UNLEASH the POWER of the

Results-Based Accountability

SimpleCommon SensePlain Language

Minimum PaperUseful

Results-Based Accountability

2 parts:

Population AccountabilityAbout the well-being of whole populations

For Communities – Cities – Provinces – Nations

Performance AccountabilityAbout the well-being of client populations

For Programs – Agencies - & Service Systems

Results-Based Accountability

Common LanguageCommon Sense

Common Ground

The Language Trap

MODIFIERSMeasurableUrgentPriorityTargetedIncremental

CoreQualitativeProgrammaticPerformanceStrategic Goal

Benchmark

Result

Indicator

Measure

Target Objective

Too many terms. Too few definitions. Too little discipline.

Definitions

Terminology Definition ExampleRESULT or OUTCOME A condition of well-being

for children, adults, families or communities

Children born healthyChildren ready for school, Safe communities

INDICATOR or BENCHMARK

A measure which helps quantify the achievement of a result

Rate of low-birthweight babies, % ready to learn, Unemployment rate

PERFORMANCE MEASURE A measure of how well a program, agency or service system is working

1. How much did we do?2. How well did we do it?3. Is anybody better off?

Customer Results

From Ends to Means

RESULT or OUTCOME

INDICATOR or BENCHMARK

PERFORMANCE MEASURE

Population

Performance

Ends

Means

Exercise

1. Safe Community2. Crime Rate3. Average Police response time 4. An educated workforce 5. Adult literacy rate6. Families have jobs/income above the LICO7. % families with jobs/income above the LICO8. % of participants in job training who get jobs above

LICO

ResultIndicator

Performance MeasureResult

IndicatorResultIndicator

Performance Measure

Tools for Choosing a Common Language

IdeasPossible Labels

ChoiceWords Modifiers

1. A condition of well-being for children, adults, families and communities

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

ResultOutcomeGoal

PopulationCommunity-wide

1.__________________2.__________________3.__________________4.__________________5.__________________6.__________________7.__________________8.__________________

Population AccountabilityFor Whole Populations in a Geographic Area

Georgia Policy Council forChildren & Families

Results

1. Healthy Children2. Children Ready for School3. Children Succeeding in School4. Strong Families5. Self Sufficient Families

Peel Counts...Community Investment Strategy: Investing for Resilience

Priority Results

1. Seniors: Seniors are healthy, connected & functioning to their best ability

2. Persons with Disabilities: Persons with disabilities are fully included and reach their full potential

3. Violence & Abuse: Residents live free from violence & abuse, especially women & children

4. Mental Health: Persons living with meant illness (or at risk) are connected & thrive

Peel Counts...

5. Newcomers & Immigrants: Newcomers & immigrants thrive & are fully included in community life

6. Families: Families have the ability to support & help one another succeed

7. Children & Youth: Children & Youth reach their full potential

8. Poverty: Residents experience less poverty, hunger & have access to affordable housing

9. Social Inclusion: Neighbourhoods have residents that are actively engaged & connected to their community

City of London Strategic Plan

2011-2014 Results:

A Strong EconomyA Vibrant and Diverse CommunityA Green and Growing CityA Sustainable InfrastructureA Caring Community

Healthy Communities Partnership Haldimand & Norfolk

Healthy Communities Partnership Haldimand & Norfolk

Community Results

1. Children & Youth are Strong & Connected2. Our Community is Safe3. Our Community is Vibrant4. Our Residents are Healthy5. People are Connected

Population Accountability

Step 1: Identify the Population

Question:What population are you concerned about?

Population Accountability

Step 2: Identify the Results

Question:What are the conditions of well-being for the population you identified?

Determining Indicators:The Leaky Roof

Experience:

Measure:

Story Behind the baseline:

Partners:

What Works?

Action Plan:

Se-ries

1

00.5

11.5

22.5

3

Inches of Water

Inches of Water

Not OK

Turning the Curve

Getting from Talk to ActionPOPULATION

RESULTS

EXPERIENCE

INDICATORS BASELINES____________________________________________

STORY BEHIND THE BASELINES

PARTNERS

STRATEGY & ACTION PLAN

Series1 Turned Curve

Trend

WHAT WORKS CRITERIA

The 7 Population Accountability Questions

1. What are the quality of life conditions we want for the children, adults & families who live in our community?

2. What would these conditions look like if we could see them?3. How can we measure these conditions?4. How are we doing on the most important of these measures?5. Who are the partners that have a role to play in doing better?6. What works to do better, including no-cost & low-cost ideas?7. What do we propose to do?

