Accountability and Performance Update – June 16-22, 2025

Standardized Performance Measures: What’s Left Out?

Barrett & Greene

It’s important that standardized performance measurements are used to ensure that data is compiled consistently across multiple entities. Without standardization, it would be impossible to compare the results gathered in one organization to another. Here’s an example shared by Dr. Marva Mack at a recent conference

Performance Rewards and Job Satisfaction

Public Administration

Do the same management practices lead to greater job satisfaction in poorer and richer countries? Despite the centrality of this question, prior research has not statistically assessed it through multi-country studies. We address this omission for one quintessential OECD country management reform: linking rewards-pay and promotion-to performance. The authors argue that performance rewards matter more for job satisfaction in richer than in poorer countries.

Performance Management for Federal Employees

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

This memo describes how OPM is reforming employee performance management across the Federal government to ensure that it “shall reward individual initiative, skills, performance and hard work.” This includes ending inflation of employee performance ratings and the use of bonuses to reward high performance. The OPM memo implements two presidential executive orders.

Improving Performance Should be Win-Win

Careers in Government (op-ed – Howard Risher)

“In far too many government agencies work management practices have seen minimal change in decades. Where that’s true, managers and employees have established working relationships and are resistant to change. Their resistance could lock them into the past. They need to understand switching to pay for performance can be a win-win, for them and for the public.”

Data Analysis and AI (Podcast)

Bloomberg’s “Engaging Local Government Leaders”

Podcast guest Rochelle Haynes (Managing Director for What Works Cities Certification at Results for America) and Carrie Bishop (Data Initiative Lead for the Government Innovation Program at Bloomberg Philanthropies) share examples of local government problems solved through data analysis, what can hold cities back in their data journey, and use cases for artificial intelligence in local government.

Building Anticipatory Capacity with Strategic Foresight

Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development

This report provides lessons from Lithuania, Italy, and Malta in how they embrace forward-thinking approaches to build resilience and adapt to an increasingly uncertain world. 

Resource of the Week:  PolicyNotes

Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability

Subscribe to PolicyNotes, a free weekly electronic newsletter highlighting OPPAGA publications and other reports from the Florida legislature, state and federal government reports, think tank research, website resources, and other sources for policy research and program evaluation

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Accountability and Performance Update – June 16-22, 2025

Accountability and Performance Update – June 9-15, 2025

The Power of Performance Audits (Webinar, Tues. June 17, 1 p.m. Eastern – Free)

Center for Accountability and Performance

This webinar features veteran city, county and state performance auditors who will provide honest insights into their world and address questions such as: • What are the keys to ensuring that a good performance audit has impact? • How are auditors faring at a time when their independence is sometimes challenged? and How can performance auditors most effectively work with agencies? • 

Performance Budgeting – Great Idea. Poorly Understood.
LinkedIn Post by Julie Cooper
“I’m a fan of performance budgeting. It’s a smart concept. A necessary evolution. And yes — in theory, it is sexy. But here’s the reality: most performance budgeting reforms fail not because the idea is bad — but because the understanding of it is.”

Five Ways to Get Government Efficiency

PA Times (op-ed: Andrew Kleine)

“In my 30 years on the front lines of federal and local governments, I was never looking for efficiency alone. My goal was what I call “premium efficiency”: lower cost, better performance and a stronger organization. I found that if you want to achieve premium efficiency, there are five things you need to do: measure it, invest in it, source it, lean into it, share it.”

How Does Performance Information Influence Citizen Satisfaction?

Public Administration (gated article)

This quasi-experimental study in China examines the interactive effects of information disclosure and performance information on citizen satisfaction. The authors argue that information disclosure strengthens the “performance–satisfaction” link by aligning citizens’ satisfaction evaluations more closely with government performance.

Resource of the Week:  Improving Local Government Performance Through Benchmarking

David Ammons, Routledge (316 pgs.)

