1. Strategic Goals

Since 2017, the Arizona Governor’s Office has developed and updated the Governor’s Fundamentals Map, which identifies statewide priorities under key goal areas. All cabinet agencies are required to complete an annual strategic plan and to make it available to the public on their agency’s website. The plan includes annual objectives, initiatives, and performance metrics that are tracked in My Agency Scorecards. In 2020, the Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting hired a statewide Strategic Planner to further support the multi-year planning and performance data management processes.

In July 2022, the California Governor and the California Environmental Protection Agency released statewide strategic goals on climate and a climate dashboard to measure progress against goals. This complements the recently updated comprehensive, statewide Climate Adaptation Strategy that includes six key priorities supported with goals and actions, each of which has at least one metric to assess progress. Public engagement was a key part of that process and the state will release annual implementation reports that will promote transparency by tracking progress for each action in the Strategy.

On behalf of the Governor and Lt. Governor, the Executive Office for Administration & Finance publishes key metrics and performance targets for critical constituent-facing services and conducts an annual data-driven assessment to improve service delivery.

The North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) recommends that state agencies complete a two-year strategic plan each fiscal biennium. The agencies’ strategic plans include agency or department-wide goals, objectives, and strategies; performance and outcome measures and milestones; existing best practices; and areas for collaboration. The strategic plans conform with the statutory requirement to collect performance information as part of the Governor’s Recommended Budget. OSBM provides strategic planning guidance and facilitation services to support this process. Further, FY22-23 short session budget instructions included the Governor’s five budget priorities to create new jobs and foster economic growth and recovery; to strengthen education and workforce development systems; to promote healthier and safer communities; to advance equity; and to ensure an effective, accountable government.

The Oregon Governor’s Office published a series of strategic initiatives directly related to the current biennium (2021-2023), and specifically helping Oregon “build back better” after the COVID-19 pandemic. These strategic initiatives include a 10-point action plan for economic recovery, informed in partnership with the Governor’s Racial Justice Council, as well as a strategic direction for guiding Oregon’s recovery from COVID-19 within a framework of racial equity and social justice. The 10-point action plan includes concrete priorities and critical investments related to fostering economic growth and recovery in a post-pandemic Oregon.

The Pennsylvania Governor has three statewide priorities: Jobs that Pay, Schools that Teach, and Government that Works. For each of the goals, the Governor’s Office developed 15 subgoals with key performance measures sourced from the state’s open data platform to track the progress in all three strategic areas. Governor’s Goals metrics track outcomes such as employment and labor force participation rates; high school graduation rates; rates of health insurance coverage; drug overdose deaths; traffic crash fatalities; and customer experience indicators such as call wait times, abandoned calls, and customer satisfaction. The formation of these goals was guided by advisory commissions established by executive order, including: Advisory Commissions on African American, Asian Pacific American, Latino, Women, and LGBTQ affairs.

The Tennessee Governor has five priorities: education and workforce development, jobs and rural economic development, transparent and efficient government, Healthier Tennessee, and public safety and criminal justice reform. Specific metrics tied to the success of each priority are publicly displayed on Transparent TN. The Governor’s five priorities set the foundation for each cabinet-level department to create annual strategic plans, which drive department operations each year from October through the following September. In addition, through Tennessee’s Office of Customer Focused Government (CFG), statewide and agency goals are aligned in a deliberative operational planning process. CFG plans serve as the operational plans tracking key customer service areas and operations for each department. Each department’s operational goals and subsequent performance measures must focus on key service offerings (customer-facing services); budget, finance, and accounting; human capital and talent management; technology systems and equipment; and legal, audit, and risk management.

Vermont’s 2018-2023 Strategic Plan includes four statewide goals: the economy, affordability, vulnerability, and modernization. These priority areas were established by a 2017 Vermont executive order, which required all agencies “to establish the following cornerstones as their strategic and operational goals: growing the Vermont economy; making Vermont an affordable place to live, work, and do business; and protecting vulnerable Vermonters.” As required by a 2014 law and a related executive order, the state’s Chief Performance Officer annually reports data related to the state’s goals and fiscal transparency.

A 2013 Washington State Executive Order established Results Washington (Results WA) to strengthen performance management and continuous improvement throughout Washington State government. At that time, the Washington State Governor’s Office issued five overarching goal areas with aligned outcome measures: world-class education; prosperous economy; sustainable energy and clean environment; healthy and safe communities; and effective, efficient, and accountable government. Results WA is responsible for developing a system of work that supports these five goal areas as well as ongoing state initiatives.

In 2021, Results WA updated its strategic planning efforts for integrating continuous improvement (including Lean) and performance management. The goal is a feasible, attainable, and sustainable approach that is guided by feedback gathered from agency partners. Iterative implementation was started in January 2022. The five goal areas will remain the same, but how they are defined for the future and operationalized will be updated as a part of this planning process.