Mecklenburg County Case Study - The Institute Press

1 2000 Regency Parkway Street, Suite 425 . Cary, North Carolina 27518 USA . Phone: . Mecklenburg County case Study The Situation Mecklenburg County is the largest County in North Carolina and the most urban. The County , which includes the city of Charlotte, has approximately 969,000 residents and the population continues to grow at about 3 percent a year. In the late 1990 s and early 2000 s, Mecklenburg County was in flux, with the political majority of the board of County commissioners changing after every two-year election cycle. The community and County staff suffered from rapidly changing priorities after every election. One political majority believed the County government could be all things to all people and should provide many services, no matter the cost; the other believed that there is never a good reason to raise taxes no matter how many services must be cut.

2 Changes in the elected majority were accompanied by swings in political priorities, resulting in drastic changes in the County s budget priorities and decisions. In previous budget cycles, the elected officials and senior managers had sometimes chosen to make across-the-board cuts to all programs when the County needed to reduce its budget. While this is a relatively quick solution, the unintended consequence is that higher priority and better performing services are cut, sometimes more deeply, than lower priority and lower performing services. Mecklenburg County had also tried other standard budget cutting techniques such as the elimination of vacant positions, with the intention of protecting the jobs of current workers. However, this approach can have the unintended consequence of cutting vital jobs simply because of the timing of the vacancy.

3 For example, one year Mecklenburg County happened to have several vacant jobs in the customer service section of Tax Collector s Office (OTC), so these jobs were eliminated to balance the budget. However, during a property tax revaluation, the OTC was overwhelmed by the workload and was unable to process tax payments the very tax payments that were a much needed source of funding for the cash-strapped County . In retrospect, it was clear that cutting these vital positions simply because they were vacant was a poor strategy. In late spring 2001, the Board of County Commissioners for Mecklenburg County , North Carolina, had adopted a long-term vision for the community. The 500 word description painted a vivid picture of the future and was summed up with the tagline: In 2015, Mecklenburg County will be a community of pride and choice for people to LIVE, WORK and RECREATE.

4 The Institute Way provided Mecklenburg County as well as the public with an approach that is more transparent, responsible, sustainable and accountable to considering choices and consequences. As a result, it has focused all parties on results. 2000 Regency Parkway, Suite 425 . Cary, North Carolina 27518 USA . Phone: . Mecklenburg County case Study Page 2 of 14 County Manager, Harry Jones, who had been appointed to his role eight months earlier, was charged with guiding the County to this vision. But Jones recognized that County lacked a stable and sustainable approach to achieving the vision and it had no consistent model for making funding decisions based on priorities and assessing the bigger impact of those decisions.

5 As one of his first acts as County Manager, Jones decided the County needed to develop a model and structure for decision making that could be sustained regardless of economic conditions or political ideology. At the time, he had no way of predicting the long-term impact of this decision but the system he implemented led to break-through performance toward achieving the County s vision and the framework is, to this day, in use at Mecklenburg County . It is an integral part of how the County is managed and has become a model for other municipal governments around the country. The Decision Having an elected board reach consensus on the vision for the community was challenging. Translating that vision into action using a sustainable framework and system would require even more negotiation and agreement.

6 This stark reality led Jones to first outline a sustainable cycle of strategic activities based on a set of defined principles. The key criteria for the cycle was that it be a sustainable, comprehensive approach to planning, budgeting, performing, measuring and evaluating for results ( , managing for results). The agreed-upon cycle had five components, depicted in Figure 1. Figure 1: Mecklenburg County M4R Cycle Because this approach represented a new way of doing business, Mecklenburg County decided that there needed to be clear differences between this new approach and previous management methods. To do this, Jones established six Transformation Principles that would define and distinguish the Managing for Results approach, particularly in the context of funding decisions.

7 2000 Regency Parkway, Suite 425 . Cary, North Carolina 27518 USA . Phone: . Mecklenburg County case Study Page 3 of 14 These six Transformation Principles were: Understandable Being transparent and clear in decision making and reporting results Responsible Being responsive to the needs of the community and proactive in preventing community problems Sustainable Maintaining momentum in addressing long-term needs Affordable Operating within the financial means of the community Choices & Consequences Identifying all viable options and making informed decisions based on objective evaluation of projected outcomes Accountable Focusing on results and being accountable for decisions While considering how to institutionalize this sustainable framework and system, several Board Members who were familiar with the Balanced Scorecard asked Jones to explore the methodology.

8 John McGillicuddy, General Manager for Mecklenburg County Government, gathered more information about the Balanced Scorecard by attending a conference at which Howard Rohm was speaking about the Institute Way. McGillicuddy felt that this framework would meet the County s needs and in his subsequent report to the County Manager and the Board, he recommended the Balanced Scorecard but also emphasized that this would be a significant change initiative for the organization. The County Manager and Board committed to the concept of the new framework, which was named Managing for Results (M4R). This framework would be centered on making data-driven decisions based on objective measurement of results achieved, using the Balanced Scorecard as the primary performance management tool.

9 Shortly thereafter, the Balanced Scorecard Institute was selected to facilitate the process. Program Launch: Sponsorship and Engaged Leadership In addition to the leadership of Jones, the immense buy-in from the elected board was a critical success factor in the development and adoption of M4R. The board established the vision, the board adopted the Community and Corporate Scorecard, the board was very involved in a strategic review of all County -funded programs, the board conducted priority setting, and ultimately, the board began making funding decisions based on all these factors. While M4R hasn t removed political decision making completely, it has provided a more transparent process, and one that allows more stability and sustainability in planning, budgeting and managing services in alignment with the County s vision.

10 Program Launch: Communication and Change Management In 2001, to introduce the M4R philosophy and the concept of balanced scorecard to the organization, Mecklenburg County s Public Service & Information Department developed an internal communications campaign that began to build the brand of M4R as good government. This began with erecting signs and posters with the message of: M4R = G2. This mysterious equation simply appeared in all Mecklenburg County office buildings without any additional explanation for more than two weeks. This generated significant word-of-mouth buzz and speculation among employees as to the meaning. Subsequently, clarification was provided to employees at a time when they were most interested in listening and learning what this was all about.