According to the memo, senior agency leaders will be expected to hold goal-focused, data-driven reviews at least once every quarter to review progress on their priority goals and to assure that follow-up steps are taken to achieve better outcomes.
OMB wants agencies to in most cases identify the senior accountable official responsible for each goal prior to a meeting.
The meetings should be guided by analyses of performance and related data – such as employee viewpoints, cost, agency skills, delivery partner capacity — and evaluation findings relevant to the goals being discussed.
Further, the meetings should focus on progress toward desired outcomes, explore the reasons why variations between performance targets and actual outcomes occurred, and prompt quick adjustments to agency strategies and action when needed, OMB said.
It said it expects all agencies to eventually establish review processes that strengthen performance management across their agencies, regularly using analysis of performance and other relevant data to improve results and productivity.
According to the memo, managers are accountable for setting specific outcome-focused goals, measuring progress toward meeting the goals, tracking completion of key milestones, comparing progress among peers to identify better practices, looking for factors that government can influence and that affect trends, adopting and implementing cogent strategies based on analysis of performance and other relevant data, using performance data to confirm achievement of intended outcomes, making quick adjustments to strategies when they are not working, and reporting to the public in useful and accessible ways.
