Comptroller General's Forum: High-Performing Organizations:
Metrics, Means, and Mechanisms for Achieving High Performance in
the 21st Century Public Management Environment (13-FEB-04,
GAO-04-343SP).
As we face the challenges of the 21st century, the federal
government must strive to build high-performing organizations.
Nothing less than a fundamental transformation in the people,
processes, technology, and environment used by federal agencies
to address public goals will be necessary to address public
needs. In high-performing organizations, management controls,
processes, practices, and systems are adopted that are consistent
with prevailing best practices and contribute to concrete
organizational results. Ultimately, however, the federal
government needs to change its culture to become more
results-oriented, client- and customer-focused, and collaborative
in nature. On November 6, 2003, GAO hosted a forum to discuss
what it means for a federal agency to be high-performing in an
environment where results and outcomes are increasingly
accomplished through partnerships that cut across different
levels of government and different sectors of the economy. The
forum included discussions of the metrics, means, and mechanisms
that a federal agency should use to optimize its influence and
contribution to nationally important results and outcomes. The
forum included representatives of the public, not-for-profit, and
for-profit sectors as well as academia who are knowledgeable of
what it takes for organizations to become high-performing.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-04-343SP
ACCNO: A09289
TITLE: Comptroller General's Forum: High-Performing
Organizations: Metrics, Means, and Mechanisms for Achieving High
Performance in the 21st Century Public Management Environment
DATE: 02/13/2004
SUBJECT: Agency missions
Budgeting
Customer service
Interagency relations
Intragovernmental fund accounts
Personnel management
Public administration
Education or training
Performance measures
Productivity in government
Personnel recruiting
Human resources utilization
Chief operating officers
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GAO-04-343SP
Highlights of GAO-04-343SP.
As we face the challenges of the 21st century, the federal government must
strive to build high-performing organizations. Nothing less than a
fundamental transformation in the people, processes, technology, and
environment used by federal agencies to address public goals will be
necessary to address public needs. In high-performing organizations,
management controls, processes, practices, and systems are adopted that
are consistent with prevailing best practices and contribute to concrete
organizational results. Ultimately, however, the federal government needs
to change its culture to become more resultsoriented, client- and
customerfocused, and collaborative in nature.
On November 6, 2003, GAO hosted a forum to discuss what it means for a
federal agency to be highperforming in an environment where results and
outcomes are increasingly accomplished through partnerships that cut
across different levels of government and different sectors of the
economy. The forum included discussions of the metrics, means, and
mechanisms that a federal agency should use to optimize its influence and
contribution to nationally important results and outcomes. The forum
included representatives of the public, not-for-profit, and for-profit
sectors as well as academia who are knowledgeable of what it takes for
organizations to become high-performing.
www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-343SP.
To view the full product click on the link above. For more information,
contact J. Christopher Mihm, Managing Director, Strategic Issues on (202)
512-6806 or [email protected].
February 2004
HIGHLIGHTS OF A GAO FORUM
High-Performing Organizations: Metrics, Means, and Mechanisms for Achieving High
Performance in the 21st Century Public Management Environment
There was broad agreement among participants at the forum on the key
characteristics and capabilities of high-performing organizations, which
comprise four themes as follows:
o A clear, well-articulated, and compelling mission. Highperforming
organizations have a clear, well-articulated, and compelling mission, the
strategic goals to achieve it, and a performance management system that
aligns with these goals to show employees how their performance can
contribute to overall organizational results.
o Strategic use of partnerships. Since the federal government is
increasingly reliant on partners to achieve its outcomes, becoming a
high-performing organization requires that federal agencies effectively
manage relationships with other organizations outside of their direct
control.
o Focus on needs of clients and customers. Serving the needs of clients
and customers involves identifying their needs, striving to meet them,
measuring performance, and publicly reporting on progress to help assure
appropriate transparency and accountability.
o Strategic management of people. Most high-performing organizations
have strong, charismatic, visionary, and sustained leadership, the
capability to identify what skills and competencies the employees and the
organization need, and other key characteristics including effective
recruiting, comprehensive training and development, retention of
high-performing employees, and a streamlined hiring process.
During the forum, the Comptroller General offered several options that the
Congress, the executive branch, and others could pursue to facilitate
transformation and to achieve high performance in the federal government.
Several of the participants provided their views and experiences with
these options. These options included:
o establishing a governmentwide transformation fund where federal
agencies could apply for funds to make short-term targeted investments,
based on a well-developed business case;
o employing the Chief Operating Officer concept or establishing a
related senior management position, such as a Principal Under Secretary
for Management and/or Chief Administrative Officer, to provide long-term
attention and focus on management issues and transformational change at
selected federal agencies; and
o examining certain federal budget reforms, such as a biennial budget
process, which could encourage the Congress and federal agencies to focus
on long-range issues and possibly provide more time for oversight of
existing government programs, policies, functions, and activities.
A
United States General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548
February 13, 2004
Subject: Highlights of a GAO Forum on High-Performing Organizations:
Metrics, Means, and Mechanisms for Achieving High Performance in the 21st
Century Public Management Environment
The federal government faces a range of new challenges in the 21st century
that it must confront to enhance performance, ensure accountability, and
position the nation for the future. These include long-term fiscal
challenges posed by the nation's large and growing long-term fiscal
imbalance-the federal government's most pressing challenge-and several
major trends including: evolving national and homeland security threats,
increasing global interdependence, the global shift to market-oriented
knowledgebased economies, an aging and more diverse population, rapid
advances in science and technology, various quality of life challenges,
and diverse governance structures and tools. Given these challenges, the
federal government needs to engage in a comprehensive review,
reassessment, reprioritization, and as appropriate, reengineering of what
the federal government does, how it does business, and in some cases, who
does its business. To enhance the nation's capacity to both respond to the
fiscal challenges and to make government more relevant for the 21st
century, this process should involve examining the base of existing
government programs, policies, functions, and activities so that emerging
needs can be addressed while outdated and unsustainable programs can be
either reformed or eliminated.
