Performance based Management Survey. Summary of Results

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1 Performance based Management Survey Summary of Results Survey Background Most of the major HUD changes these days require PHAs to meet specific objectives and achieve ever higher levels of performance. Pursuant to a law enacted in 1993, all Federal government agencies are required to identify agency wide strategic goals, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for each goal and train staff to guide their work by these goals and metrics. Although PHAs are not subject to the Federal performance management requirements, we believe that PHAs would benefit from the application of performance based management practices. Performance based Management (PBM) in general is a system of management by goals which measures, seeks to constantly improve, and rewards the performance of the organization and its employees. An essential element of PBM is establishing strategic goals, incorporating those goals into every employee s job description, and monitoring progress toward achieving those goals using a set of metrics or KPIs. Based on our belief that our clients would benefit from PBM practices, we recently undertook a research project to identify PBM practices that would be applicable to the PHA business. As part of the research, we decided to survey the PHA industry to identify the extent to which PHAs are familiar with PBM and the extent to which PHAs are implementing those practices in their business leadership today. The survey consisted of the following questions: 1. How many total units and/or vouchers does your agency manage? 2. Are you familiar with the concept of performance based management (as defined in the survey)? 3. Does your agency practice performance based management? 4. Does your agency have a mission statement that has been shared with all employees? 5. Does your agency have a set of strategic goals that are aligned with your mission statement? 6. Has your agency identified specific metrics or key performance indicators to measure the progress of each of your strategic goals? 7. Have your employees received training about your mission, goals and key performance indicators? 8. Have your employees incorporated the agency s mission and strategic goals into their day today work? In December, 2008, we set up the survey online using Zoomerang so participants could respond anonymously. An e mail was sent to all e mail addresses listed in HUD s HA Profiles, approximately 3,100 e mail addresses. The e mail contained a link to the survey. Although some of those addresses were undeliverable, it appears that the e mail reached at least 2,800 of those e mail addresses. 1

2 The survey was also set up so that it would accept only one response from an individual computer. Within 2 weeks of sending the e mail, the survey had 746 visits and 416 complete responses. Using Zoomerang s tools, we tabulated and analyzed the completed responses. The following are the summarized results of the survey. Question 1: How many total units and/or vouchers does your agency manage? The survey s first question was designed to obtain demographic information about each respondent so that we could analyze the results by agency size. The following chart shows the number of responses by size category: Not surprisingly, the size of survey respondents is similar to the demographic of the industry at large. Using this data, we analyzed the responses to each of the other questions and sorted the responses by agency size. Question 2: Are you familiar with the concept of performance based management? 2

3 The survey response options to question 2 were Very familiar, Generally familiar, Somewhat familiar, and Not familiar. The following chart shows the percentage of each agency size grouping that responded to question 2 with either a Very familiar or Generally familiar response. Based on our assumption that adoption of PBM practices was sporadic in the housing industry, and that the most likely adoption was with larger agencies, we are surprised by these results. According to the survey responses, more than 70% of very small agencies (0 to 250 units) are familiar with PBM. Question 3: Does your agency practice performance based management? The survey response options to question 3 were In most business areas, In some business areas, and Not really. The following chart shows the percentage of each agency size grouping that responded to question 3 with either In most business areas or In some business areas. 3

4 This graph shows a trend that is to be expected. Although a significant majority of all responding agencies are familiar with PBM practices, implementing those practices is a different story. Less than 50% of very small agencies (0 to 250 units) practice some form of PBM (still a big surprise) and the percentage of each successive demographic group shows higher participation. Question 4: Does your agency have a mission statement that has been shared with all employees? For anyone who has visited public housing agency offices around the country, you have no doubt noticed the common feature in the waiting areas of a published mission statement mounted on the wall. But our survey question attempted to be more specific about this aspect of PBM practices and asked whether the PHA has a mission statement that has been shared with all employees. The survey response options to question 4 were Yes and No. The following chart shows the percentage of each agency size grouping that responded to question 4 with a Yes. 4

5 The majority of all agencies indicate that they have a mission statement and presumably they have shared that statement with their employees. Similar to Question 3, the percentage of agencies that have shared their mission statement with employees increases with the agency group size. Question 5: Does your agency have a set of strategic goals that are aligned with your mission statement? One the essential elements of a PBM practice is a well thought out set of strategic goals. The survey response options to question 5 were Yes and No. The following chart shows the percentage of each agency size grouping that responded to question 5 with a Yes. 5

