Hello Everyone
Thank you all for your participation that helped make for a
fantastic class. I know my class was dealing with a subject that we are not
used to discussing on a daily basis at our seminars, but I was delighted to see
the energy and enthusiasm that was very evident on Thursday.
As we learned in class, performance management is all about
utilizing the data your organization gathers in a way that emphasizes the goals
and results that your organization is looking to achieve. Performance management
is very much a process of constant learning and adjustment. An organization
that emphasizes performance management often times has certain mechanisms in
place that allows for its staff to learn from the data they are collecting, and
make the necessary adjustments to improve their performance. These mechanisms
can manifest in a variety of ways. They can be as simple as having data
representing staff performance easily accessible, or as complex as developing a
feedback integration program by which trends and patterns that are found in
participant’s responses are used to make necessary changes. So with that being
said, I would like to ask you, my fellow Verons the following: (Please answer as
many of the following as you would like. Do not feel obligated to try and
answer each question in one massive post, a concise answer to any one of the
following question is just as good as a long comment answering everything.)
1) To continue with how we ended class, if you did not get
the chance on Thursday, or would like to amend an answer you did give, how does
the agency you have been working at engage in the practice of performance
management?
2) I would also like to ask you all, since this was
different from our every day Vera content, what was your biggest takeaways
regarding performance management that you will utilize in your future as a
social justice advocate?
3) Since we also saw
in class that there is an inherent problem of culture surrounding the practice
of performance management, what are some of the creative ways in which this
issue can be dealt with so that funders and staff members embrace the practice
of performance management?
4) If you have any
doubts regarding performance management, I would like to invite you to please
share them now so that we can discuss.
Thank you all,
-Michael Segnan
11 comments:
Thanks for an enlightening class Michael.
Like I said in my post last week, it seems as though at the end of every class, something comes up in the news that is somehow associated with our just concluded class. Last week was no different. In the news on Friday morning, I heard that Mayor Bill DiBlasio is cutting the caseload of the staff at A.C.S. and restructuring it in such a way that supervisors will also have a lower case load so they can be more effective in doing their jobs (a paraphrase of course). I would like to think that this is performance management. Am I correct? If I am, then the government is taking steps, at least at this agency, to move away from compliance management into performance management.
One of my biggest takeaways on performance management is the need for constant evaluation and reassessment to provide optimal service for the target population and improving the agencies' performance and effectiveness. Performance management might be difficult for some because of the "culture surrounding the practice" but we can implement some of the techniques implemented by Hunter. One technique is to engage the services of those that are (or are likely to be) opposed to the change, as Hunter did by engaging the union. There is an adage, "keep your friends close but your enemies closer." He seemed to have used this as he got the union involved in selecting staff etc for the program he wanted to implement. It is also important to show the staff and funders how new projects will benefit them especially in the long term. Creative methods will be different depending on the services provided by the agency. We have to find "sneaky" but effective ways to achieve the goals of the agency and benefit all impacted like the funders and target populations.
Hello Everyone,
The classes are coming to an end this will be one of our last post. Congratulations on your class Michael.
At Cases, we use the program, Salesforce to input information about the participants that we collect. Although I cannot speak for the entire organization, the education unit more specially, Next Steps collects much data on the selective participants in our program. The purpose of the information we collect is to improve the services to the college students. The college students often critique the surveys and provide input on how to improve the content. They are the consumers of the information and provide fresh eyes to how we receive the information.
As a future social justice advocate, I will likely have a team that focuses on the performance measures. The problem with working with a big organization is many things encompass the big picture, but often times the organization cannot offer to focus on the little things. I think a creative way to utilize performance manage is to display the increase in the organization’s mission in terms of graphs, charts and visual aids. The visual aids will help in displaying the information, but are also a good reference to look at instead of the lengthy reports. Performance management is a great way to show if an organization is setting out to do what is in the mission and the purpose.
- JT
Morning everyone! The bitter sweet feeling is indeed emerging again as we wind down to post on the blog for the second to last time.