As we face the mounting challenges of the 21st century, the federal
government must strive to build high-performing organizations. Nothing
less than a fundamental transformation in the people, processes,
technology, and environment used by federal agencies to address public
goals will be necessary to address the public needs facing the nation in a
time of rapid change. In high-performing organizations, management
controls, processes, practices, and systems are adopted in areas such as
financial management, information technology, acquisition management, and
human capital that are consistent with prevailing best practices and that
contribute to concrete organizational results. Ultimately, however, to
successfully transform, the federal government needs to change its culture
to become more results-oriented, client- and customer-focused, and
collaborative in nature. This will require that the federal government
create a culture that moves from
o outputs to results,
o stovepipes to matrixes,
o hierarchical to flatter and more horizontal structures,
o an inward to an external focus on clients, customers, partners, and
other stakeholders,
o micro-management to employee empowerment,
o reactive behavior to proactive approaches,
o avoiding new technologies to embracing and leveraging them,
o hoarding knowledge to sharing knowledge,
o avoiding risk to managing risk,
o protecting "turf" to forming partnerships, and
o adversarial to constructive labor/management relations.
Delivering high performance and achieving important national goals require
the federal government to establish partnerships or networks with a broad
range of federal, state, and local governmental agencies as well as
not-for-profit and for-profit organizations, both domestically and
internationally. Promoting effective partnerships with third parties in
the formulation and design of complex national initiatives will prove
increasingly vital to achieving successful policy outcomes in the years
ahead. Protecting the nation from the threat of terrorism, for instance,
has called for a concerted effort by all three levels of government as
well as key private sector leaders responsible for critical infrastructure
and resources. This growing interdependence means that the performance and
fiscal capacity of the public sector as a whole will become more relevant
in determining how successful the nation will be in addressing important
national policy goals. Successful partnerships will entail refocusing
current metrics and accountability mechanisms to capture a more integrated
perspective on the efforts and accomplishments realized across
conventional government or private sector boundaries.
A central question for the federal government is, if results and outcomes
are increasingly accomplished through partnerships that cut across levels
of government and different sectors of the economy, what does it mean for
a federal agency to be high-performing in this environment? More directly,
what are the metrics, means, and mechanisms that a federal agency should
use to optimize its influence and contribution to nationally important
results and outcomes? On November 6, 2003, GAO hosted a forum to discuss
these questions. The forum brought together representatives from the
public, not-for-profit, and for-profit sectors, as well as academia. These
parties are knowledgeable about what it takes for organizations to become
high-performing, as well as the challenges facing federal agencies in
becoming high-performing organizations in the 21st century.
Prior to the forum, GAO staff met with a number of these representatives
and other experts who helped us develop the themes that we explored in our
discussion. As agreed with the participants, the purpose of the forum
discussion was not to reach a consensus, but rather to engage in an open
dialogue without attribution. Appendix I of this report summarizes the
collective discussion of the forum participants as well as subsequent
comments we received from the participants on a draft of this report, and
it does not necessarily represent the views of any individual participant.
It also includes additional information based on prior GAO work that
provides context for the discussion. In summary, there was broad agreement
among the forum participants on the key characteristics and capabilities
of high-performing organizations, which comprise four themes as follows:
o A clear, well-articulated, and compelling mission. High-performing
organizations have a clear, well-articulated, and compelling mission, the
strategic goals to achieve it, and a performance management system that
aligns with these goals to show employees how their performance can
contribute to overall organizational results. With these in place,
regularly communicating a clear and consistent message about the
importance of fulfilling the mission helps engage employees, clients,
customers, partners, and other stakeholders in achieving higher
performance.
o Strategic use of partnerships. Since the federal government is
increasingly reliant on partners to achieve its outcomes, becoming a
high-performing organization requires that federal agencies effectively
manage relationships with other organizations outside of their direct
control.
o Focus on needs of clients and customers. Serving the needs of clients
and customers involves identifying their needs, striving to meet them,
measuring performance, and publicly reporting on progress to help assure
appropriate transparency and accountability.
o Strategic management of people. Most high-performing organizations have
strong, charismatic, visionary, and sustained leadership, the capability
to identify what skills and competencies employees and the organization
need, and other key characteristics including effective recruiting,
comprehensive training and development, retention of high-performing
employees, and a streamlined hiring process.
During the forum, I also raised several options that could be adopted to
facilitate transformation and to achieve high performance in the federal
government that the Congress, the executive branch such as the Office of
Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management, and other
federal agencies, as well as public, for-profit, and not-for-profit
organizations could pursue. Several of the participants provided their
views on these options and their experiences with them. These options
included:
o establishing a governmentwide transformation fund where federal
agencies could apply for funds to make short-term targeted investments,
based on a well-developed business case;
o employing the Chief Operating Officer concept or establishing a related
senior management position, such as a Principal Under Secretary for
Management and/or Chief Administrative Officer, to provide long-term
attention and focus on management issues and transformational change at
selected federal agencies; and
o examining certain federal budget reforms, such as a biennial budget
process, which could encourage the Congress and federal agencies to focus
on long-range issues and possibly provide more time for oversight of
existing government programs, policies, functions, and activities.
Moving forward, GAO will continue to play a professional, objective,
factbased, non-partisan, non-ideological, and constructive role in
assisting the Congress and the executive branch as federal agencies strive
for higher performance. For example, federal agencies face challenges to
improving their ability to manage partnerships, such as finding the
balance between
preserving partners' operational flexibility with the need to maintain the
accountability of all partners. Other challenges for partnerships include
identifying the metrics to measure the performance of a partnership and
expanding the use of an appropriate targeting and risk management approach
to focus limited resources to achieve desired outcomes. Addressing these
challenges is vitally important to foster the development of
high-performing organizations within the federal government.
Appendix I summarizes the collective discussion of the forum participants
as well as subsequent comments we received from the participants on a
draft of this report. It also includes additional information based on
prior GAO work that provides context for the discussion. Appendix II
provides a list of the participants. Appendix III lists related GAO
products on organizational transformation and the 21st century public
management environment. Appendix IV contains a selected bibliography on
highperforming organizations and networked government or partnerships.
Appendix V summarizes planned and past Comptroller General forums and
roundtables. This report will be posted on our Web site at www.gao.gov.
For additional information on our work on federal agency transformation
efforts and strategic human capital management, please contact J.
