Developed societies all have an attribute in common: the public-service institution. Government, health care, education, research and the military are all major institutions that a society needs in order to properly function and maintain the corporate businesses around it.

Without education, the ability to develop individuals to be effective in specialized roles is not there. Without effective government, individuals could take advantage of each other and fall into anarchy. Without hospitals and the military, our safety is at risk whether it is medical or adversarial. Even though these institutions do not look onto themselves as a corporation, they still need to be managed for performance in order for society to continue to better itself.

The role of the public-service institution driving society means the importance of effective management needs to be implemented. One can receive an education, or one can receive an excellent education. One be a politician, or one can be an effective politician. A hospital can be running, or a hospital can be optimally running. The stronger these administrators, commanders and directors are, the stronger the “multi-institutional” society will be. Food, clothing and shelter are no longer enough as these are the basics to survival; what a country needs is new standards of excellence to improve survival.

There are six ways a public-service institution can be managed for performance:

1. The mission. “What is our business and what it should be” is the first question anyone starting an institution needs to ask. “Why are we here?” “What is our role?” “Are we necessary?”. The primary question needs extra thought and attention; a university that has a mission of “We will enhance society by continuous research and development of knowledge” can be completely different from: “We will enhance society by reviewing the past and implementing its rewards for the future”.
2. State and follow clear objectives and goals that relate to the function and the mission. The setting of goals and objectives not related to the mission is mis-management.
3. Setting minimum standards of performance, set priorities in regards to setting targets and hold someone accountable for results relating to the targets placed. One needs to be accountable of winning or losing a war, keeping the government budget in check, or holding their administrators accountable in an emergency ward.
4. The institution needs to define measurements of performance based on the effectiveness outside the business. It is not enough to look inward and say, “We have the best team, we are highly organized and are managing effectively”. Surveys need to be done to the public: Are the right potholes being fixed? How do you feel the response time is in the hospital compared to last year? How many households have access to clean water?
5. With the measurements of performance in hand, the institution the needs to act and adapt to these numerics and build a system of continuous checks and balances in order to maintain effectiveness.
6. In conclusion, the institution needs to review the systems that were created and maintained and optimize the systems that are performing, and remove or re-build the ones that are not. The analysis is based on performance and performance only, as everything else is a cost center.

There is never a need to burn through money, especially taxpayers, if the program is ineffective or outdated. The need for an institution to keep a project “because we just need to” can impact resources and result in doing the “wrong things”. An update to the mission may be necessary with the changing times and the changes resulting in the development of society.

Perhaps a new government program is needed to replace the welfare system established decades ago? Perhaps new standards in hospitals need to be set due to developing technologies? Perhaps a university could go global due to the world becoming a “flatter” place with everyone being connected? All questions are questions that can be asked and should be asked. The answers depend on what the public wants and how the institution performs.