Case study 5.8

Dunedin City Council – Effectively managing the performance of asset-related staff means that the Council makes asset management part of "the day job"

Dunedin City Council has a clear and holistic performance management framework for strategic planning, operational management, and personal development, which is set out in its asset management plans. This provides an integrated, systematic, and logical flow to:

• link the Council’s activities to outcomes and well-beings;
• align all aspects of an activity’s key result areas, and link them to meaningful performance measures and targets that will provide minimum service standards; and
• link all aspects of an activity’s key result areas to the required team resources and individual day-to-day contributions of each and every member of the Council’s staff. This then forms the basis of individual performance management and development assessments that involve feedback and review.

In this way, individual staff can clearly understand what the Council is trying to achieve and their own unique contribution to delivering this. It is important to the Council that performance measurement is used to facilitate better organisational understanding, to direct improvement action, and to be positive not punitive.

This cascading process is supported by the key corporate teams of Asset Planning, Business Improvement, Financial Analysis, Human Resources, and Policy Analysis. This ensures the alignment of asset planning with performance measurement, financial management, and strategic planning.