Managing for joint outcomes: the breakthrough from the front line

Abstract

Moving from planning for outcomes through formal accountability documents such as Statements of Intent to actually managing for outcomes is a difficult challenge – the ‘reach for the impossible’, in Weber’s words. But it is an important challenge if we are to achieve the goal of ‘a world class system of professional State Services serving the government of the day and meeting the needs of New Zealanders’. One way to progress managing for outcomes is through top-down approaches, reflected in the central agency guidance, Getting Better at Managing for Shared Outcomes.