The building blocks to governing for results.(The Bookshelf)(Results That Matter: Improving Communities by Engaging Citizens, Me

Results That Matter: Improving Communities by Engaging Citizens, Measuring Performance, and Getting Things Done

Paul D. Epstein, Paul M. Coates, and Lyle E. Wray with David Swain.

Publisher: Jossey-Bass 272 pp., 2005

Results That Matter sets out with an important goal: to provide a set of tools to individuals and organizations so that they can more effectively work toward improving their communities. Epstein, Coates, and Wray describe the many ways to increase citizen engagement and use the Effective Community Governance Model to demonstrate the interaction among various constituencies within a community They breathe life into the model using 25 examples of communities across the United States, illustrating the benefits of the model at work.

The Effective Community Governance Model blends the three"core community skills" referred to in the book's title: engaging citizens, measuring performance, and getting things done. The combination of these critical elements results in advanced governing practices of communities governing for results through community problem solving, organizations managing for results, citizens reaching for results. A system with the highest potential for success is one that is built around engagement, trust, and collaboration among all parties and that learns from its experiences, changes accordingly, and stays focused on the future.

The authors encourage broadening the potential roles of citizens in community affairs. They contend that increased options for citizens results in their integration as partners in community activity It is not sufficient to see citizens as passive service customers. Five main types of citizen engagement are described: citizens as stakeholders, advocates,issue framers, evaluators, and collaborators.

A careful assessment of citizen involvement can reveal ways to maximize citizen integration in community activities, ranging from a specific issue in one neighborhood to policy in a large region. Citizen interest groups are trending toward all-encompassing groups focused on overall community sustainability and well-being, as opposed to the narrowly focused advocacy groups.

The collection and use of data should be driven by citizen priorities. Having citizens collect, distribute, and understand data for community processes allows them to partake in more roles to accomplish results in the community and provides greater accountability The authors emphasize that the citizens' focus is not on the data, but rather the results exemplified by the data. The task is to choose indicators meaningful to citizens and to use them to demonstrate the anticipated results.

The authors discuss the difficulties in resource allocation, acknowledging that tough decisions must be made in order to invest in the long-term strategic interests of the community Information gathered from performance measures should be incorporated with citizen feedback to identify which projects are most highly prioritized, as well as offer creative solutions that utilize community resources to achieve goals. A fluid model that allows for constant learning results in informed decision making that is responsive, reflects community priorities, and holds organizations accountable. Citizen involvement and performance measures add elements of transparency and of legitimacy to the process.

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Performance measurement also assures the effectiveness of projects and illustrates whether initiatives are achieving their intended results. Governments cannot simply achieve "something;" rather they must work toward achieving the goals that the citizens most need or desire. They must learn from their experiences in order to best effect continuous positive change in their communities. Without citizen involvement, some or all of the learning resulting from the performance data stays inside the bureaucracy and does not reach the final stakeholders: the citizens. The authors emphasize that managing for results is not a stand-alone means of achieving results that matter, those can only be achieved with deep, sustained citizen engagement.

While expertise in one "core community skill" contributes to advanced governing, each of the three skills has a weakness that would prevent the community from consistently achieving results that citizens want. A community that is proficient in all three and draws on its strengths in a systematic gathering of performance information, utilizing citizens in diverse roles in the community, and building appropriate partnerships is one that governs for results. The communities used as examples are meant to be learning models, allowing readers to examine the context of the model in action and identify connections with their own communities in order to make progress toward governing for results.

The book is not a road map, but rather a toolkit that communities can use to assess their current situation and then draw from to create actions that meet their unique needs. It can empower people and organizations, helping them decide what actions to take and how to gauge the results of those actions. An effective community will integrate at least two or all three "core community skills" resulting in the advanced governance practices that guide community improvement, even as conditions change over time.

An overview of the themes presented in Results that Matter, including the Effective Community Governance Model, is outlined on the Internet at resultsthatmatter.net. The book is intended to be a resource not only for local government and nonprofit officials, but for any individual or organization interested in how citizens, governments, and nonprofits can collaborate for more effective community governance.

CHRISTY SOMMERS is an intern in the GFOA's Research and Consulting Center.

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