Five-step reform agenda manual to improve governance

ISLAMABAD: The Nawaz Sharif government has envisaged 5-step reform agenda for all ministries including defining new mission and vision statements, short, medium and long term goals, citizen client character, key performance indicators and institutional and individual action plans to improve falling governance structure.
The government is recommended to hire independent evaluators in MP-1 scale to gauge the performance of ministries and individuals and come up with both reward and punishment mechanism in case of achieving success and failures.
According to the guidelines of five-step manual of reform agenda finalized by the government, a copy of which is exclusively available with The News, the Federal government of Pakistan is an expansive system of administration that provides many services to citizens, provincial governments, international agencies and other stakeholders.
To best perform its functions and duties, it is imperative that the federal government reviews its mission, formulates goals, makes action plans and monitors progress. This is also part of the 5-step reform agenda.
Since an organization is best understood by its staff, this manual aims to provide the leadership and staff of ministries/divisions the tools to optimize the performance of their organization. It provides a step-by-step guide to ministries and divisions to engage staff to implement the reform agenda. The manual should be taken as a starting point in the implementation of meaningful reforms. Ministries are encouraged to use the best practices listed in the manual, as well as their good faith efforts, to bring meaningful change in the system of governance.
STEP 1: Mission and vision statements: Mission and vision statements can help ministries focus and prioritize important tasks.
The mission and vision statements let citizens and concerned ministries have a snapshot view of what the ministry is and what it wants to do. When the vision and mission statements are easily visible, citizens can learn about the ministry without having to work hard for the information. Then, those with common interests can take the time necessary to learn more. This can be very helpful when recruiting staff or building partnerships with other ministries.
There are many other reasons to develop vision and mission statements. For example, having clear and compelling vision statements can:
Draw federal employees to common work;
Give hope for a better future;
Inspire employees to realise their dreams through positive and effective action;
Provide a basis for developing other aspects of the ministry’s action planning process: short, medium and long term goals, as well as Key Performance Indicators. Vision statement: The vision of a ministry is the future desirable state of the ministry. A vision statement describes the direction a ministry wants to take and the aspired end result once it gets there.
Mission statement: The mission statement reflects the operational purpose of the ministry, the reason why the ministry exists, its core services. It answers the question - how does the ministry intend to serve citizens - in the process of achieving its vision. The mission statement describes what the ministry is going to do and why it is going to do that. For example, “Promote the use of technology in public educational institutions by providing appropriate infrastructure, equipment and training teachers.”
Having a clear mission statement can:
Convert the broad dreams of the ministry into more specific, action-oriented terms.
Explain the ministry’s goals to interested parties in a clear and concise manner.
Four essential questions each ministry’s mission statement must answer are as follows:
What does the ministry do?
How does the ministry do it?
Who does the ministry do it for?
What value is the ministry bringing?
STEP 2: Translate vision and mission statements to short, medium and long-term goals: Interpretation of national challenges is a significant milestone for all federal ministries and their concerned departments. Translation of vision/mission strategies into short, medium and long-term goals helps define a system of management for future policymaking, monitoring & evaluation, budgetary plans and individual responsibilities.
Short-term goals: Federal ministries and their concerned departments should analyse the services or complaints that can be addressed or improved within a period of one year. These goals would be devised in a way that certainties are tested through projects and a relevant framework of mechanism is initiated. For instance, the federal ministry of information technology & telecommunications would speculate the change of demographics that are using cellular service, forecast rise in number of users within ten years and evaluate security loopholes to control unlawful activities.
Medium-term goals: These goals should be for a period of 1-3 years. They should aim at prioritizing national issues, for example: important budget allocations, consultations and international collaborations etc. Medium-term goals should define the fundamental pillars for long-term strategies and how they can work in a sustainable course of action. For instance, ministry of information technology & telecommunications may decide on providing more licences to new companies for cellular services or improve the existing infrastructure.
Long-term goals: They should aim at a span of 5 years. Their concern would fall into evaluating success of medium-term goals and finding alternatives that might be more effective. Long-term goals should venture into a holistic dimension, which will offer concrete solutions to the entire population. For instance, to facilitate the residents of remote areas, ministry of information technology & telecommunications may take measures to make cellular services accessible nation-wide.