Christopher Mihm, Managing Director, Strategic Issues on (202) 512-6806 or
at [email protected]. Key contributors to this report include Sarah Veale,
Eric Mader, Ellen Grady, and Peter Del Toro.
I wish to thank all of the participants in the forum for taking the time
to share their knowledge and to provide their insights and perspectives on
the important matters this document discusses. I look forward to working
with them and others on this and other important issues of mutual interest
and concern in the future.
David M. Walker Comptroller General of the United States
Appendix I
High-Performing Organizations: Highlights of Forum Discussion
Appendix I summarizes the collective discussion of the forum participants
as well as subsequent comments we received from the participants on a
draft of this report. It also includes additional information based on
prior GAO work that provides context for the discussion. Overall, the
forum discussion provides guidance and options for consideration in
developing high-performing organizations in the federal government.
Although federal agencies have the primary responsibility for moving the
federal government towards high performance, the Congress has a key role
through its legislative, appropriations, and oversight capacities in
establishing, monitoring, and maintaining both governmentwide and
agency-specific management reform initiatives.
Key Characteristics and Capabilities of High-Performing Organizations
High-performing organizations have a focus on achieving results and
outcomes and a results-oriented organizational culture is fostered to
reinforce this focus. The forum participants identified key
characteristics and capabilities of high-performing organizations that
support this resultsoriented focus, which include having a clear,
well-articulated, and compelling mission, strategically using
partnerships, focusing on the needs of clients and customers, and
strategically managing people. Highperforming organizations have a
coherent mission, the strategic goals for achieving it, and a performance
management system that aligns with these goals to show employees how their
performance can contribute to overall organizational results. Since the
federal government is increasingly reliant on organizations outside of its
direct control to achieve outcomes, becoming a high-performing
organization requires that federal agencies effectively manage these
partnerships. Serving the needs of clients and customers involves
identifying their needs, striving to meet them, measuring performance, and
publicly reporting on progress to help assure appropriate transparency and
accountability. To manage people strategically, most high-performing
organizations have strong, charismatic, visionary, and sustained
leadership, the capability to identify what skills and competencies
employees and the organization need, and other key characteristics
including effective recruiting, comprehensive training and development,
retention of high-performing employees, and a streamlined hiring process.
Appendix I
High-Performing Organizations: Highlights of
Forum Discussion
High-Performing Organizations Focus on Achieving Results and Outcomes
A Clear, Well-Articulated, and Compelling Mission
High-performing organizations have a focus on achieving results and
outcomes and a results-oriented organizational culture is fostered to
reinforce this focus. By definition outcomes are achieved outside of an
organization. Thus, results-oriented organizations focus on the often
complex interplay of internal and external relationships, initiatives,
actions, and trends that contribute to achieving desired outcomes.
Highperforming organizations in this context seek to develop data-driven
understandings of how their efforts contribute to overall results.
Participants generally agreed that to sustain a focus on results,
highperforming organizations continuously assess and benchmark performance
and efforts to improve performance. For example, one participant noted
that pilots and demonstration projects help to identify innovative ways to
improve performance. Such pilots and demonstration projects allow for
experiences to be rigorously evaluated, shared systematically with others,
and new procedures adjusted as appropriate, before they receive wider
application. One of the participants noted, however, that there is a
paucity of comparative metrics for benchmarking whether an organization
has or is becoming high-performing. Several participants also stated that
highperforming organizations manage risks to improve performance, but
maintain accountability by continually assessing the impact of these
risks.
As part of the discussion of what it means to be a high-performing
organization, several participants discussed the unique aspects of
pursuing high performance in the federal government and in the public
management environment as compared to the private sector. Nevertheless,
participants generally agreed that the following key characteristics and
capabilities drive high performance across both the public and private
sectors.
There was general agreement among participants about the importance of
strategic planning, particularly about the importance of having a mission
that employees, clients, customers, partners, and other stakeholders
understand and find compelling. Further, participants emphasized the
importance of setting goals to achieve the mission, and aligning the
organization's activities, core processes, and resources with those goals.
We have reported that establishing a coherent mission and integrated
strategic goals guides organizational transformation. Together, they
define the culture and serve as the vehicle for employees to unite and
rally
Appendix I
High-Performing Organizations: Highlights of
Forum Discussion
around.1 This alignment is particularly important in the current
environment where results are achieved by working with and through others
and resources are severely constrained, as noted by several participants.
Several participants also identified the importance of aligning an
organization's performance management system with achieving goals to
create a "line of sight" that shows employees how their performance can
contribute to overall organizational results. One participant explained
the importance of using performance management systems to help strengthen
accountability. We have found that performance management systems
reinforce accountability for change management and other goals. In
particular, high-performing organizations strengthen accountability for
achieving crosscutting goals by placing greater emphasis on collaboration,
interaction, and teamwork both within and across organizational boundaries
to achieve results that often transcend specific organizational
boundaries.2
To help sharpen a focus on agencies' missions, one participant suggested
that federal agencies ask themselves hypothetically what they would do if
their budgets were 50 percent smaller. This exercise is intended to not
only help federal agencies identify their core purpose or mission, but to
help them assess which core activities are necessary to fulfill it. We
have found that high-performing organizations develop fact-based
understandings of how their activities contribute to accomplishing their
mission and broader results. These organizations evaluate and adjust their
efforts to optimize their contributions to results.3 Several participants
said that policy-makers need to re-examine the base of federal activities,
identify programs that have outlived their relevance, and make difficult
choices about wants, needs, and affordability.
Several participants stated that regularly communicating a clear and
consistent message about the importance of fulfilling the organization's
mission helps engage employees, clients, customers, partners, and other
1See U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Cultures:
Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and Organizational Transformations,
GAO-03-669 (Washington, D.C.: July 2003).
2See U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Cultures: Creating a
Clear Linkage between Individual Performance and Organizational Success,
GAO-03-488 (Washington, D.C.: March 2003).
3See U.S. General Accounting Office, A Model of Strategic Human Capital
Management, GAO-02-373SP (Washington, D.C.: March 2002).
Appendix I
High-Performing Organizations: Highlights of
Forum Discussion
stakeholders in achieving higher performance. An effective, on-going
communications strategy is essential to implementing a transformation. One
participant noted that most federal agencies do a poor job of effectively
communicating with employees.
