components. 

1. The Strategic Goal: Sets the goal that we are striving to achieve. 
2. The Action Plan: Our action strategies to get there. 
3. The Success Measure: The outcome to achieve a goal. 

Read about the components of DSHS - Office of the Secretary's strategic goals. Strategic Plan Metrics coming soon.  

Strategic plan index: Jump to a section of the plan by clicking the Strategic Goal (SG) 

1. Advance economic well-being by ensuring all people in Washington have their foundational needs met. 
2. Advance innovation in service delivery to amplify impact, ensure compliance and increase effectiveness.  
3. Strengthen organizational resilience by cultivating a skilled, adaptable, and supported workforce.  
4. Enhance customer experience by fostering collaboration and partnership. 

Strategic Goal #1: Advance economic well-being by ensuring all people in Washington have their foundational needs met.  

The Action Plan: 

• Increase enterprise-wide knowledge, understanding, and use of economic well-being and the Self-Sufficiency Standard in DSHS.  
• Establish plans to increase the number and percent of Washingtonians at or above the Self-Sufficiency Standard.  
• Integrate Economic Justice Alliance (EJA) research, policy, community, and lived expertise into agency strategic planning and decision-making.  
• Support federal outreach and influence to promote economic well-being as a national priority.  

Success Measure: 

• 1.1: Increase in positive responses to “I see my work as contributing to building economic well-being.” in Employee Survey by 3% year over year from baseline starting in 2026.  
• 1.2: All programmatic divisions use the Self-Sufficiency Standard to complete an analysis of options to increase clients’ self-sufficiency rate from established baselines by 2027.  
• 1.3: EJA team provides an annual review of budget and policy requests impacting the state’s 10-Year Plan starting in 2027 legislative session.  
• 1.4: DSHS executive leadership consults with the Advisory Council twice a year, at a minimum, starting in 2026.  
• 1.5: EJA Team annually leads or contributes to at least 4-6 briefings, policy consultations, or contributions related to federal policy affecting the department, state, and national level, starting in 2026.  

Strategic Goal #2: Advance innovation in service delivery to amplify impact, ensure compliance and increase effectiveness.  

The Action Plan: 

• Foster innovation through strategic planning, continuous improvement, visual communication, organizational change, and staff engagement.  
• Ensure effective service delivery through strategic leadership, expert consultation, and streamlined processes—targeting confidentiality, fraud prevention, and accountability.  
• Advance organizational compliance by investing in technology to modernize audit and risk systems.  
• Enhance service delivery by building capacity, improving fairness and removing barriers in systems and processes.  

Success Measure: 

• 2.1: Office of Innovation, Strategy and Visual Communications (OISVC) will increase internal and external client satisfaction quality rate for annual brand survey from 3.8/5 in June 2024 to 4.0/5 by June 2027.  
• 2.2: Office of Information Governance will maintain the number of confidentiality breaches to 30 or less each calendar year for years 2025, 2026, 2027.  
• 2.3: The Office of Fraud and Accountability will increase the dollar amount of identified overpayments per quarter from $900,000 to $1,250,000 by fiscal year 2027.  
• 2.4: Internal Audit will achieve an increased efficiency for audit processes by 10% two years from the date of purchase of a new Internal Audit Software.  
• 2.5: Enterprise Risk Management Office will achieve a 50% reduction in repeat Safety and Health Assessment findings by July 2027.  
• 2.6: Develop and fully implement three agency-wide efficiency tools for improving fairness, removing barriers, and increasing accountability in customer service delivery by June 30, 2027.  

Strategic Goal #3: Strengthen organizational resilience by cultivating a skilled, adaptable, and supported workforce.  

The Action Plan: 

• Strengthen organizational resilience by advancing Emergency Management, DSHS policies, and patient rights through training programs, and increased awareness.  
• Support a skilled workforce by providing ongoing education for staff working with Tribes and Urban Indian Organizations.  
• Advance a resilient and adaptable workforce by transitioning to a skill-based hiring model that prioritizes competencies.  
• Empower supervisors and staff through customer-focused Human Resource services that offer innovative tools, clear communication, and targeted training.  
• Advance a skilled workforce by investing in employees through targeted communication to increase effectiveness of customer service.  

Success Measure: 

• 3.1: Office of Emergency Management will staff, train, and resource three incident management teams by June 2027.  
• 3.2: Ombuds Office will train new employees in patient rights and American Disabilities Act compliance at all state run 24/7 secured psychiatric facilities through July 2027.  
• 3.3: Office of Indian Policy will provide DSHS Administrative Policy 7.01 Training to 100% of new and existing staff working with tribes through June 30, 2027.  
• 3.4: Human Resources Division will update job classifications by replacing degree and year requirements with clearly defined competencies by December 2025.  
• 3.5 Human Resources Division will maintain traffic at 20% or greater the customer-facing HR SharePoint site with quality site visits averaging at least 2 minutes by June 2027.  
• 3.6: Increase the number of employee certified interpreters by 15% by June 30, 2027.  

Strategic Goal #4: Enhance customer experience by fostering collaboration and partnership.  

The Action Plan: 

• Amplify DSHS customer experience by investing in communication processes and strategies—targeting DSHS policies, patient rights, and public disclosure.  
• Elevate customer experience by establishing a centralized Investigations Unit with clear, coordinated processes.  
• Foster collaboration with internal and external partners by delivering timely, high-quality communication about DSHS programs and services.  
• Strengthen relationships and advance shared priorities by partnering with Tribes, Urban Indian Organizations, and state agencies.  
• Advance customer experience through workforce and community collaboration to align and sustain access strategies.  

Success Measure: 

• 4.1: The Rules and Policies Assistance Unit (RPAU) will increase the percentage of current Department administrative policies from 85% to 90% by March 1, 2026, and to 95% by March 1, 2027.  
• 4.2: Office of Information Governance will maintain the number of 5-day letters sent on time at 95% or more by July 2027.  
• 4.3: Human Resources Division will reduce average investigation timeframe to 120 days or less by October 2027.  
• 4.4: Office of Communications and Government Affairs will increase monthly Facebook and Instagram content interactions by 4.5%, from 1,435 (six-month average Jan.-June 2025) to 1,500 by July 2027.  
• 4.5: The Office of Indian Policy will attend/support 100% of Tribal/State Agency collaborative efforts, activities, meetings and Tribal Consultations through June 30, 2027.  
• 4.6: Develop and implement a coordinating council comprised of community members and DSHS employees by January 31, 2026.