Performance information—managers collect it, respect it, and understand its importance, but sometimes they struggle to shape the reams of data their organizations collect into useful tools for improving local government services. In short, they’re looking for ways to turn performance measurement into performance management.

“Performance management is much more than just measurement. It is a series of acts of management.” That’s one of the key takeaways from an article by Professor David Ammons in the December issue of Public Management (PM) magazine. Ammons affirms the importance of the chief executive’s commitment to performance management but explains that most data-driven decisions are best made at the programmatic level—where the action is.

In the same issue, ICMA Executive Director Bob O’Neill links performance management to the professional imperative to ensure the highest possible level of efficiency and effectiveness in public service delivery: “Performance management stands side by side with the Code of Ethics as a bedrock principle of the local government management profession.”

These are just two of the features in this issue of PM, which explores performance management from a variety of angles. Readers will also learn:

• How analytics tools can help tame “big data” and turn it into information that can be used to make improvements.
• How 11 Phoenix-area jurisdictions formed the Valley Benchmark Cities to track and compare demographic, financial, and performance data with the goal of learning from one another—and how others can replicate their approach.
• How ICMA has been the pioneer and thought leader in performance management for more than 80 years—not only in the United States but also in countries served by ICMA México-Latinoamérica.

PM also recognizes 48 local government recipients of Certificates in Performance Management from the ICMA Center for Performance Analytics, with a spotlight on Clayton, Missouri, and what that city has done to earn a Certificate of Excellence year after year.

Check out this issue for information, ideas, and inspiration to make performance management real and doable in the era of big data.

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