Strategic Use of Partnerships To be a high-performing organization,
federal agencies must effectively manage and influence relationships with
organizations outside of their direct control. For many federal agencies,
these partnerships can range from direct contractual relationships for
products and services, to intergovernmental grants and regulatory
relationships, to coordination across federal agencies. The challenge for
federal agencies is to make effective use of these partnerships to
optimize the federal contribution to achieving outcomes. For example,
according to one participant, the Superintendent of the Golden Gate
National Park has recently turned to the use of partnerships to provide
programs and services in a tight fiscal environment. We have found that
innovative partnerships at the National Park Service go well beyond basic
partnerships, such as contracting for services, and can entail complex
public/private business arrangements.4 A focus on the effective use of
partnerships is a key to achieving results and has important implications
across a range of management functions and activities. Topics for
consideration to effectively use partnerships include:
o Accountability for results becomes shared among the various federal and
non-federal partners, rather than residing with a sole partner. One
participant said that holding partners accountable is one of the
challenges of managing partnerships.
o Establishing knowledge-sharing networks. For example, one participant
noted that federal agencies often lack sufficient collaboration to share
their experiences and best practices.
Focus on Needs of Clients and Participants generally agreed that
high-performing organizations focus on
Customers the needs of their clients and customers. This entails at a
minimum, undertaking concerted efforts to understand and respond to client
and customer needs, measuring progress toward meeting these needs, and
publicly reporting on that progress and improvement opportunities-to help
assure appropriate accountability and transparency. One participant
suggested that federal agencies need to engage citizens more directly and
4See U.S. General Accounting Office, Public-Private Partnerships: Key
Elements of Federal Building and Facility Partnerships, GAO/GGD-99-23
(Washington, D.C.: February 1999).
Appendix I
High-Performing Organizations:Highlightsof
Forum Discussion
involve them in the process of agency transformation to learn how to
better respond to public needs.
One participant emphasized that it is difficult to successfully transform
into a high-performing organization unless both policymakers and the
American people support the effort to make changes. In that regard,
federal agencies need to build a business case for transformation so that
needed changes can be made before crises develop. Prudent risk-management
must be a key part of change management efforts.
Strategic Management of People People are the primary resource of
high-performing organizations and they need to be engaged for the
organization to achieve its mission and strategic goals and to
successfully transform. As GAO has repeatedly noted, people are at the
center of any serious change management or transformation initiative.
Several participants noted that strong, charismatic, and visionary leaders
who empower their employees to achieve results and manage risks for the
benefit of clients and customers are important elements of highperforming
organizations. Sustained leadership also drives high-performing
organizations to achieve results. High turnover among politically
appointed leaders can make it difficult to follow through with
organizational transformation. Some of the participants said that because
of this turnover, it is particularly important for appointees and senior
career civil servants to develop good working relationships from the
beginning.
Several participants also said that high-performing organizations develop
the capability to identify what skills and competences employees and the
organization need to be successful, both now and in the future. We have
found that workforce planning efforts linked to strategic goals and
objectives enable an agency to address its current and future human
capital needs, such as determining the skills and competencies needed for
an agency to pursue its mission.5 Further, as part of workforce planning
efforts, we have found that leading organizations use succession planning
to identify, develop, and select human capital to ensure that successors
ar the right people, with the right skills, available at the right time
for leadership and other key positions.6
5See U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Key Principles for
Effective Strategic Workforce Planning, GAO-04-39 (Washington, D.C.:
December 2003).
6See U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Insights for U.S.
Agencies from Other Countries' Succession Planning and Management
Initiatives, GAO-03-914 (Washington, D.C.: September 2003).
Appendix I
High-Performing Organizations:Highlightsof
Forum Discussion
In that regard, there was general agreement that to achieve high
performance, federal agencies must provide more comprehensive training and
development opportunities to foster the development of top leaders and
employees in general. Several participants stated that federal agencies
should invest more in leadership training and development. For example,
lessons could be learned from the leadership training programs in the
Department of Defense and the U.S. military, according to some of the
participants. Several participants also identified the need for training
in strategic planning and performance evaluation. We recently reported
that effective training and development programs are an integral part of
enhancing the federal government's ability to attract and retain employees
with the skills and competencies needed to achieve results and meet
transformation challenges.7 A few participants expressed support for
initiatives to strengthen recruiting of university students and partnering
with the academic community to influence curriculum to better prepare
students for working in the federal government.
Several participants also discussed the importance of retaining
highperforming employees, a practice of high-performing organizations. One
invitee, who submitted comments prior to the forum because he could not
attend, noted that high turnover in top managerial posts in general means
newer supervisors and managers are spending less time in positions before
moving up the chain of command. This individual stated that retaining top
managers beyond retirement would alleviate such situations.
Finally, some of the participants stated that the federal government's
hiring process poses an impediment to achieving higher performance because
it is too slow and too complex, which undermines the federal government's
ability to hire individuals with the right skills and experience.
Specifically, participants discussed the difficulty of identifying job
applicants that are starting their professional federal careers. One
participant noted that more aggressive internship programs might help
because it would enable federal agencies to offer permanent jobs to
interns who perform well. The invitee, who submitted comments prior to the
forum, proposed that agencies looking to fill critical jobs might be more
successful if the federal government maintained a database of qualified
individuals. This database could be used to send notifications of
vacancies or be accessed by agencies
7See U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: A Guide for Assessing
Strategic Training and Development Efforts in the Federal Government,
GAO-03-893G (Washington, D.C.: July 2003).
Appendix I
High-Performing Organizations:Highlightsof
Forum Discussion
searching for qualified candidates. We have reported that high-performing
organizations need a results-oriented workforce to accomplish their
missions, but that the current federal hiring process often falls short of
meeting the needs of agencies, managers, and applicants.8
Next Steps to Foster Development of High-Performing Organizations
The Comptroller General also offered several options that could be adopted
to facilitate transformation and to achieve high performance in the
federal government that the Congress, the executive branch such as the
Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management, and
other federal agencies, as well as public, for-profit, and not-for-profit
organizations could pursue. Several of the participants provided their
views on these options and their experiences with them. These options
included (1) establishing a governmentwide transformation fund where
federal agencies could apply for funds to make short-term targeted
investments, based on a well-developed business case, (2) employing the
Chief Operating Officer concept or establishing a related senior
management position, such as a Principal Under Secretary for Management
and/or Chief Administrative Officer, to provide long-term attention and
focus on management issues and transformational change at selected federal
agencies, and (3) examining certain federal budget reforms, such as a
biennial budget process, which could encourage the Congress and federal
agencies to focus on long-range issues and possibly provide more time for
oversight of existing government programs, policies, functions, and
activities.
