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Weekly UpdatesAs your new president, I look forward to working with you and sharing ideas about the future of our profession and GFOA. I am honored by this appointment and consider this a great time to serve you as president. I want to work with you and give you as much ownership of the ideas and process as possible.
Your responses to the recent membership survey told us that the overall satisfaction with and the perceived value of GFOA membership are high. Our organization is also effective. Most of us join and remain members for core association benefits--access to networking opportunities, professional development, continuing education, and resources for staying current on industry changes.
The state of the art in government performance measurement continues to advance, and our organization's activities and services related to performance measurement must be on the cutting edge. Citizens are insisting on a bottom-line look at what governments are producing, and performance measurement is or will soon be mandatory for all levels of government. You are already familiar with the various recommended practices on performance measurement and the GFOA Budget Awards program, which encourage governments to integrate performance measures into their budget process and documents. GFOA is going to make additional advancements in performance measurement this coming year as we build on the accomplishments of Past President Nancy Zielke and on your feedback from the membership survey.
The Executive Board has made a commitment to implement the following goals to boost familiarity with performance measurement:
* Take the lead in providing information to governments about preferred technology applications for performance measurement and management.
* Coordinate with like-minded organizations, such as the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in order to make the best use of the resources available and avoid costly duplication in programs and activities.
* Incorporate public involvement concepts and tools into our best practice information on performance measurement and management.
* Ground all GFOA performance measurement activities, products, and services in the concept of performance measurement as one component of an integrated, performance-based approach to planning, budgeting, and management. We do not want members to view performance measurement as a "stand-alone" best practice.
Some of the supporting actions will be short term and occur during the next two years; other actions will be long term and occur over the next five to 10 years.
When I think about leadership I think about the term predictive. We all know that as finance professionals we have to know more than how to post journal entries, issue financial statements, and develop budgets. The strategies and tools of yesterday are no longer adequate to meet today's challenges. Unfunded mandates, new accounting standards, and revenue shortfalls demand that governments respond effectively to business disruptions, whatever the cause.
Past President Nancy Zielke focused on the need for finance officers to move from reactive to proactive as financial leaders. Being proactive allowed us to achieve X and Y. But to successfully navigate through future challenges, finance professionals must now shift again. I will spend the next few months talking about shifting from proactive to predictive leadership.
Making the shift to predictive leadership is not as hard as it might seem at first. Being predictive means A and B. It allows us to do X and Y. We can become predictive because while the world is always changing, it still stays the same.
Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, said "There is nothing new in the world except for the history you do not know." Likewise, George Santayana, a philosopher and a poet stated, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Long before Truman and Santayana, the Bible underscored the importance of history. Ecclesiastes 1:10 clearly tells us there is nothing new under the sun.
Thus, the world, though rapidly changing, is a circle, and no matter how many cycles we run through, nothing truly changes.
Capable leadership, starting at the top and cascading through all levels, needs to recognize this fact: Nothing is new. Yes, change can occur at a dizzying pace, and it is a sad state of affairs to admit that the world can change faster than most governments can make decisions. And yes, members of senior management, including finance professionals, are under tremendous pressure. We are under pressure from rapid change, from economic and market uncertainty, and from increasing challenges of workforce commitment and engagement. Because governments make decisions so slowly, the pressure can literally crush us as we wait to decide what to do.
We cannot continue this way. Being predictive allows us to make the change.
Governments today need finance professionals who are willing to be risk takers, who are like entrepreneurs--individuals or leaders who will take personal risks to make important things happen. There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction. Risk management must be the basis for decision making, not an afterthought or appendage. Deliberate planning, taking into account all risks, options, and feasible controls, helps leaders avoid improvised operations that breed accidents. Early integration is also particularly important as it prevents expensive re-engineering.
The lack of public confidence in the finance industry as a result of the Enron/WorldCom/Andersen scandals has hampered the risk takers, and most of us have become gun-shy. A news story can ruin the standing of any organization in a day. A single headline can taint an entire profession. Therefore, trust is always at risk - it is hard to gain and so easy to lose. As you lead, how much risk can you live with? I say that you cannot afford to lead without it. There is no secret recipe. The magic formula for high performance leadership is not a strategic checklist. It is our ability to be predictive. Just because we did it that way yesterday does not mean we have to do it that way today! If you can find some easier, quicker, shorter, better, faster way to do it, do it!
As an organization and as professionals, being predictive will help us be on the cutting edge and reach our goals for advancements in performance measurement.
Carla Sledge
President
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