This new book by an award-winning author (and former CAP Board member!) sets the record straight on benchmarking and its value for performance improvement in local government. Written in an easy-to-read style, this book will provide practical assistance to local government officials and students of public administration who aspire to become practitioners in the future.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Accountability and Performance Update – June 9-15, 2025

Accountability and Performance Update – June 2-8, 2025

Power of Performance Audits

Center for Accountability & Performance (Webinar: June 17, 1 p.m. Eastern)

While some efforts in the world of performance management can be little more than paperwork exercises, the significant role of performance audits cannot be overemphasized. This webinar – featuring representation from cities, counties and states – will provide honest insights into this world.

Can Governments Be Accountable?

Washington Policy Center – YouTube (John Barnard)

If laws aren’t measured, how can we know if they work? Are they even designed to be measurable? Is it possible for governments to be held responsible for success or failure?

Resource of the Week:  Enhancing Program Performance with Logic Models

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension (on-line course – free)

This course provides a holistic approach to planning and evaluating education and outreach programs. It helps program practitioners use and apply logic models – a framework and way of thinking to help us improve our work and be accountable for results. You will learn what a logic model is and how to use one for planning, implementation, evaluation or communicating about your program.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Accountability and Performance Update – June 2-8, 2025

Accountability and Performance Update – May 26-June 1, 2025

Evidence-Based Budgeting Event (May 28-June 25)

RouteFifty

Results for America will host a five-week virtual event to help counties navigate fiscal uncertainty, and explore how evidence-based budgeting can help. The virtual event, called the “County Budgeting for What Works Sprint,” will run from May 28 through June 25.

From Compliance to Impact

Homeland Security Today (op-ed – Robin Champ)

Despite all the changes in leadership over the years, many agencies still redo their strategic plan every two years when a new Director comes in. Each time, they simply tweak the wording, update a few titles, and issue it as something “new.” In reality, little ever changes. Instead of developing something inspiring, motivating, and actionable, they merely check the GPRAMA box. What can be done differently?

311 Data Dashboards

Barrett & Greene

New York City’s dashboard provides data on more than two dozen agencies and New York City management and performance issues that surface through 311 contacts. Housing, parking, noise, waste, air quality and other quality-of-life issues are now being publicly tracked through this interactive monitoring tool.

Performance Management Symposium: Introduction

Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration (gated)

 This symposium features four articles that examine performance management through distinct but interrelated lenses – political accountability, change management, feedback mechanisms and gender dynamics. Authors James Perry and Wai-Fung Lam note: “Governments facing high political accountability are more likely to act on feedback, whereas those with weaker accountability mechanisms may disregard or manipulate performance data.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Accountability and Performance Update – May 26-June 1, 2025

Accountability and Performance Update – May 19-25, 2025

Do Civil Service Systems Impede Improved Performance?

Careers in Government (op-ed by Howard Risher)

Government performance has been seen as a problem possibly forever, but the federal Department of Government Efficiency has triggered a renewed focus at all levels of government. Recent reports suggest the number of states with similar initiatives is growing. But if history is repeated, the results will not be impressive.

Stuck Between Gut Feel and Data Overload

LinkedIn (David Ndaa)

“One pattern I’ve observed in many organisations — regardless of industry or maturity — is the tension between intuition-led decision-makingand data-heavy systems that yield little insight.”

Do Performance Systems Tied to Budgetary Consequences Weaken Over Times?

Public Management Review (Gated article)

Stringent systems rely on severe standards and consequences as well as the comprehensive measurement of performance. The authors challenge the belief that performance models remain either static or become more rigid and posit that system stringency is a function of learning over time through use. Systems may start as more stringent but stagnate later. The study draws on 16-year panel data on performance-based funding in U.S. higher education.

Resource of the Week:  Anticipatory Governance Guidelines

Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (free download)

Anticipatory governance, which integrates strategic foresight, experimentation and innovation, is essential for navigating today’s complexities and achieving inclusive, people-centered transformations. However, OECD research indicates that the systematic use of anticipatory governance in government is not widespread, and its processes are insufficiently connected with policy development and innovation. This working paper aims to bridge this gap by providing guidance for public organisations on using anticipatory governance to improve resilience and address complex challenges. 

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Accountability and Performance Update – May 19-25, 2025