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In
the last article, Peter Nichols described the role
of performance measurement and benchmarking in improving municipal
organizational effectiveness and efficiency. As a follow-on to
that introduction, the writer provides a few "how to's"
that may guide municipalities toward the successful implementation
of a performance measurement program.
Those municipalities
that are considering the introduction of performance measurement
techniques should be aware at the outset of the following elements
of successful performance measurement initiatives.
- Leadership
from the top. Council and senior management must show their
unequivocal support for the use of performance measures as part
of an ongoing process of organizational improvement. Ideally
as well, Council should provide the foundation for the municipality's
performance measurement initiatives by articulating and communicating
widely its overall goals for the municipality.
- Communications
with staff. Strong efforts must be made to explain to staff
the role and uses of performance measures and to communicate
regularly the results of performance measurement tracking. The
adoption of performance measures often requires a "mental"
shift on the part of employees, from a traditional focus on
resource use toward a greater emphasis on results and impacts.
- Staff
involvement and ownership. The staff within each organizational
unit for which performance measures are being developed should
have primary responsibility for developing the selected performance
measures. Staff have the greatest understanding of the programs
and activities administered by their units and of the data that
are available, and it is important that they participate actively
in the formulation of the measures that they will be using to
monitor and improve their unit's performance.
- Expeditious
action rather than perfection. Municipalities should recognize
that the development of performance measures is an interactive
process that involves change and refinement over time. It might
take several iterations to develop the most appropriate performance
measures. In the initial stages, particularly, the emphasis
should be on achieving agreement on a few key measures, implementing
those, and securing staff and council understanding and buy-in.
If excessive time is taken to develop the measures and if the
program becomes unduly complex and detailed, the entire performance
measurement initiative can become derailed.
- Integration
with business planning activities. Performance measurement is
not an "end" in itself, but a tool that supports organizational
improvement. For this reason, the process of performance measurement
should be closely linked and integrated with the municipality's
business planning, monitoring, and budgeting activities.
- External
assistance and coordination. The use of a facilitator or advisor
who is external to the business unit (either a consultant or
someone else in the organization who has an understanding of
performance measurement) can be helpful, both in terms of providing
a detached viewpoint and in ensuring common approaches and consistent
definitions across the organization. It is important that performance
measurement programs be coordinated at the overall corporate
level, even though each business unit should be integrally involved
in the development of its own performance measures.
A number of
challenges likely will be faced by municipalities as they move
toward the measurement of organizational and program performance.
After all, if the process was easy, perhaps performance measurement
would be more widespread than it currently is! Data deficiencies
can limit the early adoption of some desirable measures (for example,
public organizations often have particular difficulties in developing
efficiency measures because of limited activity-based cost accounting
data). Some municipal activities also lend themselves less readily
to objective measurement (the greatest difficulties may relate
to "idea" or "knowledge-based" support services).
In some cases, the outcomes of programs and activities may not
manifest themselves for an extended period of time and cannot
quickly be "captured" through performance measures (in
such cases, intermediate measures or indicators can sometimes
be used). And, of course, some outcomes may be subject to a number
of external factors or influences which are beyond the control
of the particular municipality or business unit and can obscure
the reasons for changes in performance.
These difficulties
aside, the demands on public organizations to rationalize their
programs and activities and to maximize performance are increasing
and it behooves all municipal councils and managers to begin to
take the steps necessary to measure and monitor the results of
their programs and services. |
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