As discussed in previous articles, in 2008 the City of Collinsville adopted a “Continuous Improvement Plan” that focused on employee engagement, the City’s “Lean Thinking” approach to process improvement and a performance measurement and management system that is used to guide improvement.    The process of measuring the organization’s success is the responsibility of the City’s Performance Management Team, a cross-functional team of employees from all parts and levels of the organization.

Using a performance management system that measures productivity of internal processes, the City has been working to improve the quality of services it provides.  The Performance Management Team has worked diligently over the past two years to initiate this effort throughout the organization.

As a main component of the Continuous Improvement Plan, the Performance Management Team’s responsibility is to measure the effectiveness and efficiencies of City services.  The system measures how we are doing, it shows our strengths and the areas we need to improve.  Department Heads are then challenged to make improvements and to adjust efforts in order to improve service.  By tracking performance against its strategic goals, the City is able to improve service levels, identify and reverse negative trends and drive greater accountability and control.

In an effort to assess the City’s progress of measuring performance within the organization and comparing our process to other organizations, the Performance Management Team recently participated in this year’s International City/County Management Association’s Center for Performance Measurement Certificate Program.  The Center for Performance Measurement recognizes municipalities from across the United States for their efforts and results in performance measurement and management.

Three distinction levels are awarded and include the Certificate of Achievement, Certificate of Distinction and Certificate of Excellence.  Each level of distinction progresses from simply establishing key outcome measures to the level in which performance measurement is embedded within an organizational culture and used as a management tool to make effective decisions.

Based on its continued efforts, the City of Collinsville was recently awarded with the 2010 ICMA Certificate of Excellence, which is ICMA’s highest level of distinction.  The City has been recognized for exceeding the standards established by the ICMA CPM in the identification and public reporting of key outcome measures, surveying of both residents and employees, and the pervasiveness of performance measurement in the organization’s culture.

In October, the City will be recognized at the 2010 ICMA Annual Conference in San Jose, California: in a “Marketplace of Ideas” roundtable discussion and in the ICMA Awards booklet.