Euan Lockie

John Owen

AES VictoriaAES VictoriaAES VictoriaAES Victoria

19 June 201319 June 201319 June 201319 June 2013

Creative Ways of Using Performance Information To Achieve Results

Prologue: A review of performance

measurement.

Act 1: An education case study.Act 1: An education case study.

Act 2: A public libraries case study.

Epilogue: What have we learnt (pleasures,

perils)?

Performance Measurement & Use

Assembly and use of information for:

• Accountability – reporting up and out.

• Managing – improving performance and results.results.

This presentation focuses on managing.

Performance Measurement

Objects may be:

A data based means of measuring both outputs and outcomes with the intention to monitor the progress of an ‘object’ of interest to management. (Wholey)

Objects may be:i. policies, ii. programs, iii. processes, iv. projects, or v. organisations.

Separation of cause and effect: performance measurement measures effects, managers make implementation changes.

Economy

What Performance?

External influences

Policy &

StrategyObjectives Inputs

Programs,

Projects,

Processes

Outputs

Long

term

impact

Short

term

outcomes

Medium

term

outcomes

RESULTS

Efficiency

Effectiveness

Aspects to measure

• Quantity

• Cost

• Quality

• Timeliness

• Accessibility

• Equity

• Customer satisfaction

Types of data

• Quantitative

• Qualitative

Performance Measurement Pleasures?

• “What gets measured gets done.”

• “What you can’t measure you can’t control.”

• Supports accountability and demonstrates contribution.

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• Supports learning and improvement.

Performance Measurement Perils?

• Simple in concept, difficult in practice.

• Indicators may be badly chosen or defined.

• Often assumes attribution linkages – is face validity enough?validity enough?

For Management & Improvement

Integrate measurement and reporting to:

• check progress towards defined objectives;

• better understand causation;

• improve decision-making; and • improve decision-making; and

• drive change.

Act 1: Education Case Study

Features:

• education system (DoE);

• self-managing schools;

• three year strategic plan;• three year strategic plan;

• system level outcome data to schools;

• external evaluation audit.

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Act 1: Education Case Study

Requires:

• management of cultural change;

• orientation to evidence to support professional knowledge;professional knowledge;

• effective systemic/school leadership; and

• systemic perspective.

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Act 2: ‘Being The Best We Can’

• Objective: Provide a tool to help libraries assess service quality & results, & inform action plans.

• Answer basic questions:• Answer basic questions:

– How well are we doing?

– How do we know?

– What are we going to do now?

Process

Performance Measurement

Sector leading, world class

Major strengths

Important strengths, some gapsImportant strengths, some gaps

Satisfactory core service, gaps

impact users

Limited core services, significant user impact

Peer Review

Epilogue

Perils of Performance Measurement

• Goal displacement

• Data gaming

• Perverse incentives

• Ambiguity• Ambiguity

• Weak data collection methods

• Measuring what’s easy to measure

Pleasures of Performance Measurement

Successful uses to:

• learn (about agency performance);

• motivate (staff);

• control (check what is done);• control (check what is done);

• celebrate (achievements);

• check (budgets);

• report (up and out);

• change (structures, programs and processes).

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Contributions to Management Decision-making

• Data based evidence is one source (performance measurement and evaluation).

• How does performance measurement compare with other sources of information for decision-making?

• What sources of information do you use in making • What sources of information do you use in making decisions?

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What we have learnt

• Performance management systems have often been mandated by governments but have seldom achieved expected results.

• The requirements of performance measurement for accountability are not the same as those for for accountability are not the same as those for management and improvement.

• The ‘ideal’ performance measurement system is a destination never reached.

• Judge by utilisation: better usable today than perfect tomorrow.

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Questions and Discussion

What have we learnt?

• From theorists

• From experience

• From local practices• From local practices

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Authors to Follow Up

• Wholey

• Hatry

• Newcomer

• Perrin• Perrin

• Poister

• Behn

• Winston

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euan@acig.com.au

www.acig.com.au

j.owen@unimelb.edu.au

Creative ways of using performance information

to achieve results

Euan Lockie

John Owen

AES Victoria19 June 2013