Choosing IndicatorsCommunication Power

Does the indicator communicate to a broad range of audiences?

Proxy PowerDoes the indicator say something of central importance about the result?Does the indicator bring along the data HERD?

Data PowerQuality data available on a timely basis

Choosing Indicators Worksheet

Candidate Indicators

Communication Power

Proxy Power

Data Power

Measure 1Measure 2Measure 3Measure 4Measure 5Measure 6Measure 7

HighLowMediumHighHighMediumLow

LowMediumHighHighLowLowMedium

HighMediumLowHighMediumHighHigh

Separating Indicators Primary Indicators

3-5 “Headline” IndicatorsWhat this result “means” to the communityMeets the Public Square Test

Secondary IndicatorsEverything else that is any good (nothing wasted!)Used later in the Story Behind the Curve

Data Development AgendaNew dataData in need of repair (quality, timeliness, etc.)

The Matter of Baselines

History Forecast

H

L

M

OK?

Turning the Curve

Alcohol-Related Traffic FatalitiesU.S. Total

MADD

Teen Pregnancy Rates, 1990-1994

Tillamook County, Oregon

Developmental Vulnerability at Age 5

% of Children Below the Most Vulnerable Cut-Point on 2 or More EDI Domains

Haldimand & Norfolk Regional Best Start Network

Exercise #1Turn the Curve: Population Well-Being

Starting Points (5 minutes)Timekeeper & reporterGeographic areaTwo hats (yours plus partner’s)

Baseline (10 minutes)Pick a quality of life result or indicator curve to turnForecast (to 2013) – ok or not ok?

Story behind the baseline (15 minutes)Causes & forces at workInformation & research agenda part 1 – causes

What works? (What would it take?)What could work to do better?Each partners contributionNo-cost/low-cost ideasInformation & research agenda part 2 – what works

Report – convert notes to one page

Performance AccountabilityFor Programs, Agencies & Services Systems

“All performance measures that have ever existed for any

program in the history of the universe involve answering two sets of interlocking questions.”

Performance Measures

Quantity Quality

HOW MUCHdid we do?

(#)

HOW WELL did we do it?

(%)

Performance Measures

EFFORTHow hard did we try?

EFFECTIs anyone better off?

Performance Measures

HOW HOW

MUCH WELL

EFFORT

EFFECT

Performance Measures

How much service did we deliver?

How well did we deliver it?

How much change/effect did we

produce?

What quality of change/effect did we

produce?

Performance Measures

How much did we do? How well did we do it?

# %

Is anyone better off?

EducationHow much did we do?

Number of Students

How well did we do it?

Student-Teacher Ratio

Number of high school graduates

Percent of high school graduates

Is anyone better off?

Pediatric PracticeHow much did we do?

Number of patients treated

How well did we do it?

% of patients treated in less than 1 hour

# children fully immunized (in the practice)

% children fully immunized (in the practice)

Is anyone better off?

Not All Performance Measures are Created Equal

How much did we do?

# %

MOSTImportant

LEASTImportant

Is anyone better off?

How welldid we do it?

Also very important

The Matter of ControlHow much did we do?

# %

LEASTControl

MOSTControl

Is anyone better off?

How well did we do it?

Partnerships needed to improve performance

The Matter of Use

1. The first purpose of performance measurement is to improve performance

2. Avoid the performance measurement punishment trap• Create a healthy organizational environment• Start small• Build bottom-up & top-down simultaneously

Comparing Performance

1. To Ourselves First – Can we do better than our own history?

2. To Others – When it is fair apples/apples comparison

3. To Standards – When we know what good performance is

Reward?

Punish?

The Matter of Baselines

Goal Line

Target or Standard

Your Baseline

Create targets onlywhen they are FAIR + USEFUL

Instead: Count anything better than baseline as progress

Avoid publicly declaring targets year

by year if possible

Choosing Headline Measures & Data Development Agenda

How much did we do?# Measure 1# Measure 2# Measure 3

How well did we do it?

% Measure 4% Measure 5% Measure 6

# Measure 7# Measure 8# Measure 9

% Measure 10% Measure 11% Measure 12

Is anyone better off?

#1 Headline

#1 DDA

Separating the Wheat from the ChaffHow much did we do?