First, these terms are the Language of capitalism, and a non-profit working for social justice will not survive to achieve success unless a proper balance between performance and compliance measures are adopted because they will not only be unable to attract prospective investors, the only means of cash flow for these organizations, but will also not be able to measure the efficacy of their own social justice model. Simonne's example on ACS provides insight into how compliance management has come to dominate the goal of that organization, as it does it many other failing municipal agencies.
Second, I would say that the culture of an organization is only a problem if it's roots have already been tainted for a prolonged period of time with a lack of unchecked poor performance (e.g. Hunter's hospital); however, and this is where new organizations have an edge, if the core virtues of the agency are constantly being revitalized and a high energy, goal-orientated mentality permeates the work environment, then the culture of a organization would bolster performance management efforts. An organization must reform every aspect of itself (from employees to even emails) to serve as a constant reminder of its investment towards its goal. The proper foundation established for the sole purpose of a goal would create an environment which accepts performance management with open arms rather than viewing it with suspicion. In addition, I believe Jared's proposal of visual aids being used to convey progress is useful, but it is important that these graphs be based on objective data. Otherwise, the organization will be producing "data to show" rather than "data to know."
Last, I would like to follow up with what I said in class about performance measures at CJA. CJA quantifies everything. In fact, the reports produced by CJA's data for various municipal agencies are where it receives most of its funding. This same data, however, it's not realizing its full potential as a tool for performance management. I am confident that the key to filling the gap between employee satisfaction and work quality exists within the numbers of those reports, and am very excited to help improve my agency by decoding them.
I want to contest what Anthony writes in his third sentence--and it strikes me as really funny that there's almost a role reversal here!
Anthony writes, "...these terms are the language of capitalism, and a non-profit working for social justice will not survive to achieve success unless a proper balance between performance and compliance measures are adopted because they will be unable to attract prospective investors."
I do not think that "performance" assessments or even "compliance" assessments are necessarily "capitalist."
Isn't it important to develop ways to evaluate if goals are accomplished (performance measurement), that proper rules and protocols are followed (compliance), and that actors are held accountable for their actions?
Remember Simonne's week (way back when in the semester)--the Tuskegee case in which there was no accountability, no compliance with basic protocols of the medical profession ("do no harm") and performance measures were inadequate?
How do we know if something is working or not working unless we develop and refine these systems? The principles behind performance measurement, compliance and accountability seem sound even if the way they are sometimes operationalized falls short. So it's not the idea of them, it's the way they are played out which seems to be the problem.
I don't see this as a particularly "capitalist" enterprise. In any economic system--capitalist, communist, socialist--there are investments of resources and there needs to be accountability, and a way to assess efficacy, no?
Thank you for your class, Michael; it’s disappointing that I missed a great portion of the class, especially since your topic is well within the purview of Public Administration.
In response to question 3, I think that the problem is not that staff and donors do not embrace performance measurement; rather, the problem lies in the purposes for which they embrace performance measurement. Hunter explains that funders use performance measurement to “bludgeon agencies rather than help them improve.” Therefore, we need to figure out how to move away from this emphasis on accountability towards emphasis on results and “performance.” Resolving this issue is an ambitious task, especially since it involves attitudinal change. This task is further complicated by the fact that the change involves the funders who “give life” to the said programs towards which we call upon them to change their attitudes. That said, one way to navigate this issue might be for program managers to build an organizational culture that is performance measurement-friendly. As Anthony nicely put it: “the proper foundation established for the sole purpose of a goal would create an environment which accepts performance management with open arms rather than viewing it with suspicion.”
In addition, performance measurement should be used to further understanding of outcomes rather than outputs. In this data-driven world, we cannot afford to be overwhelmed by data, which by themselves do not provide any useful information on the extent to which a program is effective in reaching its goals.
Finally, one doubt that I have about performance measurement is on the quality of the practice. How can we differentiate between good performance measurement and poor performance measurement? Further, even if we obtain sound performance measurement, how can we translate its results into improved service delivery?
Thank you.
