Over the recent years since Vision 2030 of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has been initiated, the massive changes within the operations of government entities have led to a rise of expectations for better communications with the stakeholders to achieve effective citizen engagement. Communication strategies and initiatives have been developed and launched with the initiation of KSA’s Vision 2030 in order to streamline the strategic objectives and clarify the roles of stakeholders and staff as well as identify the target audience and communicate with them more effectively.
To implement the communication strategy of any public entity effectively and efficiently, the communication plans should include what information should be communicated, who should receive that information, when that information should be delivered, and how those communications are tracked. Also, some actions need to be considered within the implementation of communication strategy, such as opening two-way communication means, using technology to streamline the communications, and focusing more on engaging with the audience–not just listening to them and answering.
Outstanding performance that can sustain positive results in the future is one of the key elements of organizational excellence.
Considering organizational excellence as what can drive organizations to a brighter future in terms of more profits, cost reduction, more customer satisfaction, referrals, better net promoter score; it is important to highlight the three pillars of the excellence model from the EFQM model 2020; direction, execution and results.
Having this in mind, the model stresses the need for methodological approach where we develop practices and processes, integrate them into the organization towards agile, effective, and efficient execution, in order to achieve better performance results internally (strategic and operational) and externally as perceptions from stakeholders (customers, citizens, and beneficiaries), which can sustain positively in the future.
The third criterion of the model, namely “Engaging Stakeholders,” focuses on ensuring continuous and positive engagement with all key stakeholders of the organization including employees/public servants. Employees are therefore seen as a key stakeholder, and having them as an integral part of any organizational excellence model emphasizes the need to shift the public sector’s focus from the traditional way of operations, in which public servants are only there to process the requests of citizens, try on their own to be energetic and efficient, awaiting their retirement, to a more competitive way, in which they compete with the private sector’s staff in terms of service excellence.
For this shift to happen, the key players are the employees, who will need to feel the need, accept and change towards a different mindset where they consider themselves not just as public servants but as drivers towards the public sector’s and country’s prosperity.
Leaders need to approve such a shift, align it with organizational purpose, direct it internally and externally, support it with the right values, allow change management to tackle all what needs to change step by step, and catalyze it with motivational culture.
A motivational culture can help public servants create ideas to improve, and innovate in the direction of efficiency and agility, so that they can get recognized internally and externally. Motivate them to be proud ambassadors for the country’s welfare. Motivate them so that they can understand and fully believe that they are the primary drivers of success.
Although motivation is one word, thousands of research papers have talked about it! So, let’s get back to the foundation of human beings without further complications: aren’t we survivors? Haven’t we gone through so many crises and changes in this world and made it safely in 2022? Accordingly, the desire to see what tomorrow holds for us and to consider what we may do now to get a greater return tomorrow is what drives us to get out of bed each morning in search of a better tomorrow.
Finally, I would like to refer to the very significant connection between motivation and sustainability. Motivation is one of the components of sustainability, which ensures that resources are preserved for current generations as well as all future ones.
Will sustainability direction, focus and efforts succeed? It will all depend on whether we, people, feel ourselves part of it and we are motivated enough to invest in it. How to feel this way and how to be motivated? Simply by ensuring our sense of belonging and our ability to effect the necessary change, both for our benefit and the benefit of all future generations.
No matter where an organization stands on its journey, ensuring that its performance management practices are up to par can influence its progress. Done correctly, this could be the edge that sets it apart from the competition.
The KPI Institute (TKI), through the efforts of the dedicated members of The Global Performance Audit (GPA) Unit, has successfully collaborated with the Talent and Performance Management Department of the Tourism Development Fund (TDF) to evaluate the performance management practices of the organization. This evaluation encompasses various areas, such as strategic planning, corporate performance management, employee performance management, and organizational culture.
The TDF is a young organization established in Saudi Arabia in 2020 with the mandate of driving growth in the national tourism sector by enabling private investments. With nearly 200 employees, the TDF has set up a formal division dedicated to managing strategy and performance. It comes with specialized departments responsible for handling key processes like strategic planning, corporate performance management, strategic initiatives portfolio, organizational excellence, research, and insights. Similarly, people’s performance and organizational culture are guided by specialized teams.
The KPI Institute’s maturity assessment for the division adhered to a holistic approach in both project coverage and methodology. In terms of coverage, the following organizational capabilities were evaluated: strategic planning, performance measurement, performance improvement, employee performance culture, and organizational culture.
Figure 1. Integrated Performance Management Maturity Model | Source: The KPI Institute
Regarding the methodology, TKI’s Integrated Performance Maturity Model includes a review of formal procedures and other official documentation (outputs) and insights from employees in the organization obtained through surveys and interviews with key internal stakeholders. All findings were rated against best practices using a scoring methodology, and the final score positioned the TDF on maturity level IV out of V (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Performance Management Maturity Level | Source: The KPI Institute
To read the full article and know more about the stages of a performance management system maturity assessment, download the PERFORMANCE Magazine Issue No. 27, 2023 – Government Edition now through TKI Marketplace.
Unlock best practices that drive success in the government sector with insights from the Tourism Development Fund’s performance management practices evaluation. Get your hands on the physical copy of the magazine via Amazon.
Islam Salahuddin is a data analyst with a strong focus on storytelling and data visualization, growing statistical knowledge, and developing a set of technical skills and tools. As an expert in data analysis at The KPI Institute, Islam leads the generation of research on the domain of data analytics and the development of business analytics toolkits.
The Global Government Forum’s Responsive Government Survey shone a light on the different perspectives that leaders and other members of government organizations have about their performance. Compared to 2021, recent research found that public and civil servants have lost confidence in government responsiveness. Despite this, there is a high percentage of respondents—most notably belonging to those in leadership positions—who believe that their agency is more than capable of learning and responding rapidly.
This positive outlook is present across the board among those in leadership roles, 73% of whom agreed that leaders were open to adopting new methods to better serve the public. This is in contrast to just 56% of managers and non-managers who agreed when asked the same question. Things are no different regarding morale, as 64% of leaders agree that it was high, in contrast to the overall response score of 54%.
Former cabinet secretary of Canada and current Jarislowsky chair of public sector management at the University of Ottawa Michael Wernick said, “It’s really important [for leaders] to develop [an] awareness of how their workforce is perceiving things—to take the pulse of their organization regularly and to deliver proof points to them.” Source: Global Government Forum
Stay ahead and empowered! Dive into the dynamic world of government strategy and performance management with the PERFORMANCE Magazine Issue 27, 2023 – Government edition. Download the magazine’s digital version at the TKI Marketplace and via Amazon for printed copies.
Islam Salahuddin is a data analyst with a strong focus on storytelling and data visualization, growing statistical knowledge, and developing a set of technical skills and tools. As an expert in data analysis at The KPI Institute, Islam leads the generation of research on the domain of data analytics and the development of business analytics toolkits.
