Stage two: setting direction

Once you've taken stock, setting direction is about working out what you think successful performance management would look like at your council, and interpreting what the gap is and what needs to change. It’s about agreeing what the priorities and resource implications are. You might want to think over a number of horizons, possibly 1 year, 3 years and 5 years.

To set direction effectively you will need to think about what will work – by looking at what other councils have done successfully and also at what has helped bring success at your council, in particular services or on particular aspects of performance management. You will also need to think about weaker areas where you most need to have an impact with improvements to performance management, perhaps the service where outcomes are weakest or an element of performance management, such as culture, where the gap is biggest. As for the taking stock stage it will help to involve as many staff as possible in thinking through what could be done. At some authorities a workshop approach has worked well where it involves sharing a wide range of good practice and ideas before breaking into small groups to hone down and appraise fewer activities that can really make an impact.

Have a look at some our setting direction tools, including a workshop and resource paper.

This is how Lancashire County Council started to set direction – once they’d taken stock:

'We worked with representatives from each directorate to confirm our performance management issues. These issues were then prioritised with concerns around the new corporate plan, performance indicators and targets, and issues around data quality being given the highest priority. The groups then started to look for solutions to the issues highlighted. From these discussions a number of pilots have been planned to test out some of the solutions, for example, one pilot will look at taking a project management approach to managing PI performance in social services. Another team will look at a self-assessment/ analysis process being used in Education with a view to rolling it out across the organisation. A third will look at helping a new team in the Environment directorate develop its approach to business planning and target setting.’

Joanne Platt, Corporate Performance Manager, Lancashire County Council.

Timing issues

While you can get on with this stage quickly you need to allow some time, for thinking and absorbing ideas, and for communicating and sharing ideas across the organisation.

Before you move onto the next stage have a look at the Improvement Network’s route map checklist ‘Done the right things? Avoided the pitfalls?’ to confirm you’re ready.

Stage one | Stage three