A results framework can show what an organization intends to achieve. A performance report can describe what happened. Neither, on its own, tells us whether evidence changed a decision.
That is the practical distinction at the heart of managing for results. The objective is not simply to collect indicators or demonstrate that activities were completed. It is to use information to understand progress, question assumptions and improve the choices made along the way.
From reporting to learning
In their article on John Mayne's contribution to results-based management, Steffen Bohni Nielsen and Steve Montague emphasize leadership and an evaluative culture: an environment in which organizations use and learn from performance information. They describe leadership responsibilities involving expectations, operations, change, and people and systems.
For practitioners, this suggests a useful shift in emphasis. Instead of asking only whether a report is complete, ask what the information means for the next decision. Does it support continuing an approach, changing it, examining an unexpected result or seeking additional evidence? These are proposed questions for practice, not a new reporting requirement.
Culture makes the difference
Research by Giorgio Giacomelli, Marta Micacchi and Lorenza Micacchi offers a further caution. In the public-administration setting they studied, innovation and group subcultures were associated with perceived performance, while results and rules subcultures were not significantly associated with it. Employee engagement also played a mediating role.
These findings do not establish that results frameworks are unimportant. They suggest that formal systems need to be understood alongside the organizational conditions in which people use them. The study concerns perceived performance in a particular setting, not a universal test of every results system.
A practical starting point
Choose one indicator already collected by your organization and ask: What decision could this information inform? Who needs to interpret it? What would prompt a change in action?
If the answers are unclear, the next improvement may not be another indicator. It may be a clearer decision, a better conversation or a stronger connection between the people producing evidence and those using it.
Lesson learned
Managing for results is more than terminology. It is a commitment to connecting evidence, leadership and learning with action. The framework supports the work; the work is using it.
What is one decision your organization could improve by making better use of information it already collects?
Continue the conversation through PPX learning and knowledge exchange, and share a practical example from your own setting.
Sources and further reading
- Steffen Bohni Nielsen and Steve Montague. John Mayne's Contribution to Results-Based Management Thinking: A Leadership Legacy. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 37(3), 2023.
- Giorgio Giacomelli, Marta Micacchi and Lorenza Micacchi. Performance shall not live by results alone: organizational subcultures and perceived performance in public administration. Public Money & Management, 44(6), 2024, 500-514.
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