Vol. 3, No. 1, September 2005 Bob Behn's Copyright © 2005 by Robert D. Behn Public Management Report

An occasional (and maybe insightful) examination of the issues, dilemmas, challenges, and opportunities in leadership, governance, management, and performance in public agencies.

On the relevance to public managers of: The Anna Karenina Principle

"Happy families are all alike; every un- Here is an abridged list of just ten of the happy family is unhappy in its own way." With many problems that challenge the leadership this dramatic sentence, Leo Tolstoy begins his team of any public agency: famous novel Anna Karenina about the strug- gles of multiple, interconnected families to find The Macro-Purpose Problem: What is our happiness. agency's mission? What will be the long-run public pur- To be happy, suggests poses that our agency will Tolstoy, a family has to seek to achieve? solve a large number of complex problems: How The Strategy Problem: does the family deal with How will we pursue this money, with children? How purpose? What exactly does it divide up the fam- should we do to accomplish ily’s responsibilities? How our mission? does it manage the pres- sures of employment? And, The Theory Problem: of course, how do Tolstoy’s How will this strategy families cope with adultery? work? How will the activi- If a family fails to handle ties and actions specified in any one of the many problems that all families our strategy contribute to the achievement of must inherently face, it will be unhappy. our purposes?

The only way a family becomes happy is by The Measurement Problem: How will we solving all of these problems. Unfortunately, know whether we are doing a good job? What the family cannot solve these problems indicators will help us measure how much individually—one at a time. All of these prob- progress we are making? lems are interconnected. Thus, if the family fails to solve any one of them, it will provoke The Target Problem: What specific level of other problems and thus unhappiness. these indicators will we attempt to reach this year, this quarter, this month, this week? (To The same principle applies to government solve this problem, the agency’s leaders need agencies: Effective public agencies are all another theory—an operational theory that alike; every ineffective public agency is ineffec- connects progress on the chosen indicators to tive in its own way. After all, like a family, a progress on achieving the agency's macro public agency faces a very large number of purpose or mission.) inherent and interconnected problems. Thus, to be effective, an agency’s leadership team The Communication Problem: How will we has to solve every one of them. convince employees, stakeholders, elected Bob Behn's Public Management Report September 2005

The Anna Karenina Principle (continued) page 2

officials, and citizens that our mission, strat- public agency helps to explain why their job is egy, theory, measurement, and targets make so challenging. Moreover, an agency's lead- sense? ership team has to resolve these multiple problems while dealing with numerous and The Resources Problem: How will we obtain conflicting outside pressures. the funds, authority, and flexibility necessary to achieve our targets and thus our purposes? Sure, the family has to cope with the outside pressures from relatives and friends. The Motivation Problem: How do we per- Indeed, the web of families and friends that suade our employees, partners, and stake- Tolstoy weaves dramatizes not only the inter- holders to implement our strategy with energy connectiveness of their problems but also the and intelligence? interconnectiveness of the relationships that shape these problems. The Learning Problem: How can we figure out how Still, the number of peo- to improve? What must we The Anna Karenina Principle ple who believe that they do this year so that we can applies to government: Effec- have the right to tell a family modify our strategy to get tive public agencies are all what to do is notably smaller even better next year? alike; every ineffective agen- than the number of people cy is ineffective in its own who believe that they have The Credibility Problem: way. Thus, to be effective, a the right—indeed the civic How do we establish in the public agency has to solve obligation—to tell a public minds of citizens, stake- every one of its problems. agency what it should do. holders, and elected officials that we are achieving our No wonder that many purposes and making a sig- public agencies are ineffec- nificant contribution to society? tive and thus unhappy. Each of these ineffec- tive and unhappy agencies is, of course, These ten problems are certainly not the unique—ineffective in its own, distinctive way. only ones that the leadership team of a public And there are many, many ways in which a agency needs to solve. Any public executive public agency can be ineffective. can—with little effort—quickly add another ten items to the list. The true, unabridged list is To create a truly effective public agency— very long indeed. And, unfortunately, if an one that not only performs well this year but agency’s leaders fail to solve any single one of also performs even better next year—its lead- these problems, they are condemning the ers have to solve every one of the many man- agency to ineffectiveness. agement challenges that they confront. d

Moreover, all of these problems are inter-

connected. The agency’s leaders cannot solve R ob e rt D . B e h n is th e au th or of Performance one problem without simultaneously solving Leadership: 11 Better Practices That Can Ratch-

numerous others. An agency’s leaders cannot et Up Performance an d a lecture r at Harvard solve their strategy problem without also University's John F. Kennedy School of Gov- solving their theory problem. They cannot ernment. solve their credibility and resources problems without solving their communication problem. As a member of the team of Kennedy School And they cannot solve their communication faculty who lead executive-education pro- problem without solving their mission, mea- grams for the public sector, Bob chairs “Driv-

surement, and target problems. ing G ove rn m e n t P e rform an c e : Le ad e rsh ip Strategies that Produce Results.” He also This interconnectiveness among the multi- conducts custom-designed executive programs ple problems that confront the leaders of any for public agencies, most recently in Lisbon.

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