Determine the Structure of Performance Management Meetings

Performance management meetings are implemented uniquely from city to city, depending on the desired frequency, focus, and leadership of the meeting. The questions below are meant to guide cities in thinking through what their meeting structure might look like.

Performance management meetings are critical to setting the tone around the importance of a city's performance targets, to keep the citywide goals top of mind, and to keep momentum going as those at the table work to identify trends and solve problems. When setting up performance meetings, ensure that the meeting schedule is frequent enough to move the needle on the targets; regularly recurring; public, even if the meetings are not open to the public; and that the meeting is led by the city's chief executive and/or designees.

Below are some questions to help determine the structure of performance management meetings:

Will your Chief Executive (Mayor or City Manager) lead each meeting?

If not, who will be their designee?

• Even if the Chief Executive will not be present at each meeting, leaving a place at the table or even a name plate for them can send the message that the meetings are a priority. In Louisville, Mayor Greg Fischer attends each LouieStat meeting.

• Ensure that the same person runs each meeting, to bake continuity into the discussion of performance.

• A designee must have the authority to ask departments to follow up on action items that are raised during the meeting, and to hold them accountable for those action items in subsequent meetings. Remember that the person who runs the meeting will set the tone. Will the meetings be contentious and focused on putting departments in the hot seat, or collaborative and dedicated to finding concerted solutions?

  A Note About "Contentious" Meetings

  Performance management meetings, especially Stat meetings, have a reputation for being "contentious" and are often described as "gotcha" sessions. While that style can be effective, it is not the only tone worth striving for. A better framing is "problem focused." Performance management meetings should always be problem focused. Problems are inherently difficult, and solving them can be a tense process. Therefore, constructive tension during collaborative problem solving is nothing to be afraid of.

Will the meetings focus on a subject matter area, internal departmental operations, or both?

• ChattaData meetings are focused on the City's performance priorities.

• New Orleans has several monthly stat meetings, each focused on a particular subject area, including blight, quality of life, and customer service.

• Seattle's SeaStat is aimed at analyzing crime data and community incident reports to identify crime hotspots.

• In Maryland's StateStat, each State department had a Stat meeting once a month. Follow up items from the previous month were discussed, as well as new topics and trends. These meetings were complemented by quarterly "subject-matter Stats," in which all agencies that have ownership of certain topics were present.

How will you bring departments to the table and cultivate buy-in for the process?

• Sharing information on results that other cities have seen from focusing on performance metrics can help make the case for internal buy-in. Let department heads know that the performance meetings are an opportunity to elevate issues, propose solutions, and request resources.

• Cross-departmental participation also drives more creative solutions. So in addition to your program experts, aim for representation from the following divisions:

  • Finance/Budget
  • Procurement
  • Information Technology
  • Communications
  • Legal
  • Human Resources
  • Equal Rights
  • Policy

How frequently will the meetings occur?

• Frequency is important to keep the momentum going. Holding meetings at regular, publicly posted intervals helps build trust with residents by building in accountability.

• Consider placing holds on the calendars of all senior executives one year in advance, along with back-up holds in case the original meetings get bumped.

• Kansas City releases its KCStat schedule for the upcoming year at the end of the previous year.

Will meetings be public?

• Most performance meetings are not open to the public. Even if your meeting is closed, consider keeping it transparent by publishing the meeting schedule, releasing notes and slides with sensitive information redacted after the meeting, and even televising or live-tweeting the meeting.