The final day of AGA’s Fifth Annual Performance Management Conference opened Friday with a lively panel discussion on the relationship between chief information officers and chief executive officers, and how the partnership can drive innovation in government.
The panelists, who brought various perspectives to the issue of performance management, were Bajinder Paul, chief information officer of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, PK Agarwal, chief technology office for the state of California’s Department of Technology Services, and Rohit Verma, chief financial officer and head of strategy, Zurich North America.
The panelists talked about using information technology as a transformational force to improve government services. However, many organizations are spending too much time gathering data, or correcting data they receive, than analyzing the information.
Verma said deriving insights from data is “the next frontier.” Paul said 8,000 banks report data to his office quarterly. Prior to establishing standards for data collection, including XBRL, his financial examiners were spending 80 percent of their time validating the accuracy of the information. By the time the problems were resolved, the information was stale. Now, he said, they spend only about 20 percent of their time validating the information. “This is a real tangible example in the regulatory environment.”
The panelists were also asked to address those who work in organizations that have not achieved the kinds of successes being discussed. Where should they begin to make big changes?
Paul said, “It’s really about building trust and achieving a level of confidence.” He said he has a strong relationship with his chief financial officer, which was built over time by learning about his perspective on the agency. Agarwal said two things need to happen first: a clear sense of business goals and an understanding of how to measure success. He added that keeping the goals simple is important. He recalled discussing performance management with a pilot while he was on a flight. The pilot said his metrics are very simple: “Make sure the number of takeoffs match the number of landings.”
Jonathan Walters, Governing magazine reporter and a local government official, gave attendees of AGA’s Performance Management Conference tips on how to communicate effectively with the media.
He encouraged attendees to develop a media strategy. Think about what you’d like to accomplish: For example, is it moving a particular agenda, selling an idea or getting publicity for a key player in government? He told them that it’s part of their jobs to do some homework about which media outlets to target, and the most appropriate reporters and editors to contact. If you do that homework, he said, you can target your message.
“Do not run away from reporters,” he said. “Seek them out.” In fact, he went so far as to say that government officials should be the ones to tell reporters about negative stories. Walters, who is chairman of the planning board in Ghent, NY, and a volunteer firefighter there, said he told the local newspaper reporter that the planning board was being sued for approving a gravel mine in his rural community. Why? “It allowed me to get my side of the story out first.”
He said he had made regular, informed and direct contact with the reporter, who had become a friend. No story involving the planning board appeared in the paper without Walters knowing about it beforehand. When it comes to bad news, he said, “Break it yourself. Don’t wait for them to dig it up.”
Walters urged the government officials to allow all their employees to talk to the media. He said government officials should resist the temptation to control what is said about their agency. If you trust employees to work for you, you should trust them to talk to the press, he said.
He also encouraged government officials to avoid jargon and acronyms and to apply what he calls the “explaining it to mom” rule. Government officials should tell a story.
“You’ll have a shot at shaping the news.”
—Christina M. Camara
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