The Clinton administration's new push for a better performance management system for the federal workforce will start near the top, with agencies drafting measures this year to gauge the performance of high-ranking political appointees and senior career executives.
That's the battle strategy agreed to by the President's Management Council, a body of top management officials at major agencies, as detailed in a March 1 workforce improvement plan obtained by GovExec.com (and printed below).
"You cannot expect of your workforce what you don't expect of yourself," said John Kamensky, deputy director of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government. "You can't say, 'I like change. Now you go first.' "
The PMC developed the plan for improving performance management across government after a survey of federal employees, for two years in a row, found that many government workers think managers do a bad job in dealing with poor performers, including in the executive and managerial ranks.
The PMC plan calls on each agency to draft performance agreements with the executive leadership team during the next appraisal cycle, which begins at different times in the year for different agencies. According to the plan, the agreements should include three measures: customer satisfaction, employee feedback and attainment of goals in the agency's performance plan under the Government Performance and Results Act. Some agencies have already set up such systems.
"This is not something that's brand new in a lot of departments," Kamensky said, but added that the PMC wants all agencies to adopt such agreements.
The PMC plan also calls on agencies to establish accountability by "identifying and effectively dealing with any underperformers in the senior ranks by December 31, 2000."
Kamensky said that each agency will determine how to "effectively deal" with poor performing political and career executives.
"The feedback we're getting from employee surveys is that some senior leaders are not dealing well with the way they manage," Kamensky said. "This is not across the board. But it's pervasive enough in the written comments we've seen that it's raised questions."
Asked why the performance push isn't starting at the very top, with the President and his Cabinet secretaries, Kamensky said the President handles Cabinet performance through the planning and reporting process under the Government Performance and Results Act. But he noted that one Cabinet secretary, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, has developed a performance agreement, which is awaiting White House approval. Richardson will then have his senior management team co-sign the agreement.
The plan to start at the top is the start of a broader effort to improve the performance of the federal workforce, which was outlined by NPR chief Morley Winograd on Tuesday at a gathering of Office of Personnel Management officials.
Here is the PMC plan:
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March 1, 2000 PMC Workforce Improvement Goals We are committed to pursuing effective performance management throughout government. Feedback from customers and employees, along with operations results, will be the basis for performance evaluations. We recognize that many agencies have already implemented, or made substantial progress toward, these goals. In full support of the premises and principles of our Interagency Work Group on Performance Management, we adopt the following goals for improving the federal workforce in the year 2000: 1. We will clearly communicate our expectations by:
A. Distributing by May 1 a departmental version of "premises and principles" for performance management as part of an overall plan to communicate performance expectations in each department. 2. We will establish accountability by:
A. Drafting performance agreements with the executive leadership team of each department by the start of the next appraisal cycle. The agreements will include three measures-GPRA goal attainment, customer satisfaction, and employee feedback. 3. We will take timely action by:
A. Using balanced measures in distributing internal bonuses for the next performance appraisal cycle. |
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