Impact & Excellence

Impact & Excellence is the culmination of a four year research study into the most successful data-driven strategies for today's non-profit and government organizations. The book focuses on five strategic elements to success based on proven principles, with solutions that are easy to implement and often lead to sweeping change. Each chapter includes discussion questions and action items to help leaders implement key concepts in their own organizations. Included with purchase is access to the Measurement Culture Survey, which, will allow readers to access a free benchmark report.

• Learn to implement a measurement culture that emphasizes strong performance and measurable outcomes
• Read vivid case studies from successful organizations that do things differently
• Learn to utilize and leverage data to take decisive actions within your organization
• Avoid common barriers to developing a measurement culture and learn ways to overcome limitations

The book utilizes a series of experiences and templates to help leaders develop a unique action plan tailored to their organization's particular circumstances. Filled with real success stories to inspire readers and with full study results available in the appendix, Impact & Excellence is a crucial resource for leaders to enable their social sector organizations to prosper and compete in today's economy.

Foreword by Barbara Riley vii

Preface xi

Introduction xv

1 Social-Sector Impact and Excellence: The Call to Be More Strategic 1

2 The Imperative Future State: High-Performance Measurement Cultures 8

3 The Reality: We Are Not as Good as We Think We Are 25

4 Nonprofits and Measurement Cultures 38

5 Government and Measurement Cultures 58

6 Letting Go of Excuses: The “Five C’s” of Easy and Effective Impact and Excellence 78

7 Culture and Leadership 94

8 Clarify Mission 119

9 Capture Impact: Getting Started 147

10 Capture Impact: The Next Steps 170

11 Communicate Value 194

12 Change and Celebrate 215

13 Taking the First Step 229

Appendix A Leadership and Culture Self-Assessment 241

Appendix B Measurement Resources’ Measurement Culture Study Results 243

References 251

Acknowledgments 257

About the Author 259

Index 261

SHERI CHANEY JONES is the president and founder of Measurement Resources Company. She has over 15 years of experience helping government and nonprofit organizations achieve performance and budgetary goals. At the Ohio State University, Sheri teaches Creating Measurement Cultures as part of the Ohio Certified Public Manager’s Program. She holds a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology from Central Michigan University and is a member of the American Evaluation Association and the Ohio Program Evaluators Group.

In an era of tight budgets and funding challenges, social sector organizations are suffering. Public opinion of government agencies and nonprofits is at a remarkable low. Leaders of these organizations need to breathe renewed vitality into the work of promoting the social good. In Impact & Excellence, Sheri Chaney Jones shows exactly where this vitality will come from. Using the “Five Cs” framework, readers will be inspired to implement measurement cultures, not out of fear, but out of excitement. This book’s distinctively practical orientation allows leaders to create action plans that account for their unique realities, identifying and overcoming obstacles along the way.

There is no clearer case for the value of measurement than the author’s four-year study. Impact & Excellence draws on the evidence to present illuminating case studies and success stories that anyone can emulate. Using templates, discussion questions, and the High Measurement Culture and Leadership Self-Assessment Tool, readers of Impact & Excellence can provide their organizations with hands-on guidance through radical transformation and high performance.

In her original research with over 200 government and nonprofit organizations, Sheri Chaney Jones found a strong positive correlation between organizational outcomes and cultures that value data and measurement. Data-driven change is not, as many have long thought, a way to make the social sector more like the business sector. Quite the contrary—Impact & Excellence is a manual for using measurement to capture the strengths of mission-driven organizations, allowing us to do even more good in the communities we serve.