Performance Measurement in the Public Sector

As a new year decision, I decided to write my future posts in English, starting today, and change the blog title accordingly. I've received a few visits from non-Portuguese speaking countries, which exceeded my expectations, so I decided to go global! Happy new year to all.

Anyway, I want to dedicate my first post this year to the subject of performance measurement, with a quote I think Portuguese authorities should have in mind (but are apparently forgetting) when implementing the ongoing public administration reforms, especially in the education sector, to which I'm particularly sensitive:

"(...) the focus should not be on the measurement, it should not be an end in itself. It's necessary to use the outputs from the measurement process and give them a specific orientation, to be able to motivate, inspire and align people with the organization's mission, vision and strategic priorities, inducing them to improve performance."

"If this is not the purpose of the performance measurement , people could negatively interpret ate the system, as a mechanism to punish lower performance. (...) If the focus is excessively on the evaluation mechanisms, instead of on the results, on the improvements to achieve, on motivation, on recognition and compensations for high performance, on identifying the reasons for low performance, without a punishing purpose, and on the reassessment of the goals to achieve, there may be conditions for the failure of any performance measurement system to be implemented."

Francisco Pinto, "Balanced Scorecard - Alinhar Mudança, Estratégia e Performance nos Serviços Públicos", Edições Sílabo

I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'm not optimistic towards the secondary teachers performance evaluation mechanisms that are being implemented in Portugal. Francisco Pinto said it well, and I'm afraid that is also true in other sectors of the Portuguese public administration.