Two dozen public sector executives from around Ohio attended a special seminar held on March 18 by Ohio University’s Executive Leadership Institute. The focus of the day-long program was optimizing public sector performance through the use of PerformanceStat, a data-driven management model that has been used with great success by public agencies throughout the country, including the City of Baltimore, Maryland and the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) in Cleveland, Ohio. Gale Fisk, Executive Director, and Dr. Floun’say R. Caver, Assistant Director, of Cleveland RTA’s Office of Management and Budget, led the presentation and training.
PerformanceStat promotes strategic decision making through data-analysis on the district or division level.A management philosophy, not a computer-based technology, the Stat model is based on the idea that managers at the district or division level know most clearly what their individual unit needs to succeed. These managers analyze data particular to their unit and create a comprehensive record of issues their unit is facing, better known as a “scorecard”. They then present their findings to agency executives at monthly Stat meetings. In turn, executives provide the requested and necessary tools to solve unit-specific problems. It is this targeted-trouble shooting and swift turn-around that has made PerformanceStat a consistent success.
Both Mr. Fisk and Dr. Caver were instrumental in bringing the PerformanceStat model to Cleveland RTA in late 2007, when the agency was looking for new ways to lower its overtime costs. They aimed to reduce overtime by 30 percent and save $1.5 million.With the implementation of the Stat model, which Cleveland RTA dubbed TransitStat, the agency more than exceeded its initial goals, reducing overtime by 47 percent and saving the agency $2.3 million. Building on its overtime success, Cleveland RTA moved on to tackling a number of operational issues. Since then, among other accomplishments, their employee attendance has risen, absenteeism has lowered, and their facilities, from trains and buses to stations, have become cleaner and better maintained.
Mr. Fisk, like many of the executives in attendance last week, is an alumnus of Ohio University’s Executive Leadership Institute (OUELI), which trains public executives, usually through a series of multi-day workshops, in the creation of public value. The OUELI has long promoted the use of strategic-decision making as key to running cost-effective and sustainable public organizations, and has, in the past, presented a segment on the Stat philosophy. When Mr. Fisk looked for ways to instruct other public agencies in the use of the Stat model, given Cleveland RTA’s positive experience, he decided to work with the OUELI to put together the special PerformanceStat session.
For those who participated in the session, the advantages of implementing PerformanceStat were apparent at once. Patrick McLean, Associate Chancellor for the Ohio Board of Regents, said the data-driven model has “immediate and direct applicability to the work I'm engaged in at the Board of Regents, where we are always working to focus the efficiency of Ohio's institutions of higher education.” Mr. McLean has already followed up with the OUELI to begin the process of designing a statistical benchmarking program that the Board of Regents can use for its colleges and universities. Darryl Graves, Deputy Warden of Ohio’s Department of Rehab and Correction, agreed. “The benefit of using PerformanceStat was evident right away,” he said. Mr. Graves also appreciated the time Mr. Fisk and Dr. Caver took to speak individually with the training participants, “to address our individual questions and problems.They were extremely accessible.”
While the Stat management philosophy has practical applicability for any number of government agencies, Mary Stanforth, Chief Financial Officer for the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority, found the presentation particularly relevant to her work. “We are currently tracking many of the success factors described by Mr. Fisk and Dr. Caver,” Ms. Stanforth said, “but have not formalized our process yet. We are projecting budget deficits for future years and would directly benefit from the organizational cost savings of implementing our own Stat program.” She is now planning a trip to Cleveland to attend one of their monthly TransitStat meetings, and to put into motion a Stat plan for the Dayton RTA.
Such positive reaction, and rapid follow-up, from the PerformanceStat seminar participants is hopefully an indication of bigger things to come for their organizations and the Ohio University Executive Leadership Institute. If Cleveland RTA’s success is any indication, the Stat management model could be on its way to making Ohio’s public sector more effective and efficient, at a critical moment for the state and the country.