Our Mission

Transferring Knowledge to Transform Organizations

The Performance Institute is a private, non-partisan think tank seeking to improve government performance through the principles of performance, competition, accountability, and transparency. Based in Washington, D.C. and San Diego, the Institute serves as the nation's leading authority and repository on performance-based management practices for government.

Through national conferences on pressing issues, interactive executive training programs, best practice research and strategic consulting services, the Institute provides cutting-edge expertise in the design, implementation and evaluation of strategies to solve operational challenges, improve customer service and enhance organizational performance.

The Institute offers consulting and training to federal agencies, allowing them to access comprehensive and experience-tested methodologies for achieving radical transformations within their programs and workforce. To achieve these transformations, the Institute specializes in:

Focusing on Outcomes
Recognized as a national authority on performance measurement in government, the Institute helps agencies define measures for “hard-to-define” outcomes.

Identifying Breakthrough Strategies
Whether for an external policy issue or an internal operational challenge, the Institute has recognized thought leaders who develop and implement clear and potent strategies for government.

Evaluating Program Effectiveness
The Institute’s use of program logic modeling and intermediate outcome measures solves the challenge of tracking and reporting program-specific contributions to end-outcomes.

Redesigning Program Structures
“If we weren’t already doing this today, would we start doing this tomorrow?” The Institute’s approach devises answers to this fundamental, yet rarely asked, question and proposes options for redesigning agency program structures and processes.

Aligning Resources to Results
The Institute’s methodology for transforming or aligning traditional budget structures for use in performance budgeting has been used by Congressional appropriators and agency budget officers alike.

Facilitating Stakeholder Dialogue
Unlike a “customer-focused” business, government deals with customers, legislators and other stakeholders. As a result, the Institute’s approach relies heavily on soliciting and incorporating the input of stakeholders into the planning and performance measurement selection process.

Managing Organizational Change
Performance measures are only powerful when they are used by agency leadership and managers. As such, the Institute cascades strategies and performance goals to an agency’s program structure through refined change management techniques.

Enhancing Employee Performance
The Institute drives performance concepts to the individual level through models for human capital planning, workforce assessment and individual employee performance agreements and plans.