Measure Performance!

As organisations conclude their mid year performance appraisals at work and revise their goal sheets for the year ahead for each of their employees, I cannot seem to track down any document that explains the performance or the performance goals for the current year, of a single bureaucrat or elected representative across the country. As shareholders question and evaluate every rupee that is invested / spent in the delivery and growth of the organisations' services, how are citizens and corporates empowered to question and debate the performance of their elected representatives in an objective and organized manner? ( without being affiliated to a lobbying group or an affluent business family that contributes to political parties).

As responsible citizens and companies pay taxes on an annual basis within the stipulated norms, and contribute to the country’s “equity” , it would be a rational expectation to have the ability to measure the performance of the government on social and developmental initiatives on a regular basis. Just as we participate in the equity of a leading corporation and become a shakeholder, we are citizens and hold equity in this country.

We can vote for a change or continuance of our representatives in government and hence the administration every five years, but if we are legally obligated to pay our taxes annually and corporates are required to share their performance with their shareholders on an annual basis, then I quite often wonder why the time frame for evaluating, commending or assisting in the governments performance should be five years?

As the attendance levels of the elected representative consistently declines each year in parliament, citizens are unable to arrive at the productivity metrics of our eyes and ears in the government. There is increasingly a distinct need for a transparent and frequent dialogue between citizens and elected representatives which needs to be complemented with a clear and comprehensible evaluation framework and simple metrics that can be referred to and understood by the common man. This would, I hope result in understanding better how our representatives and administrators are performing and simplifying the maze of political machinery.

Can our representatives in Government participate in an annual performance evaluation exercise? Have outlined below a few thoughts on the structure and approach that could be adopted for the same, leveraging the reach and transparency offered by the Internet.

The performance appraisal process of our members of parliament to be over-viewed by a panel of supreme court judges, a leading audit firm and a set of citizens from corporate and social streams rotated annually. The role of the panel would include the formulation of a standardized goals template to be developed incorporating development indicators reflecting progress in agriculture, employment, pollution, education, healthcare with predefined weightage ranges. The roles of a member of parliament can be broadly classified into two areas, the first being the design and introduction of new policies and the second being in driving the development of their respective constituencies. The goal sheet should focus on the latter thereby laying greater emphasis on action oriented tasks that have resulted in development in the appraisal year.

The representative is to define his performance objectives in line with the political manifestos of their respective parties, and the developmental aspirations for their constituencies. The goal sheet to be made available on the Internet on a website managed and overseen by the panel.

The members of parliament to provide their mid and year end appraisals with a self score in the year end self appraisal. Citizens should be able to post queries and views at both appraisal stages and rate the performance of their representatives at the year end on each of the parameters.

The final scores of each member and the aggregate performance of each of the political parties to be published

The challenges are going to be in arriving at macro economic data such as employment, inflation and fund inflows which may not be available within the appraisal timeframes, but we should suffice with estimates which are subsequently adjusted and published.

This might sound quite audacious and probably lacks a global precedent but could hopefully trigger a revival in the political conscience of Indians the world over and a greater appreciation of the complexities of the political and administrative processes. However even more importantly would probably catalyze a greater sense of accountability and performance orientation that is much required to fuel the all round growth and turn around the increasing cynicism and indifference to politics in India amongst the mass affluent.