Page Revision: 7/5/2012 4:24:37 PM

Training & Performance Management

Performance Management is the systematic process by which an agency involves its employees, as individuals and members of a group, in improving organizational effectiveness in the accomplishment of agency mission and goals.

The singular function of training within performance management is to help produce change. Training facilitates the upgrading of a person’s skill or the addition of a new skill, which in turn can bring about the desired change an agency is seeking at the individual level and/or at the organizational level.

It is important to understand that training in and of itself cannot improve performance. However, training is an integral part of what is needed to accomplish individual and organizational goals.

The purpose of this page is to provide agencies with:

• Tools to train and inform executives and other interested stakeholders on the Basic SES Appraisal System
• Resources to assist in training employees, supervisors, managers and executives on performance measurement and performance management
• Resources to assist in training on using analytics

Memoranda/publications related to performance management and using analytics

• The Basic SES Appraisal System
• President's 2013 Budget: Chapter on Performance Management
• The 2010 Government Performance Results Modernization Act (GPRA2010)   

Webcasts

• Making the Right Connections: Targeting the Best Competencies for Training
  This webcast features the Merit Systems Protection Board study on the trainability of competencies.  This study is useful in determining methods of training for various competenies.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKt5KzlbZs8
• OPM’s Training Evaluation Field Guide
  This video provides a synopsis of OPM's Training Evaluation Field Guide.  Agencies should use the field guide to evaluate the effectiveness of their training and training programs.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKez8NrRX1I
• NRC New Supervisor Training—Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) & National Cancer Institute (NCI)
  These webcasts are examples of how agencies consider training in the the performance of their supervisors (the NCI training begins at 26 min:55sec)
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udTwHjNu6iE

OPM is currently hosting a series of webcasts on using analytics led by agencies identified as Best Practice agencies in the President's FY 13 Budget and in the Partnership for Public Service's publication From Data to Decisions.  We will post the webcasts shortly.

Performance Management Products

• SES performance appraisal system training slides
  • Basic Appraisal System Overview
  • Appraisal System Detailed Slide Deck
• OPM Training and Performance Management Forum Slides 6/12 2012
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) suite of training courses on Performance Management (on www.hru.gov)
• HR University Manager's Corner --free and low cost training for managers and supervisors on performance management
• Validating Measures      
  Performance Plans: Selected Approaches for Verification and Validation of Agency Performance Information, GAO/GGD-99-139, July 30, 1999.  http://www.gao.gov/products/GGD-99-139
• Planning, Goal-Setting and Prioritization  
  The Results Act: An Evaluator’s Guide to Assessing Agency Annual Performance Plans, version 1, GAO/GGD-10.1.20, April 1998. http://www.gao.gov/products/GGD-10.1.20; and

Performance Measurement Products

• EPA Course on Logic Modeling
• Logic Models     
  Program Evaluation: Strategies for Assessing How Information Dissemination Contributes to Agency Goals, GAO-02-923, Sept. 30, 2002. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-923
• Techniques for Influencing Outcomes  
  Managing for Results: Measuring Program Results That Are Under Limited Federal Control, GAO/GGD-99-16, Dec. 11, 1998.   http://www.gao.gov/products/GGD-99-16
• GAO, Performance Measurement and Evaluation: Definitions and Relationships, GAO-11-646SP, May 2011. http://www.gao.gov/assets/80/77277.pdf

Using Analytics Products

• From Data to Decisions: The Power of Analytics
  The Partnership for Public Service, in collaboration with IBM's Public Sector Business Analytics & Optimization practice, set out to study federal agencies'use of analytics and how it helped them achieve better program results. http://ourpublicservice.org/OPS/publications/viewcontentdetails.php?id=169

Current, Free Training/Webinars

• Report and Measure Program Effectiveness with Analytics – June 28, 2012 at 1pm ET
• Practical Application of Analytics in the Public Sector-- on July 12th at 2PM EST
  Learn how the Memphis Police Department created a predictive analytics system called Blue CRUSH (Criminal Reduction Utilizing Statistical History) to effectively predict and respond to crimes.
  Other Government-wide Resources

U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)

• GAO, Designing Evaluations
  2012 Revision, GAO-12-208G, January 2012.
  http://gao.gov/assets/590/588146.pdf
• Program Evaluation
  Experienced Agencies Follow a Similar Model for Prioritizing Research, GAO-11-176, Jan. 14, 2011. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-176

U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS)

• CRS, Changes to the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA): Overview of the New Framework of Products and Processes, R42379, February 29, 2012.
  http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42379.pdf
• CRS, Obama Administration Agenda for Government Performance: Evolution and Related Issues for Congress, January 19, 2011.
  http://republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/Media/file/Hearings/Oversight/100511/BrassDoc2.pdf, available as a link here, where the link is titled "Supplement Two"
  http://energycommerce.house.gov/hearings/hearingdetail.aspx?NewsID=8960

Federal Evaluators

• Bernholz, Eric, et al., "Evaluation Dialogue Between OMB Staff and Federal Evaluators: Digging a Bit Deeper into Evaluation Science," July 2006.
  http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/omb/performance/supp_materials/fed_eval_2006_slides.pdf available as a link here, under the heading "Federal Evaluator's Evaluation Workshop (July 25, 2006)"
  http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/performance_past
• Federal Evaluators website (and e-mail mailing list)
  http://fedeval.net/contact.htm

American Evaluation Association (AEA)

• American Evaluation Association, An Evaluation Roadmap for a More Effective Government, September 2010.
  http://www.eval.org/EPTF/aea10.roadmap.101910.pdf available as a link here: http://www.eval.org/EPTF.asp