In our experience, an effective performance management system will meet many, if not all, of the following conditions:

• it will measure the extent to which visionary outcomes and strategic business goals are being met
   
• it will be designed to ultimately develop outcome-based standards and benchmarks for the organization
   
• the system will balance outcomes, outputs, quality and efficiency measures -  outcomes relating to the actual difference the activity is making, outputs relating to the quantity of service being provided, quality relating primarily to customer satisfaction, and efficiency relating to the average cost of delivering a unit of service or product
   
• the performance monitoring system will deal with both program assessment and individual performance appraisal  -  but will never evaluate an individual in areas where external influences beyond the individual's control have significant impact
   
• it will be systemic - guided by and relating to corporate strategic priorities, tied to budget allocation, supported by hiring and training practices, and addressing the outcome expectations of customers and clients
   
• the system will balance both short term objectives AND longer term outcomes - many of the outcomes that are most important to stakeholders are not immediate
   
• the data generated will be USED by decision makers at all levels and immediately fed back into a process of constant improvement.  Front line staff must be empowered to take action the moment fresh evaluative insight is available;  managers must be accountable for their response;  Boards must receive the assurance they need that their financial investment is producing or that corrective action is being taken.  The integrated, nested reports that flow up through the organization will be brief and focused on the decisions required
   
• the process of developing a performance measurement system must be participatory -  representatives of all key stakeholder groups must be involved to gain the benefit of all perspectives, to develop a sense of ownership, and to reduce anxiety
   
• the indicators used must balance an interest in larger scale social or global results (e.g. % of persons with a mobility impairment that are employed full time) with more specific program outcomes indicators that provide that an individual intervention made a difference (e.g. % of life skills graduating class that obtained a job within 6 months)

Back to PERFORMANCE Management
 

"The organization does well those things that the boss checks."

                  Old Army Adage

"tell me how someone is measured and rewarded ... and I will tell you how he or she behaves."

                  Enterprise Opportunities

"Measurements that don't lead to meaningful action aren't just useless, they're wasteful."

                  Jim Clemmer

"There is no point in doing well, that which you should not be doing at all."

                 Thomas B Connellan

"Not everything that can be measured is important ... and not everything that is important can be measured."

                    Albert Einstein