Wearing my hat as liaison and executive coach with the ICMA Center for Performance Analytics, I have the opportunity to spread the word about the importance of performance management in local government. As professional managers, we know it’s important, and we have a lot of techniques for gathering and analyzing data about the services our local governments provide—but why do we do it?

To answer this question for myself and my peers, I got some inspiration from a TED Talk that has been making the rounds in management circles lately. The presenter, Simon Sinek, uses private-sector examples to argue that the real “value proposition” for a product, service, or practice originates not in what you’re doing, or how you’re doing it, but in why.

In the video, Sinek illustrates his point by drawing an image he calls “The Golden Circle”—which looks like concentric circles with the “why” in the center. And his point is that inspired leaders and organizations think “from the inside out.”

I started thinking about how this principle applies to performance measurement and management. And it became clear. The value is not in what we do (collect and analyze data) or how we do it (surveying citizens, recording key activities), but in why we do it. And here are six reasons that I came up with:

• To know where we are, where we’re going, and how we’re progressing. Without measures, it’s impossible to know with certainty whether we’re achieving organizational goals and meeting expectations for public services.
• To challenge the status quo and determine if we can do things better, cheaper, faster. Performance data provide the basis for measures of efficiency, effectiveness, and customer satisfaction and can suggest areas for improvement.
• To provide a common language for communicating about performance with staff, elected officials, and the public.
• To focus staff efforts on outcomes and results that align with organizational goals and objectives—in other words, to help ensure that everyone is rowing in the same direction.
• To support decision making by the council and managers as they balance demand for services, available revenues, and other resources during each budget cycle.
• And to sum it all up, the fundamental “why”—the value proposition—is that performance management is the way we hold ourselves and our organizations accountable for improving the quality of life in the community.

When council, citizens, and staff understand the “why”—and when that understanding is accompanied by transparent sharing of performance information—they are more likely to engage in consensus building around desired outcomes and results.