14 / Canadian Government Executive // January/February 2022 PERFORMANCE ments are also in place. (This phase will include benchmarking to compare progress to the World Customs Organization (WCO) and its Working Group on Performance Measurement which is identifying the best indicators to measure progress in customs performance.) Phase 4 – Evidence Based Culture and Decision-making - This level of performance will be observable throughout the Agency (both horizontally and vertically). Senior management is provided with clear and focused evidence-based performance products that contribute to their management decision making. Phase 5 – Optimized culture change – At this final stage, CBSA will be fully compliant with Central Agency policies with respect to PIPs and evidence-based decision-making. Additionally, the reporting burden will be optimized and automated where possible and the Business-lines will be empowered to make decisions within their authority to address gaps and act upon opportunities for integrated enterprise-wide performance reporting. Finally, culture change is part of the optimized stage since a learning organization, enabled by strong performance measures, fosters evidence based decisionmaking and behavior, which in turn facilitates discussion with TBS on business cases for funding and other resourcing such as training, purchase of new equipment, automated data collection systems, etc. In fact, CBSA’s senior executive team “has committed to building a healthier culture as part of transformation” by establishing a team dedicated to culture within the Chief Transformation Officer Branch” (CBSA Cultural Diagnostic, 2019). SUMMARY This article describes what has taken place within CBSA related to the State of Performance in the Agency. It specifically describes the assessment phase and the process of support to improve the quality of PIPs. The article also identifies remaining gaps and opportunities and provides a pathway of actions going forward to move the State of Performance toward Optimized maturity. Included also will be comparisons to the World Customs Organization as part of benchmarking. Finally, the article makes the link between organizational transformation and culture change and performance measurement. This is important since PM is not just an exercise in accountability or learning for its own sake. Rather, PM can help facilitate evidence-based decision-making which, not only assists with better decision-making and business case defense but also supports culture change. Peter Drucker is famously quoted as saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This is because culture is the shared beliefs and values established by leaders and is communicated and reinforced by behaviors and understanding which result in the organization’s performance. As the CBSA Cultural Diagnostic points out: “As the Titanic’s captain grasped a little too late on that fateful night in 1912, 90 percent of an iceberg’s mass lies beneath the surface. Culture is similar as it includes observable behaviors (what and the how above the surface) as well as everything underneath – the shared mindsets and beliefs that influence how people in an organization behave. Just like a captain navigating frigid waters, anyone trying to understand an organization’s culture must recognize that most of what matters cannot be readily seen.” Thus, in order to change the culture of an organization, there must be alignment between the desired optimized maturity level and the behaviour of people in the organization. The literature verifies that when these are aligned, transformational organizations perform optimally and are able to report their success in their performance measurement systems (Kroll and Vogel (2014)). References: 1. The above ratings constitute a Likert scale (1-5) used to measure the stages below. 2. CBSA has developed tools and handbooks for capacity building on PIPs and communication including assessment tools, and input tables which describe assessment of elements of PIPs and invite client feedback and participation. Figure 1
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