Professor Waterston,
I would agree with Anthony in that "compliance measures" can be rooted in capitalist culture, which puts an effort on production and quantity, as opposed to performance measures, which focus on the quality of the work done by non-profits. To this end, I say "REVOLUTION!"
For me, it just shows the work that social justice advocates need to go to work against efforts to define "success" so uniformly. Performance measures are important because they put the emphasis on the population,and the quality of their service. While orgs may push against this because of their reasonable desire to please funders, change begins with each organization making reforms internally to change the culture of the agency to one that is cleint-centered. This may take a long time but can be achieved through even the most subtle efforts. Furthermore, employee satisfaction is imperative to the performance of an agency because the more satisfied the employees are, the harder and more passionately they will work towards the common goal. I cant express the importance of this any better than Anthony has.
Leaving class on Thursday afternoon had me thinking about not only my organization's approach to performance management, but that of many different institutions, practices, and policies as well. Thanks, Michael.
Having had a discussion about performance management in class as well as on the blog, has led me to believe that performance management is essential to any and all organization's success. If we do not in some way measure our success (or failure) how could we ever improve our practices to better serve our target populations? My only hope for the future is that I remain critical of not only my work (as in taking responsibility for my action or inaction) but that as my employer as well. In the same vein, I believe that becoming caught up in a routine in the work place warrants caution because not only is it easy to do the same thing day in and day out; it is also very easy to forget what it is you are really working for (mission). With that being said, we have to constantly remind ourselves that monitoring our work ideology, policies, and practices is paramount to our success.
The most important part of performance management, I think, is that the collective to be managed needs to have a say in defining what success (a.k.a. desired outcomes) looks like. A quick example: I'm in charge of outcomes assessment for the English major. The College sees the English Dept as the place where its students learn to write and, more narrowly, where they get the training to go to law school. All good and useful things, but the perspective of the collective English dept (faculty, students, majors/minors/cruisers) could be very different: thinking about the human spirit, about aesthetic form, different kinds of reading practices, a safe space to talk about identity, a place where everybody knows your name (cue theme song to "Cheers"). I guess to use the idiom of the readings, I am arguing for a bottom-up kind of performance management?
Great class Michael!
Echoing what everyone has seemed to already have said in some sort of fashion, obviously performance management is essential in measuring whether or not you are attaining the goal you set forth for yourself and/or the organization as a whole. The issue I find with any sort of "management" is in that it almost always seems to end up as a numbers game.
As I expressed in class, I hold a complete opposite view on numbers than my colleague, Imtashal. I am afraid of numbers! I think numbers can be used to defend really bad practice, and don't really capture the heart and soul of any non-profit. While numbers hold some importance in evaluating (on the most basic level) whether you are doing what you set forth to do, only qualitative data can show you whether or not this is success.
All in all, performance is much better than compliance, but the only way we can truly measure success is through the words and voices of the people and communities we are serving. (I'll let someone else take care of the numbers!)
Thank you for an intriguing class and please excuse the late response.
The topic of effectiveness and efficiency in the work force is hard to define in the non-profit sector. Monitoring the personal improvements of a participant according to standards set by funders may not be the best way to show the effectiveness of a program. As we mentioned in class, some people respond to numbers to show effectiveness and others care more about personal anecdotes to help define a problem. To look at things quantitatively, though is a concrete way to show progress, does not tell the whole story for me. As Apple mentioned in class, numbers can be manipulated in a manner to benefit the researcher and the funders. Personal testimony I believe is a more meaningful measure of effectiveness but even then you cannot be certain of how valid their statements are.
To answer Michael’s questions briefly, my agency, CASES, does a lot of qualitative based research focused on having many different professionals (Case Managers, Counselors, and Educators) for participants to see. They do some comparative quantitative work to when participants started to when they ended but it is very brief. My biggest take away is that it is truly impossible to measure effectiveness as we only know as much as the organization is willing to release about their organization. I really can’t find a creative way to solve the issue but I have addressed often through this blog the many issues in trusting statistics and personal testimony.
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