Governmentwide Transformation Fund
Several participants discussed the idea of a governmentwide transformation
fund as one proposal for helping federal agencies transition into higher
performance. In prior testimony, we have proposed establishing a
governmentwide fund where agencies, based on a well-developed business
case, could apply for funds to modernize their performance management
systems and ensure that those systems have adequate safeguards to prevent
abuse.9 The basic idea of the fund would be to provide short-term targeted
investments needed to prepare agencies to use
8See U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Opportunities to
Improve Executive Agencies' Hiring Processes, GAO-03-450 (Washington,
D.C.: May 2003).
9U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Building on DOD's Reform
Effort to Foster Governmentwide Improvements, GAO-03-851T (Washington,
D.C.: June 4, 2003).
Appendix I
High-Performing Organizations: Highlights of
Forum Discussion
their performance management systems as strategic tools to achieve
organizational results and drive cultural change. If successful, this
approach to targeted investments could be expanded to foster and support
agencies' related transformation efforts, including other aspects of the
high-performing organization concept recommended by the Commercial
Activities Panel.10 To illustrate how such a funding approach could work,
the Congress recently authorized the Secretary of Defense to implement a
pilot program whereby selected Department of Defense organizations are
provided incentives to re-engineer their operations in order to become
high-performing organizations.11
Some of the participants offered possible approaches for a governmentwide
transformation fund. For example, one participant described a special
funding program in the United Kingdom intended to assist government
agencies in implementing reforms, but the agencies had to reimburse the
government. Another participant explained how "performance partnerships"
work for agencies in one state government. Agencies received funding to
implement a new information technology system only after they had
collaborated with other members of the partnership and met other
requirements of the performance partnership. One participant proposed that
the federal government have governmentwide standards to guide these
transformation initiatives. Another participant said the Congress should
take part in creating these standards and they should resemble the kinds
of performance standards described in the President's Management Agenda.12
On the other hand, some participants expressed concern that federal
agencies would only implement transformation initiatives if they received
funding through a governmentwide transformation fund. Further, some of the
participants stated that federal agencies would have less commitment
10The Commercial Activities Panel was mandated by section 832 of the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001, which required
the Comptroller General to convene a panel of experts to study the process
used by the federal government to make sourcing decisions. After a
yearlong study, the panel published its report on April 30, 2002. See
Commercial Activities Panel, Improving the Sourcing Decisions of the
Government: Final Report (Washington, D.C.: April 30, 2002). The report
can be found on GAO's Web site at www.gao.gov under the Commercial
Activities Panel heading.
11National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, Section 337,
Public Law 108-136, Nov. 24, 2003.
12Office of Management and Budget, The President's Management Agenda,
Fiscal Year 2002 (Washington, D.C.: August 2001).
Appendix I
High-Performing Organizations:Highlightsof
Forum Discussion
to the success of transformation initiatives if the agencies did not fund
the initiatives themselves. One participant proposed setting aside a
portion of the specific agency's budget as an incentive to fund and
implement transformation initiatives.
Chief Operating Officer The possibility of employing the Chief Operating
Officer concept or establishing a related senior management position, such
as a Principal Under Secretary for Management and/or Chief Administrative
Officer, to provide long-term attention and focus on management issues and
transformational change at selected federal agencies was raised during
discussions about the importance of continuity of leadership for federal
agencies. On September 9, 2002, the Comptroller General convened a
roundtable of executive branch leaders and management experts to discuss
the Chief Operating Officer concept and how it might apply within selected
federal departments and agencies as one leadership strategy to address
certain systemic federal governance challenges.13 There was general
agreement at the 2002 roundtable on a number of overall themes concerning
the need for agencies to do the following:
o Elevate attention on management issues and transformational change at
selected federal agencies. The nature and scope of the changes needed in
many agencies require the sustained and inspired commitment of the top
political and career leadership.
o Integrate various key management and transformation efforts. While
officials with management responsibilities often have successfully worked
together, there needs to be a single point within agencies with the
perspective and responsibility-as well as authority-to ensure the
successful implementation of functional management and, if appropriate,
transformational change efforts.
o Institutionalize accountability for addressing management issues and
leading transformational change. The management weaknesses in some
agencies are deeply entrenched and long standing and will take years of
sustained attention and continuity to resolve. In addition, making
fundamental changes in agencies' cultures will require a long-term
13U.S. General Accounting Office, Highlights of a GAO Roundtable: The
Chief Operating Officer Concept: A Potential Strategy to Address Federal
Governance Challenges, GAO-03192SP (Washington, D.C.: October 2002).
Appendix I
High-Performing Organizations:Highlightsof
Forum Discussion
effort. In the federal government, the frequent turnover of the political
leadership has often made it difficult to obtain the sustained and
inspired attention required to make needed changes.
As discussed earlier, participants generally agreed that high-performing
organizations have strong and sustained leadership. On the Chief Operating
Officer concept, some of the participants discussed ways to ensure
longterm attention and focus on management issues at federal agencies. The
Comptroller General noted that in Canada, the United Kingdom, and
Australia, government agencies are managed by a minister who is a
political official and a deputy minister who is a career civil servant.
Another participant stated that federal agencies need two types of top
leaders-one dedicated to internal operations and one who is more
externally focused.
