Measuring what matters: the City of Westminster, Colorado, takes a comprehensive approach to performance measurement.

• Author: Opie, Barbara
• Position: Best Practices

What makes for a good performance measurement program? It takes a willingness to look unflinchingly at your current internal situation and report on it accurately. It takes flexibility and an openness to change. It takes motivation and effort on the part of management to challenge staff and bring about continuous improvement.

An organization is best able to achieve these requirements when measurement is part of the roadmap for the community. In the City of Westminster, Colorado, the performance measurement program focuses on the city council's strategic plan, which drives the services provided by each department. A performance measurement team works to ensure that performance measures are accurate, relevant, and actually used within the organization.

Performance measures also help city officials evaluate services and demonstrate accountability to city council and the public. The information is used in annual reports to the city manager, agenda memorandums, staff reports, and the city's annual performance measure report. Measuring performance in areas that matter most to city council members and the public is critical to Westminster, which continually strives to improve its communications with the public and demonstrate accountability for the limited resources available.

In fact, the city manager identified performance measures as one of the city's "Core Four" (along with its mission statement, strategic plan, and organizational values--service, pride, integrity, responsibility, innovation, and teamwork, or SPIRIT). Performance measures gauge the city's progress toward achieving its strategic plan goals and objectives. As a result, Westminster's approach to performance measurement is comprehensive, connecting strategic planning and budgeting, with performance measure reporting and training.

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT PROGRAM

The City of Westminster embarked on its performance measurement program in 1999, after a difficult start on the 2000 budget underscored the importance of linking performance measures to strategic planning and to the city council's goals and objectives. The city manager's office had directed staff to create at least two performance measures per division, and the measures obtained did not truly measure how they were performing. The data were presented in the budget documentation in table format and with no explanations, leaving them open to misinterpretation, and a city councilor questioned the city's proposal for additional staff, since one of the measures presented showed workload leveling. The request for additional staff was supported after it was explained that the department reported only one small measure of workload that did not reflect all the issues, but the experience made the city re-evaluate how it was reporting and using its measures. The city now uses performance measures as one tool for assessing budgetary priorities and judging how well it is managing resources and delivering services, based on the city council's strategic plan.

The performance measurement program consists of two parts. One piece, the internal performance measures, describes city goals and shows year-to-year trends for city programs, divisions, and projects. Internal measures correlate with the city's strategic-plan objectives and the local government's unique management philosophy and aspirations. The second part of the program is the external measures available through the city's participation in the International City/County Management Association (ICMA)...