City leaders need measurable performance goals
It’s surprising to learn from Ledger reporting that Lakeland city commissioners and Mayor Sara Roberts McCarley don’t see value in having transparent performance evaluations — in a public forum — for its two top officials. That’s bad public policy.
Further, it’s unclear if City Manager Shawn Sherrouse and City Attorney Palmer Davis have any written annual performance goals.
A basic tenet of modern management is that annual performance evaluations and goal-setting are essential to justify job retention, pay raises and promotions. Without measurable performance goals, those decisions are prone to be erratic, inconsistent and subject to whim and emotion rather than irrefutable data. Without data-based goals, how will managers know precisely what their boards’ expectations are?…