Performance Management encompasses a wide range of management tools that can be and often are developed independently of one another.  Management Partners has helped government organizations implement a range of tools including the following:

• Performance Measurement.  Measuring performance is a high priority in results-oriented government agencies.  Developing and implementing a system of organizational performance measurement has been refined by Management Partners to combine staff training with follow-up consultation and collaboration about important program outcomes.  Working with staff, we develop measures that are important for operations and for demonstrating success to the general public and policy makers.  Our approach uses industry best practices as well as measures currently used by the client organization. 
• Project Management.  Many of the key action items in a strategic, business or work plan are projects.  Maintaining a quality system of effective project planning and management is therefore a basic element of a performance management system.  Management Partners helps organizations develop and use project management on a regular basis to monitor progress against expectations.
• Performance Budgeting.  Linking performance results to the budget process is encouraged because doing so links execution with planning.  Performance budgeting provides information that policy-makers need to make resource decisions. 
• Employee Performance Evaluation Programs.  Used as part of a well-conceived effort to support employee development, performance appraisals provide a much needed communication link between employees and the organization.  Management Partners can help design such systems as well as develop inventive employee recognition programs.
• Strategic and Process Benchmarking.  Benchmarking is a powerful tool that allows you to make both internal and external comparisons.  Strategic benchmarking involves getting data from other service providers that can be compared with your performance metrics to see how your organization stacks up with others, or comparing your own performance from one period to the next.  Process benchmarking is the technique for finding out how a good performer achieves superiority.   Benchmarking can motivate your managers and employees to find ways to get better.  As refined by Management Partners, it is a powerful source of organizational learning that enables employees to improve the performance of their organizations.

Our clients in this service area are wide-ranging and include, for example, the City of Olathe, Kansas.  In 2004, we developed for Olathe a balanced scorecard utilizing rigorous program performance measurement. This effort was designed to integrate organizational performance with the community’s strategic plan and provide a mechanism of organizational accountability to the City Council and the public for progress on implementing the strategic plan.

 

Other examples of our work in this area include development of and training staff in outcome-based performance measurement in Arlington County, Virginia and the Arlington County Schools to show fiscal responsibility and progress towards meeting the organizations’ goals.  With Management Partners’ assistance, the City of Alameda, California implemented a performance measurement system for all departments and now conducts structured analyses of performance results every six months.   For the Los Angeles Community College District, we conducted a performance assessment of services provided by the County Sheriff to the District to determine the advisability of renewing an expiring contract for services.    For more information on the scope of our work for these organizations, please refer to our Clients page.