# Customers Served# Activities (By activity type)

How well did we do it?% Common Measures (workload ratio, staff morale, staff turnover, % staff fully trained)% Activity-specific Measures (% of actions timely + correct, % customers completing activity, % actions meeting standards)

####

% Skills/Knowledge% Attitude/Opinion% Behaviour% Circumstance

Is anyone better off?

Getting from Talk to ActionCUSTOMERS

PERFORMANCE MEASURES BASELINESHow much did we do?How well did we do it?Is anyone better off?

STORY BEHIND THE BASELINES

PARTNERS

STRATEGY & ACTION PLAN

Series1

Turned Curve

Trend

WHAT WORKS CRITERIA

The 7 Performance Accountability Questions

1. Who are our customers?

2. How can we measure if our customers are better off?

3. How can we measure if we are delivering services well?

4. How are we doing on the most important of these measures?

5. Who are the partners that have a role to play in doing better?

6. What works to do better, including no-cost & low-cost ideas?

7. What do we propose to do?

Exercise #2Turn the Curve: Program Performance

Starting Points (5 minutes)Timekeeper & reporterGeographic areaTwo hats (yours plus partner’s)

Baseline (10 minutes)Choose 1 measure to work on – from the lower right quadrantForecast (to 2013) – OK or not OK?

Story behind the baseline (15 minutes)Causes & forces at workInformation & research agenda part 1 – causes

What works? (What would it take?)What could work to do better?Each partners contributionNo-cost/low-cost ideasInformation & research agenda part 2 – what works

Report – convert notes to one page

How Population & Performance Accountability Fit Together

The Linkage Between Population & Performance

Population AccountabilityHealthy Births (rate of low birth-weight babies) POPULATION RESULTSStable Families (rate of child abuse/neglect)Children Succeeding in School (% at grade level in reading + math)

Performance Accountability

# of investigations

completed

# initiated within 24 hours of

report

# repeat Abuse/Neglect

% repeat Abuse/Neglect

CUSTOMER RESULTS

Contribution Relationship

Alignment of Measures

Appropriate Responsibility

Presenting Info in ContextPopulation AccountabilityResult: to which you contribute most directlyIndicators:

Story:Partners:What would it take?:Your Role:

Performance AccountabilityProgram:Performance Measures:

Story:Partners:Action Plan to get better:

Every time you present your program, use

a two-part approach

Step 1

Form a Steering Committee (Best Start

Network)

Create Neighbourhood Networks

Identify Results

Select Indicators and create Data Development Agenda

Collect and analyze data

Create and Promote Report

Begin turn the curve activity

Sustain project and update

report regularly

Encourage community action

Step 2

Step 7

Step 6

Step 5

Step 4

Step 3

Step 10

Step 9

Step 8

Network Assessment Cycle

Do turn the curve exercise for each Result

Haldimand & Norfolk Regional Best Start Network

Literacy Service Planning Table Agenda

1. New Data2. New Story Behind the Curves3. New Partners4. New Information on What Works5. New Information on Financing6. Changes to Action Plan & Budget7. Adjourn

Different Kinds of Progress1. Data

a) Population indicators – Actual turned curves: movement for the better away from the baseline

b) Program performance measures: customer progress and better services

» How much did we do?» How well did we do it?» Is anybody better off?

2. Accomplishments: Positive activities, not included above3. Anecdotes: Stories behind the statistics that show how

individuals are better off

What’s Next?A Basic Action Plan for RBA

Track 1: Population Accountability• Establish results• Establish indicators, baselines & charts on the wall• Create an indicators report card• Set tables (action groups) to turn curves

Track 2: Performance Accountability• Performance measures and charts on the wall for programs,

agencies, service systems• Use 7 Questions supervisor by supervisor and program by

program in management, budgeting and strategic planning

RBA in a Nutshell

2 – kinds of accountability plus language discipline

3 – kinds of performance measures

7 – questions from ends to means in less than an hour

2∙3∙7

Discussion Questions

1. What aspects of Results Based Accountability do you use in the Literacy Service Planning process now?

2. How can you use Results Based Accountability in the Literacy Service Planning process going forward?

3. How can the use of Results Based Accountability help with achieving service coordination?

Reflection

• What learnings and reflections do I have from this session?

• What are some potential actions for my Regional Network?

Wrap Up and Questions

References

1. Friedman, Mark Trying Hard is Not Good Enough: How to Produce Measurable Improvements for Customers & Communities (FPSI Publishing 2005)

2. www.resultsleadership.org3. www.resultsaccountability.com4. www.raguide.org5. www.peelcounts.ca