Tag Archives: Farrell

77 – Operational excellence in local government. Does it matter?

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Posted by Lancing Farrell                                                                        600 words

operational capability

In a recent discussion with a colleague she mentioned that in her previous employment outside local government they had set organisational performance goals for leadership, finances, relationships, safety and operational excellence.   Each area of performance was rated equally. It started me thinking about how little you hear about operational excellence in local government. Is that because it doesn’t matter?

I am sure that operational performance matters. Whether councils want to be excellent or not, I am less sure. I think that the reason it is seldom discussed is that few people have a real understanding of operations management or what excellence would look like or how to achieve it. Continue reading →

74 – More books to read if you are interested in local government management.

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Posted by Lancing Farrell                                                                              660 words

Leahy and Greene books

I have previously posted on books every local government manager should read (see here and here). Again I will acknowledge the difficulty in getting people in local government to read and learn especially senior management. My earlier posts started with what I call ‘bread and butter’ reading. This post looks at some more focussed reading on specific aspects of management relevant to local government. Continue reading →

68 – Design a management job for high performance. Part 2 – some local government examples.

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Posted by Lancing Farrell                                                              1000 words

sliders

In the first post I discussed a tool that you can use to test your current job design to see whether it has been designed for high performance. In the second post I elaborated on the theory behind the tool. In this post (another long one I am afraid) I will attempt to apply it to design three local government management positions that I am familiar with. Continue reading →

67 – Design a management job for high performance. Part 1 – some theory.

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Posted by Lancing Farrell                                                              1250 words

sliders

In the previous post I discussed a tool that you can use to test your current job design to see whether it has been designed for high performance. In this post I will elaborate on the theory behind the tool. This is a long post but I didn’t want to split the story. Sorry. In the next post I will attempt to apply the theory to the design of three local government management roles that I am familiar with.

Simons’ starting point in discussing the design of high performance jobs is failure to implement strategy. Why is it that organisations with clear strategy, access to resources and developed relationships still fail? He points out managers being too complacent and slow to respond, instead of being entrepreneurial. Problems coordinating activities across functions. Decision making is fragmented. Costs are excessive and eroding surpluses. When these symptoms become evident senior managers start to wonder whether they have put the wrong people in critical jobs. However, Simons says that the problem is systemic across the organisation. Continue reading →

66 – Is your job designed for high performance? How can you tell?

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Posted by Lancing Farrell                                                                                              500 words

sliders

I have posted previously on high performance local government organisations (see here and here). Have you ever wondered whether or not your job has been designed? Did someone sit down and decide on the role your position must play for the organisation to be successful? Were the resources you have been given, the goals you have been set, the decisions you have the right to make, or the relationships you have with others in your organisation been carefully selected? The chances are they weren’t. Continue reading →

58 – Performance appraisal in local government 4/4. What else could we do?

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Posted by Lancing Farrell                                                                              650 words

optimus prime transformer

This is the last post in this series. It is also where things start to get interesting. There are alternatives to performance appraisal the way we have always done it. The difficulty is that most are quite different to the current approach and pursuing them will involve the risks that always accompany change. Are we up for it?

We could just stop using performance appraisals. As Peter R. Scholtes writes in The Leaders Handbook, this would require us to start thinking differently. In essence, this would involve adopting a ‘systems thinking’ approach to managing the organisation. This is likely to require systems to support employee development and promotion, providing feedback for improvement, determining training needs, and performance managing the poor performers.

Scholtes proposes what he calls ‘debundling’ of performance appraisal to focus on each benefit that the performance appraisal system supposedly provides. Continue reading →

55 – Local government performance appraisal 2/4. Why do we do it?

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Posted by Lancing Farrell                                                                                   480 words

line in sand

Well, often we don’t as previously discussed. Not all organisations complete them for every employee and in some organisations it is simply a compliance exercise. Even when you do have a performance review system, it may as easily not improve performance as the team at Utopia showed this with unerring insight. I suppose the relevant question is why do we think that we need performance appraisal?

I don’t think it is because we know that it works and helps to align effort and ensure accountability in delivering on organisational objectives. I think we do it because we are bound to do so by industrial agreements and because it creates the illusion of control. Looking like we are in control is as important in local government as it is in other public services. Continue reading →

52 – Local government performance appraisal 1/4. What are the issues? (or 5 reasons it doesn’t work)

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Posted by Lancing Farrell                                                                             700 words

performance - rowing

This is the first in a series of four posts on performance appraisal. The central idea is that current performance appraisal systems are not effective.

To begin with, the annual performance appraisal process (sometimes called the performance development plan (PDP) or staff development scheme (SDS)) is often not carried out in local government. When it is, people have usually been compelled to do so or they are simply ‘ticking the boxes’ and being compliant. I have often thought that this is important evidence that the process is not helpful. People ‘vote with their feet’ – if they thought that performance appraisal was useful and that it added value, they would be doing it.

Continue reading →

48 – Emergency management is a hidden talent. Why wait for a disaster?

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Posted by Parkinson                                                                                       540 words

emergency flooding

In Victoria, all local governments have a statutory role in responding to municipal emergencies. They must have a committee including local emergency response organisations, and a plan that is maintained and audited. Dozens of staff are inducted and trained in emergency management and, along with their organisational leaders, are a virtual team that can be activated immediately when required. They hold exercises under various scenarios to test their ability. Emergency management is a capability that each council must create and maintain. And they do. Often very well.

It has been said that the public service is at its best in an emergency because tribal conflicts are set aside, the purpose is clear and agreed for once, and the rules become ‘flexible’ in order to be able to react to whatever the emergency brings. Under these circumstances, the public service becomes a responsive, powerful and focussed force. Why do we wait for an emergency to perform at our best? Continue reading →

47 – Core services in local government. What are they?

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Posted by Lancing Farrell                                                                              560 words

In an earlier post I discussed local government services and how they can be defined. This post discusses the concept of ‘core’ services delivered by councils, particularly in relation to the potential impact of rate capping (see here, here, here and here). Councils will be looking to reduce the rate of growth in expenditure and many will have to reduce current levels of expenditure. It will not be possible to maintain delivery of all services at current service levels. The starting point is likely to be a discussion about what makes a service a ‘core’ service.

A working definition of a core service is anything the council does that it is compelled to do under legislation. For example, hold elections and form a council, make and enforce local laws, provide a town planning service, control building development, inspect food premises, ensure there is a road to every property. Councils have no choice but to provide these services. Councils also have to prepare some statutory plans, for example the Public Health Plan. The State government has passed legislation to ensure that they do. The council is an authority.

The next category of ‘core’ service are the universal services provided to all citizens. Continue reading →