Envisio Strategy & Performance Management Blog

We were having a conversation about strategy execution with a customer a couple weeks ago when they made a really salient point: “We just want to make sure we are evaluating ideas we have for strategic initiatives in a way that identifies and prioritizes high-impact projects.”

It’s a common problem. When faced with all of the things that you could do, how do you prioritize and select the initiatives and actions that will provide the best results? We all have constraints that limit the amount of new initiatives we can launch—including funding and organizational capacity.

I know it’s coming, but I dread it just the same:

“So, how many performance measures do you think we should have?”

Ummm…

My left brain immediately offers this unhelpful answer: “No more than what you need to effectively manage performance.”

Although it’s technically good advice, it raises more questions than it answers.

So let’s take a different tack. Why do we measure performance?

While many local governments have done the difficult work of establishing a long-term strategy, very few are effective at aligning their budget process with their intended outcomes. Many are missing a key ingredient for successful implementation: a way to articulate, track and report on progress toward their goals.

For most governments, resources are limited and don’t come close to providing for everything they hope to accomplish. They must make difficult decisions about how to balance those resources across competing needs.