Managing for Results (MFR)?

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Managing for Results is a complete management and leadership strategy that, when fully implemented, brings together people, resources and results for customers.  Managing for Results integrates key elements from planning, employee performance, budgeting, data collection, reporting, evaluating and decision-making in a way that each stage influences the desired result.

Much of how Gunnison County explains its work right now is task-oriented.  For example, we maintain roads, we vaccinate children or we administer programs for the state.  These are the answers to questions that begin with “What does the County do?”  Managing for Results will give each of us the tools to answer the bigger questions of what do we do, why do we do it, for whom do we do it and what is the desired result.

Managing for Results will give us the tools and the words to tell our customers – taxpayers, visitors, businesses, industries and people who want to relocate – the value residents are getting for their tax dollars.

Whose idea is this?
County elected and appointed officials and their staffs have agreed to adopt Managing for Results after seeing the dramatic, healthy and positive changes other government organizations have experienced. 

Weidner’s Managing for Results integrated management system is a trademarked leadership and management methodology that has been used in governments from coast to coast.  The program is used in Nashville-Davidson County in Tennessee, Maricopa County, the Cities of Austin, Texas and Oklahoma City, the Chula Vista (California) Fire Department and many other branches of government.

What does it involve?
One of the most important aspects of Managing for Results is that we do it, we drive it, we own it.  It isn’t an event that occurs and goes away.  This isn’t the “trend of the week.”  Your County elected and appointed officials and their management teams have made a commitment to a new way of doing business that ties the results we desire to our budget.  How we do business in the future will be based on choices that we make for ourselves in the Managing for Results process.

Weidner Inc. teaches and coaches a select group of individuals from throughout the County and trains them to be our internal implementation team.  These County employees, will work with the departments and offices to focus on results for the customer, not just tasks.

Is it painful?
Absolutely not!  It takes time, energy and a little creative thinking.  Managing for Results involves strategic thinking and shifting your focus to the perspective of the customer – i.e. what is the customer’s experience like when he or she encounters me or my work unit.  How does the customer benefit?  In the case of work units that provide support services to other county departments, the questions are the same. 

Here is a made-up example to illustrate the point:  Let’s say the Information Technology staff establishes a performance measure that says:  Systems will be available to 99 percent of the time during regular business hours.  The department sets that goal with the end-user or customer in mind.   Doing so meets a larger goal of minimizing employee disruption or, in the case of searchable databases that are accessed through the Internet; this goal enhances the internal and external customer’s experience. 

What are the desired County-wide results?
County elected and appointed officials and their management staff have identified several desired objectives that will result from the implementation of Managing for Results.  Those include:

Internal audiences:

• To identify strategic priorities and allocate resources to those priorities.
• To tie funding to results, costs to activities and to forecast demand for services.
• To obtain the performance information we need to make good operational decisions.
• To foster more cross-departmental work and communication.
• For employees to know how their work product affects the County vision and success.

External audiences:

• For the public to perceive Gunnison County as a competent, ethical, effective organization.
• For residents to more fully understand what the County does—its priorities, direction and successes.
• To improve long-range planning, i.e. to better identify infrastructure needs before they become critical.
• To improve accountability and responsibility in serving the public.
• To deliver services in a cost-effective way.

Earlier you mentioned “performance measures.”  What is a performance measure?
A good performance measure is a lot like a good mission statement.  It tells you, your department, your staff and your customer what you do, why you do it and what the desired result is.  Here are some examples:

• By 2012, Gunnison County will achieve an overall net efficiency increase of 10% in County buildings.
• By 2010, Gunnison County will assist partner agencies in expanding public transit to 17 hours per day year-round between Gunnison and Mt. Crested Butte.
• By 2013, Gunnison County will facilitate the provision of 35% of the affordable housing needs identified in the County in the 2008 Housing Needs Assessment, as expressed as X number of new affordable housing units.
• By 2010, Gunnison County will increase the Airport’s capability to accommodate 70,000 enplanements per year. 
• By 2011, Gunnison County will complete construction of a new Public Works facility.
• By 2012, Gunnison County will begin construction of a new Detention Center.  Gunnison County will secure funding not wholly derived from new taxes.
• By the end of fiscal year 2008, Gunnison County shall complete the revision of Special Project Regulations (1041).
• Starting in 2009, Gunnison County will conduct a bi-annual survey of residents measuring their satisfaction with county services and soliciting their suggestions for prioritization of services.

What has happened so far?
Work on transition to this strategic, measurable, performance-based management system began in February with a two day retreat involving Elected Officials, Department Directors, and the Commissioners to begin developing a County Strategic Plan based on the Commissioner’s priorities.  Further work was done over two days in March to refine the priorities, develop strategies, and set timelines.

A County-wide Strategic Plan has been created based on the Commissioner’s priorities.  The Facilitators have received their initial training and a plan has been developed to implement Managing for Results throughout the County.

• Public Works will create a Strategic Business Plan later this year. 
• In 2009, five more departments will develop Plans. 
• By 2010, every department and office will have its own Strategic Business Plan.

How will I stay informed about Managing for Results?
The County plans to keep you informed through the employee newsletter, email updates, and periodic messages from your leadership team.

Gunnison County Courthouse