Season 1: Episode 2

The Playbook

The Playbook, the overall plan, describes how to look at the 7 Layers of Government from different angles so you can see what’s really broken and know what to do.

The 7 Layers of Government

Mission and Vision are the foundation of the agency. Mission is the purpose or prime objective of the agency. Vision is the north star, where the agency is headed. Together they are the engine that drives the agency. In government, the Mission is often distorted and the Vision is usually missing.

Goals are the key objectives that will accomplish the Mission. In 1993, the White House wrote (with help from the Reinventing Government office) and Congress passed GPRA, The Results Act. GPRA requires every federal Department and major agency to publish an annual performance report with mission, goals, strategic activities, budgets and results.

Programs, Policies and People: How is the Agency DIVIDED UP? What are the Offices and Programs? Which office gets what Budget and Staffing? Here’s where government turns into a BUREAUCRACY and writes really bad policy.

Budgets are how government spends taxpayer money. It’s mostly all broken and wasteful. Measures of Success: Did you do what you said you would do? Is that what the American people want?

Communication and Coordination happens within and across from agencies. Culture is the sum of an agency‘s beliefs, assumptions and values. As my guest Kathy Monahan and I discuss in Episode 2: The Playbook, agencies can be broken in many different ways all at the same time.

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Transform Government: Five Plans and the Secret Sauce by Lynn S Kahn