Federal Budget Reforms The Comptroller General asked participants to
consider whether certain federal budget reforms, such as a biennial
budget, would encourage the Congress and federal agencies to focus on
long-range issues and possibly provide more time for oversight of existing
government programs, policies, functions, and activities. In July 2001, we
testified on considerations for updating the Budget Enforcement Act.14 We
stated that those who have suggested that changing the appropriations
cycle from annual to biennial believe it could (1) provide more focused
time for congressional oversight of programs, (2) shift the allocation of
agency officials' time from the preparation of budgets to improved
financial management and analysis of program effectiveness, and (3)
enhance agencies' abilities to manage their operations by providing more
certainty in funding over two years. However, while we have said biennial
budgeting would change the nature of congressional oversight, we have also
said it would bring neither the end of congressional control nor the
guarantee of improved oversight. It would require a change in the nature
of that control. If the Congress decides to proceed with a change to a
biennial budget cycle-including a biennial appropriations cycle-careful
thought is necessary on implementation issues.
14See U.S. General Accounting Office, Budget Process: Considerations for
Updating the Budget Enforcement Act, GAO-01-991T (Washington, D.C.: July
19, 2001).
Appendix I
High-Performing Organizations:Highlightsof
Forum Discussion
One participant stated that it would be useful to learn more from those
states or countries that have biennial budgets to determine best
practices.15 Another participant stated that the biennial budget was
attractive theoretically, but that it would be difficult to convince the
Congress of the benefits of a biennial budget and difficult to implement.
One participant noted that the Department of Defense develops a biennial
budget, but that it still must proceed through the annual appropriations
process along with other federal agencies.
15See U.S. General Accounting Office, Biennial Budgeting: Three States'
Experiences, GAO01-132 (Washington, D.C.: October, 2000).
Appendix II
Forum Participants
Facilitator
David M. Walker Comptroller General of the United States U.S. General
Accounting Office
Participants
Lawrence F. Alwin, CPA Jonathan Breul
Colin Campbell
Jeff Chambers Gene L. Dodaro
William Eggers
Janet Hale
Mary Hamilton
Sallyanne Harper
Ted Hoff State Auditor, Texas State Auditor's Office
Associate Partner of IBM Business Consulting Services and Senior Fellow at
the IBM Center for The Business of Government
Canada Research Chair in U.S. Government and Politics, University of
British Columbia
Vice President of Human Resources, SAS
Chief Operating Officer, U.S. General Accounting Office
Global Director, Public Sector, Deloitte Research
Under Secretary for Management, Department of Homeland Security
Executive Director, American Society for Public Administration
Chief Mission Support Officer and Chief Financial Officer, U.S. General
Accounting Office
Vice President Learning, IBM Corporation
Appendix II
Forum Participants
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson John Kamensky
Colleen Kelley Gail McGinn Patricia McGinnis Frank A. Partlow, Jr. Marta
Brito Perez
John Potter Jacqueline Simon A.W. Pete Smith, Jr. Max Stier Robert Tobias
President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Associate Partner of IBM Business Consulting Services and Senior Fellow at
the IBM Center for The Business of Government
National President, National Treasury Employees Union
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Plans, Department of Defense
President and Chief Executive Officer, Council for Excellence in
Government
Chief of Staff, Government Printing Office
Associate Director, Human Capital Leadership and Merit System
Accountability, Office of Personnel Management
Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Postal Service
Public Policy Director, American Federation of Government Employees
President and Chief Executive Officer, Private Sector Council
President and Chief Executive Officer, Partnership for Public Service
Director, Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation,
American University
Appendix III
Related GAO Products
U.S. Postal Service: Bold Action Needed to Continue Progress on Postal
Transformation. GAO-04-108T. Washington, D.C.: November 5, 2003.
Discusses the need for fundamental reform at the U.S. Postal Service and
identifies various steps that the Service can take to modernize and
improve its effectiveness and efficiency. While the Service has begun to
implement a transformation plan, cut costs, and become more efficient, it
continues to face a number of challenges.
Results-Oriented Government: Shaping the Government to Meet 21st Century
Challenges. GAO-03-1168T. Washington, D.C.: September 17, 2003.
Describes significant performance and management problems facing the
federal government and the importance of periodic reexamination and
reevaluation of agencies' activities. Suggests a range of options that the
Congress could use to eliminate redundancy and improve federal operations.
Truth And Transparency: The Federal Government's Financial Condition And
Fiscal Outlook, delivered by The Honorable David M. Walker, Comptroller
General of the United States, at the National Press Club, Washington,
D.C.: September 17, 2003.
Provides a candid description of the federal government's current
financial condition and fiscal outlook for the coming years, and presents
several suggestions for the consideration of the Congress, the
Administration, and others on how to address current and future financial
challenges.
GAO: Transformation, Challenges, and Opportunities. GAO-03-1167T.
Washington, D.C.: September 16, 2003.
Discusses GAO's major transformation effort over the past four years to
effectively position the agency for the future including various
initiatives that have helped GAO become more strategic, results-oriented,
partnerial, and responsive. Identifies challenges and opportunities that
still remain.
Appendix III
Related GAO Products
Results-Oriented Cultures: Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and
Organizational Transformations. GAO-03-669. Washington, D.C.: July 2,
2003.
Building on the nine key practices for successful mergers and
transformations identified at GAO's September 2002 forum on the issue,
this report identifies specific implementation steps for each practice
illustrated by private and public sector examples.
FBI Reorganization: Progress Made in Efforts to Transform, but Major
Challenges Continue. GAO-03-759T. Washington, D.C.: June 18, 2003.
Reviews the FBI's efforts to reorganize and transform and finds that the
agency has made progress in some areas over the past year, but a number of
major challenges remain.
Human Capital: Building on DOD's Reform Effort to Foster Governmentwide
Improvements. GAO-03-851T. Washington, D.C.: June 4, 2003.
Provides GAO's observations on recent DOD human capital reform proposals
accompanying that agency's broader transformation effort. Identifies the
need for governmentwide reform so that federal agencies can strategically
manage their human capital.
Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: A Governmentwide
Perspective. GAO-03-95. Washington, D.C.: January 2003.
Outlines an array of challenges and opportunities for federal agencies to
enhance performance, ensure accountability, and position the nation for
the future. Describes transformation efforts underway at several agencies
to make their cultures more results-oriented, customer-focused, and
collaborative in nature.
Highlights of a GAO Forum: Mergers and Transformation: Lessons Learned for
a Department of Homeland Security and Other Federal Agencies.
GAO-03-293SP. Washington, D.C.: November 14, 2002.
