National Staff Help Wanted: Director Performance Measurements

Shipmates,I've received a very interesting help wanted request via the District Chief of Staff for a Director of the new Performance Measurement Directorate. If you have the requisite skills I encourage you to apply for the position. It is likely that they will also be staffing some of the Directorate positions with applicants for the Director position. So why does this matter? The key item is in the vision statement for the Directorate: "identifying and measuring outcomes and results, not just member activity". An outcomes and results focused set of measures will make a far better case to the Coast Guard, DHS, Congress and the President that we are the absolute best value in government and that our efforts deserve to be funded.

In addition there is a saying in business "what gets measured gets managed". We currently tend to manage for recruiting (and to a lessor extent retention) and hours/activity in certain missions because these are the things for which we have numbers. I've spoken before that there are a whole series of things that happen between recruiting and actual mission performance including member training, qualification maintenance, and member satisfaction. We need processes in place which collect the data for our Flotilla leaders to manage these and other issues while simplifying the reporting processes for the members -- this position working with IT will be responsible for moving us towards giving our leaders the tools they need.

What might this look like? What if, as a Flotilla Commander, you could easily track where all your members are in qualification processes? What if the system let members indicate which training and qualification they wanted to pursue (online individual development plans) so you could manage training programs? What if you could access a risk profile for an adjacent, unserved or underserved area and plan your expansion in light of the data and ask for the requisite funds based on how you will reduce the risk in that area? What if you could get an estimate of the lives saved by your PV, VE, PA and PE programs?

Interested? Have a look at the Director position, the Directorate description, and keep your eyes open for more information in the months ahead.

DIRECTOR PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS (DIR-M)

Mission: The Director, Auxiliary Force Readiness Performance Measurements, under the direction of the Assistant National Commodore, Planning and Performance Support, assists Auxiliary leadership in the development of measurement tools, concepts and strategies in order to evaluate the effectiveness of Auxiliary programs, provides the Leadership with insights and strategies to better align performance with measurable outcomes, and offers recommendations for increasing program effectiveness.

Functions: Under the general direction and supervision of the National Commodore; the Deputy National Commodore for Force Readiness, and the Assistant National Commodore for Planning and Performance Support, the Director of Performance Measurements shall have the following duties:

• Be responsible for the vision, direction, leadership and administration of the Auxiliary’s performance measurement.

• Supervise and provide quality control of the programs and projects administered by the Performance Measurement Directorate.

• Maintain close liaison with related offices in the Coast Guard to assure that service policy and procedures are understood and followed.

• Coordinate closely with other Directorates in developing an effective evaluative process of the outcomes of relevant programs.

• Coordinate specific activities and/or requests as assigned with the Auxiliary leadership and appropriate Coast Guard offices.

• Partner with other National Directorates and programs to insure seamless integration and maximum efficiency for the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

• Write articles on performance measurement topics for Navigator and other publications.

• Design and deliver training and presentations on Directorate-related topics as required.

• Carry out special projects as requested.

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS DIRECTORATE

Vision: The Auxiliary Force Readiness Performance Measurements Department will evaluate the contributions of the Coast Guard Auxiliary to our principal “customers” – the recreational boating public and the U.S. Coast Guard - identifying and measuring outcomes and results, not just member activity.

Mission: The Auxiliary Force Readiness Performance Measurements Department is responsible for measuring and evaluating Coast Guard Auxiliary performance in each of its mission areas, as well as its overall effectiveness and contribution.

In the area of recreational boating safety, we evaluate the Auxiliary’s impact in protecting boaters from boating casualties.

In the area of Coast Guard Support, we evaluate our readiness and ability to augment Coast Guard missions.

Strategic Imperatives:

Identify the key sources of data and other information required to measure performance; evaluate the integrity of the data; participate in the improvement of data collection systems and the development of new systems; and create new information collection systems, such as surveys and other qualitative measurement tools.

Identify measures of effectiveness in recreational boating safety nationwide, and by geographic region, collaborate with Coast Guard districts and Auxiliary districts and regions to correlate Auxiliary activities with recreational boating safety outcomes.

Coordinate our efforts with those of the performance measurement resources within Active Duty FORCECOM to integrate Auxiliary efforts and assist in advancing Active Duty FORCECOM doctrine and readiness programs.

Collaborate with each Auxiliary Department and the Auxiliary National Leadership to develop outcome-related measurements of the effectiveness of each of our programs, as well as the impact of those programs on our impact as an organization.

Develop and maintain specific measurements of Auxiliary training, standardization, interoperability and readiness to support and augment Coast Guard mission areas and advance operational doctrine.

Support Area/District/Sector efforts to evaluate the contribution of the Auxiliary in qualitative and financial terms.

Develop Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTP) as well as practical tools to enable unit leadership (Flotilla, Division, District and National elected and appointed officers) to evaluate readiness and performance in each mission area. These tools should be easier to access than the current AUXDATA/AUXINFO resources, and should provide for appropriate drill-down and communication with staff officers. Some sort of “dashboard” may be developed to assist elected leaders with these tasks.