Case Study: The League of American Orchestras
Background

The Center for What Works worked with the League of American Orchestras, (“the League”), to develop a performance measurement framework, from September 2007 through April 2008.  The 8-month project resulted in a dashboard with the following benefits to the organization:

 

·         A clear link between the League’s strategic plan and measurable indicators of progress toward their goals;

·         A visual understanding of the efficiency and effectiveness of their programs and services delivered to their membership of over 950 orchestras across the country; 

·         A communication tool to connect department staff, the senior management team and the board with a common articulation of success and the process for achieving it internally and then articulating it externally.

 

The consulting project was in direct alignment with The Center for What Works’ path to continuous improvement and this case study will outline the process, people involved and deliverables.

  

  1. Executive Leadership/Getting Started
  2. Exploration: Drive for Program Improvement/Performance Measurement
  3. Learning: Expanding Knowledge
  4. Toward Implementation: Successes and More Learning
  5. Implementation: Staff Readiness for Advanced Training/Professional Services

Implementing a Performance Measurement Culture: 

The League’s Successful Strategic Change Initiatives

 


1. Executive Leadership/Getting Started

In January 2007, Jesse Rosen, then Executive Vice President and Managing Director for the League of American Orchestras, participated in a WhatWorks overview training webinar.

 

In the introductory level session, we cover the following basic objectives:

  • Learning about outcomes and why you should care
  • Sample Frameworks (Outcomes Sequence Chart and Success Equation)
  • How to gain organizational buy-in

 After the session, Jesse sent us this testimonial:

The “What Works” webinar introduced an incredibly valuable tool for creating a framework for measuring impact.  The framework imposes a discipline for clarifying goals, outcomes and strategies and focuses attention on what you are accomplishing as opposed to what your are doing.  I look forward to incorporating these practices with our staff and to the organizational learning we expect to experience.  

 

He felt that it was a great fit as their organization tried to figure out how to implement their strategic plan.  He then suggested that four of his senior staff participate in a webinar, which they did, in the spring.

2. Exploration

Based on the experiences and buy-in of the senior team and their internal communication with staff, we received the following message from Jesse in July:  “Our staff is really eager and we've gotten past most of the threshold anxieties…” 

 

Our ensuing discussion concluded that they wanted to implement a performance measurement framework, piggy-backing off some of the take-aways their executive team worked-though in the initial WhatWorks webinar.  The League had devoted significant time and energy to their strategic planning process and they wanted to find a tangible way to measure progress toward the 5-year plan, rather than only doing cursory reviews at the end of each year.

 

To that end, the League hired WhatWorks to help them develop a dashboard of key measures that would align with their strategic plan.  On an ongoing basis, this dashboard would track the League’s success toward its strategic goals, specifically for their over 950 orchestra members across North America and allow them to report key data both internally for management action, as well as externally to the board and donors.

3. Learning: Expanding Knowledge

In September, WhatWorks introduced the project to the entire staff and answered questions regarding the process, deliverables, and resources needed to maintain the performance measurement framework.  These face-to-face meetings solidified the organizational understanding, involvement and commitment.  The project was spear-headed by the VP of Membership Services and Marketing and it was clear that all departments would have an influential role in the implementation.

 

4. Toward Exploration: Successes and More Learning

WhatWorks started by following the process outlined in our Level II workshop, guiding the League to meet the following objectives:

 

  • Solidifying key outcomes in relation to mission (or impact statement);
  • Attaching indicators to key outcomes;
  • Learning about data collection and implementation;
  • Understanding the process of converting frameworks into a dashboard;
  • Developing a culture for measurement.

5. Implementation: Staff Readiness for Advanced Training/Professional Services

 

With commitment throughout the organization to learn and grow based on a strategy that they could believe in and one in which the staff feel a part of the process and its ensuing success, we began to actively develop the performance measurement framework.  We worked with the individual departments and the executive team on an ongoing basis.

 

The League agreed that member satisfaction was a key component of data, in addition to hard metrics from the programs.  To arrive at rigorous conclusions to the question of satisfaction, given the complexity and breadth of the League’s offerings, WhatWorks sub-contracted part of the research effort to our research partner, the Urban Institute, to help with the design and distribution plan for a comprehensive member satisfaction survey.  Two months into the project, the League distributed the survey to almost 15,000 members.  We then analyzed the results and organized key questions into various indicators for the dashboard.

 

Next steps included adding the non-survey information to the dashboard (i.e. data and information that the League’s various departments already gather or need to gather on a regular basis to inform the overall performance of their services to members).

 

After a draft and review process, the executive management team approved the dashboard framework.  We then presented the finished product to the entire staff, including recommendations for setting appropriate targets, collecting data, reporting, making changes based on key stakeholder feedback, and organizational learning toward continuous improvement.

 

In April 2008, we presented the dashboard to the League’s board of directors in a presentation titled:  “Implementing Strategy by Measuring Results”.  The explanation and final deliverable were widely accepted and the League is spending time this summer through the end of the year to refine targets, update the next version of the customer satisfaction survey, present results to board committees and make programmatic changes for 2009.  

 

Key Success Factors

 

·         Leadership from the top down, including an executive to champion the process;

·         Solid internal communication as well as open communication with WhatWorks;

·         Consistent project management and inclusion of staff at all levels;

·         Board support.

 

Next Steps

Although the League is continuing the process on its own, we maintain communication as welcome the opportunity to assist with further projects, either to continue this work or to expand the program outcomes to other key strategic areas, including community engagement, financial sustainability, and management effectiveness.

 

WhatWorks is now working with the League’s Director, Leadership Training and Recruitment, to offer our training seminars to appropriate orchestra members across North America.  To date, we have reached about 30 member orchestras to assist in their process of programmatic performance measurement.  We are exploring deeper conversations with a handful of orchestras to assist with taking their strategic plans to the next level of implementation.


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