Predictive leadership for a rapidly changing world.

• Author: Sledge, Carla
• Position: President's message

As your new president, I look forward to working with you and sharing ideas about the future of our profession and GFOA. I am honored by this appointment and consider this a great time to serve you as president. I want to work with you and give you as much ownership of the ideas and process as possible.

Your responses to the recent membership survey told us that the overall satisfaction with and the perceived value of GFOA membership are high. Our organization is also effective. Most of us join and remain members for core association benefits--access to networking opportunities, professional development, continuing education, and resources for staying current on industry changes.

The state of the art in government performance measurement continues to advance, and our organization's activities and services related to performance measurement must be on the cutting edge. Citizens are insisting on a bottom-line look at what governments are producing, and performance measurement is or will soon be mandatory for all levels of government. You are already familiar with the various recommended practices on performance measurement and the GFOA Budget Awards program, which encourage governments to integrate performance measures into their budget process and documents. GFOA is going to make additional advancements in performance measurement this coming year as we build on the accomplishments of Past President Nancy Zielke and on your feedback from the membership survey.

The Executive Board has made a commitment to implement the following goals to boost familiarity with performance measurement:

* Take the lead in providing information to governments about preferred technology applications for performance measurement and management.

* Coordinate with like-minded organizations, such as the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in order to make the best use of the resources available and avoid costly duplication in programs and activities.

* Incorporate public involvement concepts and tools into our best practice information on performance measurement and management.

* Ground all GFOA performance measurement activities, products, and services in the concept of performance measurement as one component of an integrated, performance-based approach to planning, budgeting, and management. We do not want members to view performance measurement as a "stand-alone" best practice.

Some of the supporting actions will be short term and occur during...