6 Although at least 75% of all size groups have a mission statement (question 4), the percentage of agencies that indicate they have a set of strategic goals that are aligned with their mission statements is significantly smaller. When responding agencies were asked to consider the details of their PBM program, like strategic goals, it appears that less agencies in each size category are practicing PBM at a detailed level. Similar to Questions 3 and 4, the percentage of agencies that have a set of strategic goals aligned with their mission statements increases with the agency group size. Question 6: Has your agency identified specific metrics or key performance indicators to measure the progress of each of your strategic goals? As noted in the Overview, a PBM process requires a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the progress of each strategic goal. The survey response options to question 6 were For most goals, For some goals, and Not really. The following chart shows the percentage of each agency size grouping that responded to question 6 with either of those responses. 6

7 Following the trend started with responses to Questions 3, 4 and 5, the percentage of agencies that have a set of KPIs for each of their strategic goals increases with the agency group size. Also many more agencies in each size category have mission statements than have strategic goals aligned with their mission, and many more agencies in each size category have strategic goals than have KPIs designed to measure the progress of their strategic goals. With each successive building block of a comprehensive PBM program, the numbers of agencies that have implemented the next step declines. Question 7: Have your employees received training about your mission, goals and key performance indicators? Whereas we recorded 416 completed surveys, and Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were answered in all 416 completed surveys, Questions 7 was answered by a subset of only 245 respondents or 59% of total respondents. That makes sense because a response to Question 7 requires that the respondent have responded with at least a Yes to Question 5 (Does your agency have a set of strategic goals?) and a response of For most goals or For some goals to Question 6 (Has your agency identified key performance indicators to measure the progress of your strategic goals?). 57% of respondents answered Yes to Question 5, and 54% of respondent answered For most goals or For some goals to Question 6. 7

8 The survey response options to Question 7 were In most cases, In some cases, and Not really. The following chart shows the percentage of each agency size category that responded to Question 7 with either of those responses. Of those agencies that have strategic goals (Question 5) and have KPIs to measure progress toward those goals (Question 6), about 70%, on average, have trained their employees about their mission, goals and KPIs according to the responses to Question 7. Question 8: Have your employees incorporated the agency s mission and strategic goals into their day to day work? Similar to Question 7, only a subset, 58%, of respondents responded to Question 8. As described in our discussion of Question 7 responses, that is consistent with the structure of the survey. Question 8 respondents were consistent with the positive responses received to Questions 5 and 6. The survey response options to Question 8 were In most cases, In some cases, and Not really. The following chart shows the percentage of each agency size category that responded to Question 8 with either of those responses. 8

9 So of the agencies that have strategic goals (positive response to Question 5) and have KPIs to measure progress toward those goals ( positive response to Question 6), about 80%, on average, believe their employees have incorporated the agency s mission and strategic goals into their day to day work. Conclusions A positive surprise in the survey results is that, on average, over 80% of all agencies responding to the survey are familiar with PBM practices and a significant portion of those agencies practice PBM as part of their agency management. 48% of very small agencies and 86% of large agencies reported that they practice some level of PBM. Consistent with the industry demographics, larger agencies overall had higher participation in PBM practices. Whereas over 70% of very small agencies have a mission statement, only 46% of very small agencies have established strategic goals and 35% have KPIs to track progress toward those goals. In the case of large agencies, 100% have mission statements but, similar to their smaller colleagues, only 75% reported having strategic goals set and 78% reported having KPIs to track those goals. (100% of very large agencies reported having strategic goals and 89% reported having KPIs to track their goals.) Training on PBM was also a general positive with an average of 75% of those agencies with a PBM program reporting that they trained their employees about their mission, goals and KPIs. On average, 9

10 80% of those same agencies reported that their employees incorporate their mission and strategic goals into their day to day work. Overall these are very encouraging results and point to the commitment of most Public Housing agencies, both small and large, to modern business practices, designed to maximize results from a given set of resources. Encouraged by these results, we plan to continue our research and develop services that support the industry in improving their adoption and success implementing PBM practices. 10