Much is being said and written about the uncertainty in Washington, DC. What we know to be certain is that yesteryear’s argument of “give us more money, and we will make it better” will unlikely carry the day.  

This new landscape also makes the case for performance-driven leadership rather than personalities that seem to land in a fancy-titled role for no other reason than “they’re so nice.”  This is how we wind up with the same people at the podium event after event, while the actual performance leaders are sitting in the audience. 

High-performance executives are those who can precisely explain — supported with data — why their organization has achieved success.  And not the success that happened to them, but the success they purposefully designed and delivered. 

Steps to Success

Here are three essential action steps to high-performance leadership:

1. Declare The Results: Put a stake in the ground and measurably declare the outcomes your organization will produce in the coming year. For example, Customer satisfaction will improve by 8%; we will become 5% less reliant on taxpayer subsidies; and our laundry list of efforts, actions, and programs unrelated to measurable outcomes will be reduced. 

2. Deliver the Results: Organize your team’s time, treasure, and talent to produce the declared outcomes. Improving Community Value by 8.5% doesn't happen by happenstance. The performance-driven executive needs to understand what the community prioritizes and then deliver on the priority. Team alignment requires prioritizing, saying no, and extreme focus to produce the outcomes that have been declared. High-performance alignment does not have time for a litany of programs, distractions, and budgets that fund and protect the status quo.

3. Disseminate the Results: The performance-driven executive insists upon objective evaluation of their performance and will tie their compensation to it. For example, if customer satisfaction meets its objectively defined goal, the executive is financially compensated. Even better, so are their subordinates. 

Today, more than ever, performance results will matter. Personalities at the podium are nice, but the actual delivery of measurable outcomes is what really matters. More plow horses and fewer show horses. 

Outstanding customer satisfaction, improved efficiencies, communities that prioritize value, reduced tax burden — this is what performance-driven leaders deliver. 

Communities across the country will be best served by public sector executives who have set measurable outcomes, delivered on them, and take ownership by being evaluated on the