Performance Management Succeeding in Federal Government

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Performance Management Succeeding in Federal Government

Over the years I’ve heard a lot of debate over whether performance management can work in the Federal government arena. 

The cons are not surprising:  It will never work because you can’t hold federal workers accountable; lifers merely wait out political appointees who want to implement performance management systems; changing administrations don’t allow for the necessary continuity; without the profit motive of a business, you can’t really measure and motivate people.

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Personal Fitness Trackers Show “What Gets Measured, Gets Done”

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Personal Fitness Trackers Show “What Gets Measured, Gets Done”

A review of wristband fitness trackers in the Dec. 17 Wall Street Journal, “Review: Best Fitness Trackers to Get You Up Off the Couch,” reinforced for me my long-held belief that the best way to improve anything you do is to measure it.

The Journal reviewer, Joanna Stern, seems to agree: “[I]f you let them, fitness bands can improve your life.  They’ve gotten me to take the stairs and subway more, and made me aware that it takes longer to burn off my morning latte than I thought.” 

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Does Use of Performance Metrics Assure Better Performance?

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Does Use of Performance Metrics Assure Better Performance?

I was struck by an article on Government Executive’s website this morning titled “How Feds Could Soon Receive Better Quality Health Care.”  To me, the implication was that the Office of Personnel Management’s new metrics for rewarding health insurance companies who participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program will lead to better health care.  However, I don’t believe that one necessarily follows the other.

On the one hand, I am a true believer in the axiom, “What gets measured, gets done.”  So, rewarding health insurers for the desired behavior is a great idea.  However, I am not convinced that the measures in the four performance areas of clinical quality, customer service, resource use, and contract oversight will improve health care.

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Is the BSC a Better Fit for Incremental or Transformational Change?

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Is the BSC a Better Fit for Incremental or Transformational Change?

One question people often have about the Balanced Scorecard is whether it is a better fit for organizations executing incrementally different or transformational strategies.  My answer to this is that the BSC is “change agnostic”—it doesn’t care and doesn’t necessarily work better for incremental vs. transformational strategic change.

First, let’s get the obvious out of the way and agree that no matter what strategic framework an organization chooses to use to implement its strategy, it will always be more difficult to implement transformational rather than incremental change.

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3 Ways the BSC Helps You Better Manage Your Organization's Strategy

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3 Ways the BSC Helps You Better Manage Your Organization's Strategy

Implementing the BSC isn’t just about determining your strategic objectives, figuring out what measures you are going to use to track your progress, and the implementing the initiatives aligned to those objectives. 

It is about implementing the theory of your organization—the hypothesis implied by the investments you make to create or improve desired capabilities so that you can deliver results to your clients or customers.  Along the way, you have to continually tweak the theory, making course corrections as you move forward based on what you’ve learned and what you believe will occur. 

Three significant ways in which the BSC can help you better manage your organization’s strategy are:

  1. Enabling data-based decision making
  2. Setting and enforcing accountability
  3. Structuring regular strategic discussions

 

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