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Exerpt from Public Management February, 1988 ICMA Performance Evaluation: Evaluate or Not? That is Not the Question Lyle J.Sumek valuation is a fact of life. We are al- processes, as a facilitator of these processes, ways evaluating, whether it be perfor- and as a counselor to mayors,city councils, mance of a symphony, a sporting and local government managers. event,a meal, another person's behavior,or daily experiences. It is easier to evaluate an performance Evaluation: object than it is to evaluate a person who is Basic Definition likely to react to our comments. When eval- uating a person, we also find it easier to com- The evaluation process comprises three basic ment about them to others than to them di- stages: (l) reflection on past performance, (2) rectly. In response to this difficult task, identification of goals and direction for the mayors and councilmembers have often relied next year, and (3) development of action on informal comments regarding the manag- plans for implementing those goals and for er's performance—using their own methods overall performance improvement. of conveying their desired message to the Management literature defines perfor- manager. A local government manager's per- mance evaluation in a variety of ways. From formance evaluation can take place in a vari- this author's perspective, performance evalua ety of settings that might include the Rotary tion as related to the local government man- Club,a local bar while analyzing that eve- ager is defined as: nines council meeting, at community events, or through informal comments made to city Assessment of a manager's performance in employees. The basic question regarding completing assigned tasks and implement- manager performance evaluation is. What ing planned programs and services; assess- degree of formality is desired? ment of a manager's behaviors against de- Unfortunately, no single best method has fined standards of performance; been identified for conducting an evaluation identification of future work objectives and of the local government manager. This article tasks; and development of specific action attempts to: plans for future implementation of goals and for more effective management of the • Present some simple concepts on local gov- local government organization. ernment manager performance evaluation processes The specific reasons for conducting perfor- • Define the elements of a manager evalua- mance evaluations may vary among local tion communities. Several general purposes in- • Reflect on the realities of the manager clude the following: evaluation in the 1980s, both from the manager's perspective and from the local • To energize the local government manag- council's perspective er's performance • Outline key learning points and guidelines • To modify and change the individual be- for improving the performance evaluation bavior of the manager process for local government managers • To recognize and reinforce positive accom- plishments during the past year The thoughts and comments offered here a To identify and learn from setbacks and represent an accumulation of experiences and crises in order to prevent them in the fu- observations, compiled in the author's exper- ture ence as a designer or performance c-valuation • To strengthen the working relationships 2 PM February 1998