Launch the System
Host a Stat Meeting
Now that the city has its Stat memo drafted, it is time to assemble the Stat panel and have the first Stat meeting.
Timing of the Meeting:
These meetings should occur at least once a month per department and include all internal stakeholders. This means that those involved in the overall performance management program will likely attend multiple Stat meetings per week, so that every department or issue receives a monthly review.
Different jurisdictions have different timing practices. Maryland’s StateStat program typically has between six to eight topics detailed in a single meeting memo. The amount of time spent on each ranges from 5 to 30 minutes. Regular meetings are always 90 minutes long. Having a finite time allotted for the meeting allows for predictable and easy scheduling.
The LouieStat team meets with each department every six to eight weeks to discuss goals and progress, with departments holding their own Stat meetings in the interim to prepare for the full LouieStat meeting.
New Orleans BlightStat meetings were originally held twice a month due to the intensive need to reduce blight, with meetings then monthly after a year of the program.
Who to Invite to a Stat Session
Principal: The principal should always attend the first session to set the tone. It signals to the department that the performance management program is how it would be held accountable to its progress, and it is how the department will be managed. But more importantly, the principal’s attendance is confirmation that the process itself -the participants, the data, the dialogue- is important.
Chief of Staff: The chief of staff or the operational supervisor of the department should always attend. It is important that the department leader sees his or her supervisor at the table. This will also help to confirm the importance of the process in the overall governance methodology of the administration.
Department Budget Analyst: In many cities, there are independent budget departments responsible for assembling and administering the city’s budget, and there is typically a budget analyst assigned to each department. That analyst should always be present at his or her assigned department session, allowing for continuity between the performance management process and the budget process. The budget analysts can also provide background on how decisions around budget were made, what priorities were protected through the budget process in the past, and how decisions around the current budget are shaping up. They add enormous value and should be encouraged to participate in the performance management process.
Legal Counsel: Always have legal counsel at the table; the principal’s own legal counsel is best. Avoid having the department’s attorney on the panel. The purpose of independent counsel on the Stat panel is to expedite conversations where legal barriers are present or perceived to be present.
Department Head: The department head and key personnel should always be at the table. The Stat team should rely on the department head to invite the correct people from their organizations. Having other staff at the meetings helps with the flow of the conversation. Many cities have at least ten department leaders at Stat meetings with some departments bringing significantly more participants.
Additional Participants: It is also important to invite frontline staff to observe some meetings. This helps illustrate the value of data collected and helps the Stat panel stay connected to the barriers to progress that exist on the frontline. Any other management stakeholder should participate. The department’s data officer or data organizer should be present at all meetings.
Guidelines for the Meeting
Keep in mind that these are not typically public meetings, particularly in the beginning. The session should be no more than 90 minutes and follow the same format every time. Being respectful of everyone’s time is very important. The session should be driven by the data. The department leader should always have an opportunity to start the meeting with good news, then get into areas of concern, and outputs of internal data analysis.
The Role of the Analyst at the Stat Meeting
The analyst should be the formal recorder of what occurs in the meeting. He or she should be prepared to contextualize any questions concerning the data, as well as drive the data visualizations and have access to the data for in-meeting analytics.
After the meeting, the analyst should prepare a follow-up memo from the Stat session and distribute it in the days following the session (see Appendix B). This document will be used as the basis for the next session and should include clear time frames for a reasonable response.
Incorporating the Dashboard
If a performance management dashboard has been built for the principal to review how the departments are performing, it should always be the landscape for the beginning of the Stat meeting. All the data visualizations and the data should be available in the room for on-the-fly analytics and discussion. Choose a Meeting Leader
The meeting should have a leader. When the principal is in the room, he or she should always lead the meeting. There should be a director or owner of the process that can lead the meeting in the absence of the principal. This person should have the authority to make decisions and the capacity to allocate resources or authorize the allocation of resources. This person should have direct access to the principal and this should be well known to the departments and department contacts.
Following Up
Follow up is critical to any performance management program, and can be the difference between success and failure. During each meeting, identify issues that need further exploration or deeper analysis, and assign individuals the responsibility to follow up. The memo should make clear the relationship between the issues discussed at the previous meeting and the current meeting. Ideally, each meeting will build on problems, solutions, and commitments made, meeting after meeting. Please see Appendix C for a sample follow up memo and links to real-world examples. Here are some best practices on crafting follow-ups:
- Plan Ahead. Walk into every Stat meeting with an idea of what actions are likely to emerge from the discussion. If you don't know, you probably haven't done enough prep work. Laying the groundwork for important actions is part of the Stat programs key responsibilities.
- Record them Live. During the Stat meeting, capture everything a senior executive asks for clarity or deliver on, no matter how big or small. Write it all down.
- Read them Aloud. At the end of the meeting, read the list of all the action items you've captured for the entire audience to hear. Make time for this part of the meeting, otherwise it will be rushed and you will miss the most important opportunity to turn insights into action.
- Get clear on priorities, owners and timelines. Some things matter more than others, so make the senior executives in the room prioritize the action items before adjourning the meeting, especially if there are a lot of them. But mix it up. Don't make every action item impossible to execute. Some of them should be easily doable to give the programs a sense of fairness and accomplishment.
- Don't leave the room without commitments. People need to look each other in the eyes and make commitments to getting these action items done on the agreed upon timeframe. If you sense trepidation or reluctance, it is a sign people are not bought in, and the senior executive should make it clear these actions are real.
- Be specific about deliverables. Every action item should state very clearly what delivery looks like. Is it a memo? A report? A verbal briefing? An analysis? Launching a new program? A budget request? A deployment of resources? Don't leave any room for ambiguity about what is expected to be delivered.
- Turn it around quickly. As soon as humanly possible, get this list of prioritized action items into formal memo for the senior executive to sign and issue to subordinates, especially those on the hook for delivering. The longer you wait, the less likely people will remember the discussion and hold themselves accountable for taking action.