Cascade Courses
Managing for Results: Performance Measurement
Larisa Benson
What exactly does it mean to be “a leader for results?” Managers in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors are increasingly responsible for producing results as well as improving performance. Elected officials, customers, citizens, and stakeholders have come to expect improved performance from government as a whole as well as from the organizations with which they interact on a daily basis. Producing strategic plans and measures for the declared missions and goals are tasks that are increasingly required by mandate. Managers must demonstrate that they not only understand how to create strategic business plans and performance reports, but that they can also demonstrate improved “bottom line” results and ensure that dollars get to their intended destination. Participants will explore how, when, and why these concepts may or may not be usefully applied in the public and nonprofit sectors. Course concepts include benchmarking; designing scorecards; setting targets; developing performance measures; aligning organizational and integrating individual performance; creating an organizational culture focused on results; and reporting results to the public.
Learning Objectives
You can’t manage it if you can’t measure it! Every public and nonprofit sector manager faces the daily challenge of producing results, but how can these managers work to improve performance? Even more important, how will managers and those to whom they are accountable know if such improvements have been achieved? Managers in the public and nonprofit sectors, as well as in the private sector, are increasingly responsible for producing results as well as for improving performance. Stakeholders and interested parties of all kinds have come to expect improved performance from their governments as well as from the organizations with which they interact on a daily basis. Producing strategic plans and measures for the declared goals are tasks that are now mandated in almost any sector. Managers must demonstrate that they not only understand how to do this but that they are also improving performance as they report on it!
At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:
- Identify the similarities and differences between the leading models for performance management.
- Distinguish a performance management system from a performance measurement tool.
- Define and use key terms such as outcome, efficiency, baseline, target, and benchmark and incorporate these into the strategic planning process.
- Articulate a relationship between accountability and performance management that emphasizes effectiveness and speaks to the unique environment of public service.
- Explore the relationship between financial measures and overall performance.
- Describe the barriers that exist to creating a performance-based culture in an organization, and identify ways to mitigate or overcome these barriers.
The course will use a variety of teaching methods, including case studies, panel discussions, and study groups.
Instructors
Deputy for Statewide Performance Review, Washington State Auditor’s Office, MPA, University of Washington Evans School of Public Affairs, 2002: Leadership, Performance Measures, Budgeting and Negotiation