I’ve long admired Gary Locke for his commitment to results-oriented government. He pioneered new approaches in Washington State both as the chief executive of King County and as governor. But I’d never met him until last week at a Partnership for Public Service event where he summed up his tenure as Commerce Secretary, before departingRead… Read more »
Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) chaired a joint hearing on the implementation of the GPRA Modernization Act and he seemed to enjoy himself. In fact, after the hearing he lingered a long time talking with hearing participants, almost being the last to leave the room! What sparked his imagination? Here’s a link to the hearing record.Read… Read more »
Customer service is about to become an annual performance goal for each federal department. First, there was last week’s presidential order on customer service. Then the Office of Management and Budget began pushing along compliance with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Modernization Act of 2010, which calls for agencies to measure customer service.Read… Read more »
George Washington University professor Kathy Newcomer likened the Obama Administration’s performance agenda to a game of “Where is Waldo?” at a Brookings Institution forum last week on improving government performance. She says “you have to look carefully” to find it. She said there was no orchestrated campaign with a band leading the way. Newcomer’s insightRead… Read more »
Obama signed the GPRA Modernization Act in January. While OMB has yet to issue any formal guidance to agencies on what they should do, there has been a flurry of conferences, forums, and seminars that have focused on the new law’s meaning and intent. In the past month, I’ve participated in more than a halfRead… Read more »
On Sunday, Tom Shoop of GovExec’s Fedblog reported that President Obama’s Chief Performance Officer, Jeffrey Zients, will lead the government reorganization effort announced during last week’s State of the Union address. I don’t know about you, but I was ecstatic to see Civil Service reform get a high-profile nod during the address. (Full disclosure: IRead… Read more »
Voters have signaled that they aren’t happy with the role of government. Surveys also say they are upset with government employees and don’t trust government. Yet research shows that citizens base their perceptions on their personal experiences. So would improving customer service help? In the 1990s, the Clinton-Gore Reinventing Government effort thought the answer wasRead… Read more »
The Obama management agenda finally has a name: the Accountable Government Initiative. In a memo from President Obama to the 7,000 members of the senior executive service, he highlights six initiatives and their progress to date. He also says: “I have tasked our Chief Performance Officer, Jeff Zients, with leading the Accountable Government Initiative,. .Read… Read more »