On the ludicrous search for the magical performance system.(managing public agencies through perfect system)

The search is on. Public officials everywhere--in national, states, and provincial capitols--are looking for the best performance system. For once they find this system, they will (they believe) have solved their performance problems. And public officials everywhere are desperately trying to solve their performance problems. That is why they keep searching for the ultimate performance system.

They won't find it.

Why? Because it isn't there. The magical performance system doesn't exist. Even a good performance system doesn't exist. Systems don't improve performance; leaders do.

Still, the concept of a performance system is deceptively seductive. The system does the work. That's why any system is so alluring. A system is like an engine. You push the start button, and the system does the work.

Thus, to many, the challenge of improving the performance of public agencies (and nonprofit and for-profit organizations, too) is to find the right system--the perfect system. Sure, this system might be elusive. It might be hard to find. Indeed, it might be difficult to comprehend when first sighted. It might not stand out like a mountain.

But it's there. It's got to be. Someone has already discovered it. Someone has already perfected it. We just have to find this clever someone, this magical system.

Then, all we need do is import this system into our organization, set it up, and push the start button. Once the system is going, we can move on to something else.