Reporting on Outcomes: Setting Performance Expectations and Telling Performance Stories

Results, and more particularly outcomes, are at the centre of public management reform in many jurisdictions, including Canada. Managing for outcomes, including setting realistic outcome expectations for programs, and credibly reporting on what was achieved are proving to be challenges, perhaps not unexpectedly, given the challenges faced in evaluating the outcomes of public programs. This article discusses how the use of results chains can assist in setting outcome expectations and in credibly reporting on the outcomes achieved. It introduces the concepts of an evolving results-expectations chart and of telling a performance story built around the program’s results chain and expectations chart.