Step 3: citizen’s/client’s charter and key performance indicators
Concept of citizen’s/client’s charter: The citizen’s/client’s charter is a written declaration by a government department that highlights the standards of service delivery that it subscribes to, availability of choice for consumers, avenues for grievance redress and other related information. In other words, it is a set of commitments made by a department regarding the standards of service, which it delivers.
Though not enforceable in court of law, the citizen’s/client’s charter is intended to empower citizens and clients so that they can demand committed standards of service and avail remedies in case of non-compliance by service providing ministries. The basic thrust of the citizen’s/client’s charter is to render public services citizen centric by making them demand driven rather than supply driven.
Key performance indicators: To translate vision and mission statements, goals and citizens/clients charters into actionable steps key performance indicators are needed. Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are financial and non-financial metrics used to help the ministry define and measure progress toward its goals. They help the ministry understand how it is doing against its objectives. Once the ministry has analysed its mission and defined its goals, it needs to measure progress towards those goals. KPIs provide a measurement tool.
STEP 4: ACTION PLANS
Institutional action plan: After establishing a goal and assessing the rules, roles and tools, concerned ministries can develop an action plan (select the strategies that will be implemented over time to achieve and maintain energy and sustainability goals). This action plan should target specific audiences with tailored strategies and take into account the need to review and revise strategies in the long-term. The action plan must include appropriate metrics and regular measurement. Remember that planning useful efficiency and sustainability evaluation is necessary before a ministry begins to implement an action plan. When developing the ministry’s action plan, refer to the Institutional Change Continuous Improvement Cycle for help:
Articulate the ministry’s energy or sustainability goal-setting specific, measurable, and verifiable metrics.
Identify linkages among resources, activities, and outcomes - as well as gaps or disconnects that need to be addressed - through the ministry’s analysis of institutional context.
Tie the ministry’s plan directly to the goals and metrics the ministry has established and select strategies that can help the ministry change particular department’s behaviour to achieve those goals.
It is recommended that the institution plan be developed by concerned ministries’/divisions’ leadership to include tangible actions that can help achieve the ministry’s goals and vision. In order for the action plan to be pragmatic and achievable, the budget, staffing and other constraints must be kept in mind by the leadership when developing the action plan. Prioritize the low cost, high impact services.
A sample institutional action plan is given below, however ministries can develop own plans.
Individual action plan: Individual action plans are derived from the institution’s action plans. The difference between institutional and individual action plan is that while the institutional action plans provide a pragmatic timeline of goal-oriented critical tasks, individual timelines translate the institution’s goals into tasks that are individual employees’ responsibility. The individual action plan must define the critical tasks that each employee needs to achieve in order for the department to meet its collective goal. The following steps are recommended to achieve meaningful individual plans:
Ministry/Division defines its institutional action plan that delegates tasks to departments.
Department heads identify the timeline of each task and match its implementation with budgets and other constraints.
Department heads also identify appropriate staff for each task.
They discuss the critical tasks with each employee, determine a timeline for completion, and facilitate the employee in completion of task.
Step 5: Performance monitoring, evaluation and reward system: Improved monitoring and evaluation is at the heart of governance reforms. The evaluation must be done for both the ministry and staff. The following steps are necessary for meaningful performance evaluation.
Independent evaluator: In order to ensure that the ministry and its employees are meeting their mission, vision, KPIs and actions plans, an independent evaluator should be hired on the MP scale. The evaluator should be well versed in human resources and have immunity from giving a sub-par evaluation to the ministry or its staff. He will report directly to INSERT DEPARTMENT and be HIRED BY.
Supervisors should schedule meetings with employees on a one-on-one basis every six months (at least) so that employees’ progress can be reviewed regularly.
This will also give employees the opportunity to share with their supervisors any tools, equipment or support that they need in order to perform their duties effectively.
Weightage should be assigned to the characteristics of a well-rounded and high performing public servant.