Leadership Award
Debora Morris
Global Lead, Integrated Service Delivery
Accenture
When she was younger, Debora Morris used to describe her career as a happy accident that occurred along her quest to change the world. As she got older and a little wiser, she realized her own personal limitations related to changing the world, and decided to focus on what she was passionate about—improving customer service, performance and accountability.
"I have been guided by a strong belief that through innovation in business processes, sound business controls, the right technology, and the commitment and dedication inherent in public service, government organizations can achieve levels in customer service that rival the private sector," she says "I came to realize that through consulting I would have limitless bounds to pursue my passion."
Today, Morris is Accenture's Global Lead for Integrated Service Delivery, which falls within the Human Services industry in the firm's Health & Public Service operating group. She also is Accenture's client account lead for an eligibility system modernization project in Kansas.
Morris joined Accenture in 2005 and has more than 25 years of experience designing, implementing, evaluating and managing federal, state, and county government programs specializing in welfare, workforce and long-term care. She started her human services career as a rural caseworker. She was a Legislative Director for the Chair of the Texas House Human Services Committee and was Deputy Commissioner for Planning Evaluation and Project Management at the Texas Department of Human Services.
Ask her what she loves most about her work and without hesitation she responds: The clients! "I am so honored to work with some of the most innovative and dedicated leaders in the Human Services Industry," Morris says. "I love it when I bring the best Accenture has to offer to support their vision for increased capacity, improved service delivery and better outcomes for their customers."
Case in point: She developed a program that helped over 6,000 former welfare recipients find a job, keep that job and advance in their career, a project that was determined to be the most successful project evaluated during the demonstration period in increasing employment, retention, and earnings.
But the program also produced an unexpected result—peer and support groups continued and thrived well beyond program boundaries. "Former recipients helped each other get jobs and get promoted," Morris says. "I was lucky enough to talk with many of our program participants and their stories of overcoming tremendous challenges and finding time to help others were amazing."
Morris says the best advice she ever received came from her grandmother, who was clearly a woman ahead of her time. She was an executive in public school education when the profession was dominated by men. Her grandmother told her "the instant you start to think that you know everything and that you are the expert is the moment you begin your descent into ignorance."
In a profession where people hire consultants to be "the experts" this advice has served Morris well.
"My personal philosophy is to surround myself with the smartest people in my field, maintain a constant pursuit of knowledge and professional growth, and share what I know with others so they can do the same," she says.
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