Performance Culture

Performance culture self-assessment

This self-assessment instrument is designed to assist you in determining where your organization lies on the path to becoming a true performance culture. Results from this self-assessment will provide general indicators for actions necessary to move your organization toward performance culture status.

Instructions

Determine the scope of your responses. Will they cover the entire organization, a division, a department or a single work unit?
Enter the name of the unit that is being assessed in the space provided.
Rate each question using a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates a low level of agreement with the statement and a 5 represents a high level of agreement.
After you have completed the assessment, add the numbers in the “Rating” column.
Locate your status in the chart provided at the end of the assessment.

Guidelines for rating questions

Imagine that you have conducted a survey and asked everyone in the organization to answer the following 20 questions. You have the results in hand. Choose your rating based upon the percent of people in the organization who you believe would agree with the following statements.

Rating	Percent of Agreement Responses
1	0-20% Agree with the statement
2	21-40% Agree with the statement
3	41-60% Agree with the statement
4	61-80% Agree with the statement
5	81-100% Agree with the statement

Assessment Statements	Rating
The organization is guided by a mission/vision that is expressed in clear and measurable terms.
The vast majority of people in the organization know and support the mission/vision.
Senior leaders demonstrate commitment to performance excellence in tangible terms.
Key objectives describing organizational success are clear and expressed in measurable terms.
People at every level in the organization possess a persistent interest in finding ways to improve productivity.
The organization maintains a human resource plan that identifies the competencies and key positions required to meet strategic objectives.
Resources are allocated to programs and processes based upon their anticipated contributions to meeting organizational objectives.
Employees’ work plans are framed by clear and measurable performance expectations that are aligned with strategic objectives.
There are serious consequences for employees who consistently fail to meet performance expectations.
Top performing employees or employees performing at above average levels receive significant rewards and/or recognition.
Everything important to organizational productivity is measured and tracked for trends.
Performance goals and progress toward those goals are openly communicated throughout the organization.
Great effort is made to hiring, motivating, developing and retaining top performing employees.
Employees are encouraged to give serious attention to their own career development.
Barriers to individual and/or organizational performance are consistently identified and eliminated.
Formal operating rules are minimized in favor of treating employees as mature adults.
Investments in employee development are tailored to building the key competencies required to meet organizational objectives.
Decisions that move the organization toward meeting stated objectives are based more upon data than emotion.
The organization quickly innovates ways to deliver products or services better, faster or cheaper.
The organization is consistently recognized by stakeholders for achieving remarkable results.
Record the total for your self-assessment.

Making sense of your self-assessment

The following table provides a brief general overview of your self-assessment results and offers suggestions for how you might proceed.

Score	Comment
91-100	Congratulations! Your organization qualifies as a performance culture. It is highly likely that your organization already is recognized by stakeholders for remarkable performance and by other similar state government agencies as an industry leader.
81-90	Great! Your organization is well on its way to becoming a performance culture. Continue to strengthen those areas where you received the highest rating and develop strategies for improving in areas where you rated the lowest.
71-80	Good work. Your organization has achieved forward momentum leading toward becoming a performance culture. Continue to look for the most meaningful places where efforts are likely to increase forward movement. Focus on areas where progress is likely.
61-70	Your agency has achieved some movement toward becoming a performance culture. It will be necessary to develop additional momentum in order to realize more of the benefits. The focus might be identifying and removing barriers to the transition.
60 and below	There are many opportunities available for developing strategies that move the organization forward toward becoming a performance culture. The key focus might be on developing the business case for making the transition to a performance culture.

For more detailed analysis of your self-assessment results and additional suggestions for moving forward toward becoming a performance culture, please refer to the Assessment Analysis.


		Performance Culture Self Assessment