Posted by Colin Weatherby                                                                         670 words

Lancing Farrell recently posted on value-led management. There is increasing demand for improved performance in delivering local government services that are responsive, efficient and fair. Communities want change. Councils today operate in much the same way as they did 30 years ago, despite some radical legislative reforms, and it is time for a re-think of how council operations are designed to deliver value to communities. In this post I have added to the ideas introduced by Lancing Farrell.

Value is often mentioned in local government when talking about services, particularly ‘best value’. However, there is often inadequate understanding about the different types of value, the difference between private and public value, and how value is actually created. The concept of public value, as conceived by Professor Mark H. Moore, is extremely relevant in local government.

“Unless there is a clear understanding of the value to be produced, how can you design operations to produce it or measure performance in delivering it? “

Value-led management is a management approach to improving organisational systems and the value they produce. It focuses on the service recipient and value to be created in service delivery. In public services value is created along a continuum from essentially private value, similar to the concept of customer value, through to public value that reflects the aggregate desires of citizens. Continue reading →