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/ Canadian Government Executive
// September 2015
Innovation
time to engage in results-based planning
and implementation. This approach suc-
ceeded on minimizing this commitment
while maximizing participant contribution
to identifying their program outcomes.
In each case, the “lead” facilitator (an ex-
perienced evaluator) was tasked with the
first step of identifying the context. The
facilitator also assumed the task of antici-
pating and, in some cases, suggesting the
desired results. In order to do so, the fa-
cilitator has to thoroughly understand the
organization’s business culture, mandate,
and objectives, as well as the environment
in which it operates.
The notion of “follow the money” was
an important strategy in this preparation.
That is, the identification of the strategic
focus — the mandate and strategic out-
comes of the department — ultimately
conveyed the raison d’être for the depart-
ment’s existence, as well as revealed what
directly matters to the public.
Traditionally, the lead facilitator will
also engage participants in step 2 of build-
R
esults-based management (RBM)
is a challenge. Approaches to
building and implementing this
critical strategic tool are numer-
ous, but there is no evidence to suggest
which one is the most effective. While there
are indispensable factors that will make
RBM a success, such as the organization’s
culture, leadership and general readiness,
the other key ingredient — participant en-
gagement — is one that is much more dif-
ficult to include.
We have successfully used an efficient
method to maximize participant attention
and time, based on a tailored outcome(s)
focus (Shown below). This approach, the
“lean RBM,” was utilized in several federal
departments since 2012, but I’ll drawon two
case studies. The distinction between them
was that steps three and four were conduct-
ed differently. An additional benefit of the
approach is that it made the identification
of practical and meaningful performance
measurement indicators a lot easier.
Managers and employees have limited
The “Lean” RBM
Betty Ann M.
Turpin
Lead
facilitator
Lead facilitator
engages participants
Lead facilitator
engages participants
Lead
facilitator
Lead
facilitator
Environment
Mandate
Inputs
Activities
Outputs
What’s Important?
To Whom and why?
Description of
intent and
recognizable
achievements
Stakeholders engaged in
discussion on final draft
Revisions made by Lead
2. Logic Model
1. Context
3. Outcomes
4. Outcome
Description
5. Validate
DIAGRAM 1: An Efficient and Effective RBM Approach