Unlocking Public Value A New Model For Achieving High Performance In Public Service Organizations

The value delivered to shareholders is the private sector's ultimate measure of a company's success. However, in the public sector, where citizen stakeholders replace shareholders, there is no single or simple "bottom line" for measuring success.

Clearly, common performance criteria must exist before verifiable performance enhancement can be achieved.

Unlocking Public Value takes that all-important first step, providing public managers with a framework for evaluating and improving the performance of themselves, their employees and the organizations they serve. This breakthrough book introduces the Accenture Public Service Value Model, a new methodology that gives public policy strategists, financial managers and operational managers—not to mention students, politicians and other interested parties—the knowledge and hands-on tools they need to:
Accurately identify and measure outcomes, i.e., the social impacts, benefits or consequences of an organization's efforts
Filter existing metrics, determine those that tie directly or indirectly to outcomes and assign weights to each
Use the Public Service Value Model to assess performance and to graphically depict changes in that performance over time
Arm public managers with the information they need to make better, more informed decisions about what can be done to meet public needs
Link value creation to projects and activities, measurably improving the delivery of public services
Identify how specific changes an organization makes can deliver increased public value, better use scarce resources—and drive results
Create managerial processes, which accommodate and reward experimentation, and enable successful innovative organizations to thrive

Unlocking Public Value is packed with detailed, real-life examples and case studies of the proven value of Public Service Value analyses. From a German retirement pension insurance carrier and a U.S. Medicaid agency to European intelligence and labor agencies, it illustrates how performance information from Public Service Value analyses has been successfully used to inform strategic decisions, enhance public service results and dramatically improve performance.

The realities of today's lean operating environment demand strong public service management. Unlocking Public Value introduces an authoritative methodology for proactively relating results to costs, tracking that relationship over time—and uncovering and unleashing value in public organizations of every type.