Public involvement in performance management

The evidence suggests that both performance management and public involvement do make a positive difference and that both have been improving in recent years.  CPA results suggest that good performance management is correlated with better services.  Public involvement can improve services but also has other, more intangible benefits in terms of involvement and democracy.

But is there really a problem with integrating public involvement with performance management?  Doesn’t it just boil down to making sure all the relevant consultation and market research is taken into account through the performance management process?  Isn’t it things like: making sure service managers use the latest citizen panel results when writing their service plans; using customer satisfaction as part of the feedback on performance, or engaging with customer focus groups when putting together improvement plans?  It might take some time, effort and technical expertise to accomplish, but surely there is no mystery about it?

Actually it is not quite so simple.  There are different dimensions to both performance management and public involvement which have to be appreciated, and when they are put together, the permutations of the ways in which the two interact is complex.  A broad understanding of these issues is helpful in ensuring a bigger and richer picture is used and ensuring that performance management is driven by the public.  It is that understanding that this briefing aims to provide.

• An executive summary of the issues (pdf file, 6 pages, 70 KB)
• A fuller exploration (pdf file, 51 pages,493 KB) including in-depth appendices with useful links, tips and examples

We'd be interested to hear from you about your experience.  Share what's worked and what hasn't in terms of public involvement in performance management  in the Policy and Performance Community of Practice (registration required).