Summarizes the findings of a GAO forum held in September 2002 to identify
useful practices learned from major private and public sector
organizational mergers and transformations that federal agencies,
Appendix III
Related GAO Products
including the new Department of Homeland Security, could implement to
successfully transform their cultures.
Highlights of a GAO Roundtable: The Chief Operating Officer Concept: A
Potential Strategy to Address Federal Governance Challenges. GAO-03192SP.
Washington, D.C.: October 4, 2002.
Summarizes the findings of a GAO roundtable held in September 2002 on the
Chief Operating Officer concept and how it might be used in selected
federal agencies as one strategy to address certain systemic governance
and management challenges.
Appendix IV
Selected Bibliography on High-Performing
Organizations and Networked Government
This selected bibliography provides additional resources and information
on how federal agencies work within networks and partnerships to achieve
results and outcomes. Prior to our forum on high-performing organizations,
we met with a number of representatives from the public, not-for-profit,
and for-profit sectors, as well as academia, who helped us develop the
themes that we explored during the forum. This selected bibliography was
culled from materials cited by these representatives in our discussions
with them as well as from our own review and knowledge of the literature
on this topic.
Eggers, William D. and Stephen Goldsmith. Government by Network: The New
Public Management Imperative. Deloitte Research and The Innovations
Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University,
February 2004 (forthcoming).
Describes the emergence of networked government as a fundamentally
different organizational model for the formulation and delivery of public
services. Identifies different types of networks and provides illustrative
case studies.
Atkinson, Robert D. Network Government for the Digital Age. Washington,
D.C.: Progressive Policy Institute, May 2003.
Outlines a framework for thinking about government in the Information Age
that emphasizes "network government" and promotes collective action to
advance the public good. Provides steps for creating network government.
National Academy of Public Administration. Powering the Future: High
Performance Partnerships. Washington, D.C.: April 2003.
Identifies the characteristics of a high-performing partnership based on
the experiences of 10 cross-sector partnerships. Describes how the
partnerships work and how they provide better outcomes.
Agranoff, Robert. Leveraging Networks: A Guide for Public Managers Working
Across Organizations. Arlington, VA.: IBM Endowment for The Business of
Government, March 2003.
Describes 12 networks of government organizations, intergovernmental
entities, and nonprofits and outlines from managers' perspectives the
critical elements for successful collaboration.
Appendix IV
Selected Bibliography on High-Performing
Organizations and Networked Government
Kamarck, Elaine C. Applying 21st-Century Government to the Challenge of
Homeland Security. Arlington, VA.: The PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment
for The Business of Government, June 2002.
Describes reinvented government, government by network, and government by
market as alternatives to the bureaucratic model. Applies these models to
the problem of homeland security.
Commercial Activities Panel. Commercial Activities Panel Final Report:
Improving the Sourcing Decisions of the Government. Washington, D.C.:
April 2002.
Presents 10 principles for a strategic approach to sourcing in the federal
government and then uses these principles to assess the federal
government's current approach and develop recommendations for improvement.
Fosler, R. Scott. Working Better Together: How Government, Business, and
Nonprofit Organizations Can Achieve Public Purposes Through Cross-Sector
Collaboration, Alliances, and Partnerships. Washington, D.C.: Three Sector
Initiative, 2002.
Identifies forces that that have blurred the conventional lines between
government, business, and nonprofit organizations and offers lessons
learned for making cross-collaboration efforts more effective.
Kettl, Donald F. The Transformation of Governance: Public Administration
for Twenty-First Century America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 2002.
Discusses government's increasing reliance on tools such as grants,
contracts, and loans that operate mainly through partnerships with
nongovernmental players. Analyzes this transformation of governance and
highlights the need for greater capacity to work with nongovernmental
partners.
Appendix IV
Selected Bibliography on High-Performing
Organizations and Networked Government
Linden, Russell M. Working Across Boundaries: Making Collaboration Work in
Government and Nonprofit Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.
Provides a framework describing key elements of successful collaboration.
Case studies demonstrate how organizations overcome obstacles to generate
greater value by working together.
Salamon, Lester M. (ed.) The Tools of Government: A Guide to the New
Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Contains 22 essays covering a wide range of topics concerning the
different tools of public action and the role of third-party actors in
delivering government services. Provides a systematic discussion of how
these tools are being used to address public problems both in the United
States and abroad.
Popovich, Mark G. (ed.) Creating High-Performance Government
Organizations. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Public
Administration, 1998.
Provides guidance and tools intended to help managers and innovators at
every level of government mold their organizations into results-oriented,
mission-driven operations.
Appendix V
GAO Forums and Roundtables (Planned and Past)
GAO conducts periodic leadership forums and roundtables on topics
affecting the federal government's role in meeting selected 21st century
national challenges. Selected leaders and experts in various fields from
the public, private and not-for-profit sectors are convened at these
meetings to discuss certain key issues. The goal of each event is to
produce dialogue that stimulates new partnerships and identifies actions
designed to address the respective issues. A report summarizing the
discussions without attribution and noting the participants who attended
is published after each forum and roundtable.
Sessions that are planned and have been held are listed below, as well as
detailed descriptions of each event.
Long-range Budget Challenges Forum Fall 2004
One of our most difficult and contentious national issues involves
allocation of limited resources to meet different needs over different
generations. This forum will be designed to discuss current and projected
budget challenges at different levels of government caused by changing
national priorities, known demographic trends, rising health care costs
and other factors. This forum will explore possible metrics and methods
that could be used to place greater attention on budgetary choices and
tradeoffs in the connection of stewardship issues and inter-generational
challenges.
Human Capital and Civil Service Reform Forum Spring 2004
Effective human capital strategies are key to maximizing the government's
performance, assuring its accountability and facilitating successful
government transformations. This forum will discuss pending human capital
reform efforts, recent legislation, and possible future legislative and
administrative reform efforts. Special attention will be provided to
developing an initial set of operating principles for determining
agencyspecific vs. governmentwide human capital reforms and seeking
agreement on a legislative and regulatory template for providing agencies
with greater human capital authorities.
Workforce Challenges and Opportunities April 22, 2004 in the 21st Century
Forum
The U.S. may face significant worker and skills shortages in the 21st
century as a result of long-term demographic and employment trends such
Appendix V
GAO Forums and Roundtables (Planned and
Past)
as the aging of the large baby boom population together with slower labor
force growth. In addition, the share of the workforce holding college
degrees is projected to grow significantly slower than in the past.
