Managing Performance: Systems, Budgets, and Media, Oh My

The Governing Conference on Managing Performance is always a rich environment for new ideas and best practices. This year’s conference – held in Atlanta, GA, in early October — was no exception. Weidner CEO Marv Weidner and Consultant Kevin Tolmich presented two workshops and had a few reflections from the conference:

Keep It Simple: As governments increasingly use performance information to inform their discussions and decisions, the software systems they use to track and report that information are becoming increasingly important. In our “Simple Systems” workshop, we had a very thoughtful, high level conversation about simple systems that support the use of performance information. A couple of points worth mentioning:

• “Simple” is a very high value characteristic of both the systems and the price that cities and counties really need right now. Throughout the conversation, the dominant and consistent themes were “easy to use” to describe the system and “easy to access” to describe what the systems does for the user. Curtis Tani of Long Beach, CA, said upon reflection that he wished that they had stayed with the simple system they initially created for themselves – “Beach Stat” – rather than move to a more expensive and not so simple commercial system. Nashville, TN recently shelved their commercial high dollar performance management system because it was too expensive to maintain in this economy.


• While it is sometimes quite useful to develop a system in-house, the opportunity cost incurred in using increasingly scarce internal IT resources should give one pause before taking that strategy. Oklahoma City has a great system built in-house, but because of cutbacks, they don’t have the IT resources to build version 2.0 even though they know the changes they want to make.

Meeting the Challenges of Budgeting: In our workshop “Budgeting Right When Revenues are Tight” a number of jurisdictions shared what they were doing to get the most value out of their fiscal resources. The South Florida Water Management District had a very interesting approach to budget management that they have used with real success. To ensure managers are spending their resources wisely to achieve performance targets. Instead of waiting until the end of the fiscal year, they have a policy that allows the Director to take back any funds not obligated by midway in the fiscal year. This better ensures that funds are being used wisely and for the performance purpose they were intended.

Another key point made from a couple of local elected officials in attendance was that it is essential that elected officials can see, in the budget, how their priorities are being addressed. This is critical to building their confidence in the budget process and essential to a mutually trusting relationship with their administrative staff.

It is very apparent that many jurisdictions in attendance understand the need to have performance data with their budgets. The conversation seems to be moving away from convincing/promoting the need for (or why they should use) Managing for Results or any other program/performance based budgeting model – and instead focusing on how to get it done, and then ultimately what the end result will be for the jurisdiction.

Getting the Word Out: Jonathan Walters is always worth a read or a listen, as his pithy style makes his truth-telling all that much more enjoyable. In his workshop, he made a point that is worth repeating because it is often ignored: create a relationship with the press and help them do their job. At the time you need them to help get the word out, you will be glad you did.