Today's communities—whether they are currently strong, or struggling to survive—face difficult challenges if they want to be tomorrow's healthy, vibrant communities. The challenge for leaders and citizens of modern communities is not just to solve specific problems today. Their real challenge is to keep learning from their experience so they can keep improving their communities tomorrow. Results That Matter will provide a new governance framework for using valuable tools of community improvement—especially performance measurement and citizen engagement—to empower communities to achieve the outcomes their citizens most desire. Government and nonprofit managers will learn how to combine these tools in new ways, not only to achieve one-time improvement of their organizations and communities, but to foster continual community renewal and improvement. The benefits and practicality of the framework and related practices will be reinforced by case examples from 25 communities across the country. The book will offer "how to" guidance to public and nonprofit managers, including promising practices for effective communities, and new roles for citizens, community leaders, and managers.

#1 New York Times Bestseller Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive. In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress—to measure what mattered. Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results. He had first discovered OKRs in the 1970s as an engineer at Intel, where the legendary Andy Grove ("the greatest manager of his or any era") drove the best-run company Doerr had ever seen. Later, as a venture capitalist, Doerr shared Grove's brainchild with more than fifty companies. Wherever the process was faithfully practiced, it worked. In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone's goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization. The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization's most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention. In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.

" All too often, literacy assessments are given only for accountability purposes and fail to be seen as valuable resources for planning and differentiating instruction. This clear, concise book shows K-5 educators how to implement a comprehensive, balanced assessment battery that integrates accountability concerns with data-driven instruction. Teachers learn to use different types of test scores to understand and address students' specific learning needs. The book features an in-depth case example of a diverse elementary school that serves many struggling readers and English language learners. Reproducible planning and progress-monitoring forms can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size. "--Provided by publisher.

Compilation of essays on outcomes-based funding, contracting, and financing for the social sector.

People want to buy from, work for, and partner with companies that matter. So how do you build a company that matters? Companies and people that matter have successfully become the obvious choice in the hearts and minds of their customers, their employees, and their communities. They elevate themselves by consistently finding ways to solve the most pressing needs their markets face. The result? They create more value year after year and build a sustainable, differentiated organization. In Matter, Peter Sheahan and Julie Williamson show you how to identify the place where you can create the most value—your edge of disruption—at the intersection of old and new, where your existing profits, reach, and reputation enable you to create the markets of the future. This is the place where the most important problems are solved and where the fewest people can solve them. Your edge of disruption is where your opportunity to matter is found. Matter uses extensive case studies of real companies that have successfully become the obvious choice in their markets—from high-profile corporations like Adobe and Burberry to lesser-known brands like Littlefield and BlueShore Financial. Their stories define innovative and impactful approaches to business that you can use to influence and partner with the right customers and clients to win in our radically changing world. Through their journeys, you will find the inspiration and courage to lean in to complexity and solve the higher value problems that matter most. Don't just read this book—use it to identify and act on opportunities to create the most value and accelerate your own journey to becoming a person and a company that matters.

How do you motivate the disengaged, and further engage the engaged? The answer is to foster meaning at work and give work a greater sense of personal significance, thus making work matter. The startling truth is that 70% of the workforce is disengaged - their bodies may put in long hours, but their hearts and minds never punch in. This is a terrible dilemma for organizations trying to motivate employees to do more with less. Make It Matter is the antidote to crisis levels of disengagement and the first book that serves as a practical, yet inspiring how-to guide for motivating by creating meaning?- the?motivational force of our times. Distilling research, case studies, stories, and interviews with managers at great companies to work for, leadership expert Scott Mautz unveils 7 essential Markers of Meaning that can be triggered to create meaning in and at work. You'll get dozens of tools and learn about the power of: Direction - Reframe work to add meaning and motivation, and help people find a sense of significance and purpose in what they do Discovery - Craft the richest kind of opportunities to learn, grow, and influence, while helping people feel valued Devotion - Cultivate an authentic, caring culture, master meaning-making leadership behaviors, and drive out corrosive behaviors that can unknowingly drain meaning at work When people feel that they matter, they give their all. Channel that power and everyone profits.