However, opportunities may exist for addressing the potential shortages
such as increasing the workforce participation of seasoned workers,
low-income individuals, those with disabilities, and foreign labor. This
forum will discuss the future demands on the workforce, options for
meeting these demands and their trade-offs, and the role government might
play in helping to address these issues.
Health Care Forum January 13, 2004
The U.S. faces a huge and growing long-range fiscal imbalance due
primarily to known demographic trends and rising health care costs.
Concerned about these trends, the Comptroller General sponsored a forum to
discuss with business leaders and health policy experts the current state
of and the long-term challenges posed by the nation's health care system.
In addition, the discussion focused on strategies for achieving an
efficient, effective, reasonable, and sustainable health care financing
and delivery system over the long term.
High-Performing Organizations Forum November 6, 2003
To respond to the governance challenges of the 21st century, government
agencies must transform what they do, the way they do business, and in
some cases, who does the government's business. This transformation must
create a government that is less hierarchical, process-oriented,
stovepiped, and inwardly focused and make government more
partnershipbased, results-oriented, integrated, and externally focused. A
goal of this transformation is to create high-performing organizations
across the federal government. Government agencies will need to work
better within networks-governmental and non-governmental organizations,
and the private sector, both domestically and internationally-to achieve
results. This forum identified the essential attributes of high-performing
organizations within a networked public management environment and
Appendix V
GAO Forums and Roundtables (Planned and
Past)
possible next steps for creating high-performing organizations across the
government.1
Key National Indicators Forum February 27, 2003
The U.S. faces profound challenges today and in the future such as the
aging of the baby boomers, rising health care costs, and threats to our
national security. The information needed to help the nation's leaders and
concerned citizens address these challenges is not as available,
comparable, or reliable as it could be for making public policy choices.
The purpose of the forum was to discuss whether and how to develop a set
of key national indicators that will provide better information to
national decision makers for making public policy choices as well as to
the public as a whole. 2 After the forum, several public and private
sector institutions formed an informal national coordinating committee to
begin organizing a national initiative as a temporary means of
facilitating dialogue, work and funding to develop a more comprehensive
national indicator system.
Governance and Accountability Forum December 9, 2002
Recent events have highlighted just how critical our corporate governance
system and the accountability profession are to our market economy and
civil society. This forum was designed to discuss implementation of the
Sarbanes/Oxley Act of 2002, as well as other steps that have been taken,
and additional steps that could be taken, to help improve the public
confidence in these two critical foundations. Special emphasis was placed
on steps designed to enhance independence of the corporate governance
1See U.S. General Accounting Office, Highlights of a GAO Forum on
High-Performing Organizations: Metrics, Means, and Mechanisms for
Achieving High Performance in the 21st Century Public Management
Environment, GAO-04-343SP (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 13, 2004).
2See U.S. General Accounting Office in Cooperation With The National
Academies, Forum on Key National Indicators: Assessing the Nation's
Position and Progress, GAO-03-672SP (Washington, D.C.: May 2003).
Appendix V
GAO Forums and Roundtables (Planned and
Past)
system, and the accounting/auditing and attest/assurance models for the
21st century.3
Mergers/Transformation Forum September 24, 2002
The creation of the new Department of Homeland Security represents a major
transformation challenge for the U.S. government. The Comptroller General
facilitated a forum to identify and discuss useful practices learned from
major private and public sector organizational mergers and transformations
that federal agencies could implement to successfully transform their
cultures. While there is no one right way to manage a successful merger or
transformation, the participants' discussion identified key practices to
ultimately create a new organization that is more than the "sum of its
parts." GAO subsequently identified implementation steps for these
practices to assist organizational mergers and transformations. 4
Chief Operating Officer Roundtable September 9, 2002
GAO has amply documented that agencies are suffering from a range of
long-standing management problems that are undermining their abilities to
accomplish their missions and achieve results. The Comptroller General
facilitated this roundtable to discuss the Chief Operating Officer concept
and how it might apply within selected federal departments and agencies as
one strategy to address certain systemic federal governance and management
challenges. There was general agreement that the following three themes
provided a course of action for the Chief Operating Officer concept (1)
elevate attention on management issues and transformational change, (2)
integrate various key management and transformation efforts,
3See U.S. General Accounting Office, GAO Forum on Governance and
Accountability: Challenges to Restore Public Confidence in U.S. Corporate
Governance and Accountability Systems, GAO-03-419SP (Washington, D.C.:
Jan. 24, 2003).
4See U.S. General Accounting Office, Highlights of a GAO Forum: Mergers
and Transformation: Lessons Learned for a Department of Homeland Security
and Other Federal Agencies, GAO-03-293SP (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 14, 2002)
and Results-Oriented Cultures: Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and
Organizational Transformations,
GAO-03-669 (Washington, D.C.: July 2, 2003).
Appendix V
GAO Forums and Roundtables (Planned and
Past)
and (3) institutionalize accountability for addressing management issues
and leading transformational change.5
Governance, Transparency, and February 25, 2002 Accountability Forum
The unexpected bankruptcy of Enron and the financial difficulties
experienced by several other large corporations resulted in substantial
losses to employees and shareholders. The Comptroller General convened a
forum that focused on corporate governance, transparency, and
accountability issues to assist the Congress in identifying systemic
issues and changes that could serve to reduce the possibility of other
Enron-like situations in the future. Forum participants included
individuals from federal and state government, the private sector,
standards-setting and oversight bodies, and a variety of other interested
parties. The results of this forum, along with other GAO analysis,
testimony, and reports, helped inform the Congress as it drafted
legislation to strengthen government oversight of and protect the public's
interest in the nation's financial markets.6
5See U.S. General Accounting Office, Highlights of a GAO Roundtable: The
Chief Operating Officer Concept: A Potential Strategy to Address Federal
Governance Challenges, GAO-03192SP (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 4, 2002).
6 See U.S. General Accounting Office, Highlights of GAO's Corporate,
Governance, Transparency and Accountability Forum, GAO-02-494SP
(Washington, D.C.: March 5, 2002).
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