Performance management is not just collecting facts and figures.
It's about making sure that what is supposed to be done gets
done.
The council produces a number of strategies and plans directed
at achieving our vision and priorities. These plans and strategies
contain numerous tasks and targets which, when completed
successfully, are the building blocks of our success. The
authority’s principle strategy is its Business Plan 2011-15 which
can be downloaded from our Strategies and Plans pages.
The Performance Management Cycle (Adobe PDF
format, 11kb) demonstrates how the council uses this
‘framework’ of strategies and plans to effectively and efficiently
manage the council’s performance in an open and transparent way. If
we have not achieved something we have set out to do then we tackle
it. Taking action in response to actual performance can help make
outcomes better than they would otherwise be. We call this
'performance management'.
Although performance management includes monitoring performance
indicators, just as importantly it includes the monitoring of
strategies and service development tasks, as well as any
recommendations and action plans from inspections. We then assess
and monitor our performance against our own previous achievements,
and, where appropriate, the performance of other councils.
The council has a good track record where the broader picture of
corporate performance applies. In 2009, an independent assessment
of the organisation through the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA)
showed that the council was performing well for local people. CAA
replaced the Audit Commission's Comprehensive Performance
Assessment which had rated the council as 'excellent' during the
assessment of 2007. CAA itself was withdrawn as an inspection
method in June 2010 and no further inspection regimes are
planned.
Performance management links