Results

1. People Are Policy: Prioritize Leadership and Team Building

The capability, experience, and values of the people empowered through each step of the Results Framework allow us to realize the implementation of policy—and ensures an initiative’s success.

Leadership is paramount. The "people are policy" principle asserts that the individuals chosen to lead and execute are as crucial as the policies themselves. Effective policy remains an abstraction without capable people to bring it to life. This means prioritizing the selection of leaders and building strong teams from the outset, recognizing that this "soft stuff" is, in fact, the hard work of governing.

Qualities for success. When selecting leaders, focus on a blend of knowledge, know-how, and a collaborative spirit. For instance, Governor Baker appointed Stephanie Pollack, a known transit advocate and Democrat, as Secretary of Transportation, despite political differences, because of her deep expertise and willingness to tackle challenges. This approach emphasizes:

• Knowledge and know-how: Understanding the subject matter and the ability to translate ideas into reality.
• Collaborative gene: Acknowledging that public service is a team sport, requiring common ground and respect for diverse roles.
• Diverse experience: Actively seeking candidates from varied backgrounds, including different political affiliations, ethnicities, and professional experiences, to bring fresh perspectives and better represent the community.

Building capacity. Beyond top leadership, "people are policy" extends to the entire organization's capacity to perform. This involves strategically adding staff, consultants, or reallocating existing personnel to dedicated, mission-oriented teams. For example, the creation of the Strategic Operations Team in the governor's office provided in-house consulting support, deploying talent to critical initiatives across state government, ensuring that agencies had the necessary skills and resources to drive change.

2. Follow the Facts: Uncover Data and Human Points of Pain

Taken together, data evidence and points of pain offer a mind-and-heart perspective on what needs to change.

Objective understanding. To effectively address any problem, a rigorous, unbiased approach to gathering facts is essential. This involves collecting both quantitative "data evidence" and qualitative "points of pain" to form a comprehensive understanding of the issue. For instance, when tackling the rural internet access problem in western Massachusetts, the team gathered data on population, finances, and topography, alongside personal stories of frustration from affected residents and businesses.

Two types of facts:

• Data evidence: Quantitative and qualitative snapshots of current programs, including staffing, costs, technical processes, historical trends, and peer comparisons. This provides the objective details underpinning a change effort.
• Points of pain: Specific, tangible human stories that illustrate the real-world impact of the problem. These anecdotes move the issue beyond abstract numbers, revealing what is broken and suggesting practical solutions that data alone might not.

"Get out of the tower." Leaders must actively seek information beyond internal reports and office walls. This means engaging directly with those impacted, talking to external experts, conducting site visits, experiencing the service as a customer, and learning from peers in other jurisdictions. The Registry of Motor Vehicles tragedy, where thousands of license suspension notices were ignored, highlighted the catastrophic consequences of failing to uncover lurking facts and the need for leaders to create environments where bad news can be raised without fear.

3. Focus on How: Translate Intent into Action and Execution

How is about the capacity to perform so that good people guided by the facts can succeed faster, better.

Execution is everything. "Focus on how" is the engine of the Results Framework, bridging the gap between defining a problem and achieving meaningful impact. It acknowledges that even with talented people and clear facts, success hinges on the capacity to perform—the meticulous translation of policy and programs into effective implementation and operations. The Covid-19 Community Tracing Collaborative exemplified this, rapidly building a virtual call center and sophisticated data system within weeks.

What to do, how to do it. This step involves two critical components:

• What to do: Defining the policies, programs, and proposals to address the problem. This sets the parameters, goals, and charter of activities, representing the intention and direction.
• How to do it: The operational fulfillment of that charter. This requires a different skill set focused on logistics, technology, people, and facilities, ensuring that design translates into delivery. The Affordable Care Act's initial rollout struggles demonstrated that a strong "what" (legislation) without sufficient "how" (implementation) leads to disaster.

Structured approach. Effective implementation demands clear project governance, organizing work into manageable projects and work streams, and a dedicated, mission-oriented team. This structure ensures clarity on decision-making, accountability, and resource allocation. For instance, the Eviction Diversion Initiative, facing a flood of applications, reset its governance to streamline processes and provide focused decision-making, transforming a potential roadblock into an enabler of rapid change.

4. Push for Results: Measure, Evaluate, Adjust, and Repeat

Our attention is best put on how we are doing and where we are going, measured against where we were and how we were doing six months or a year ago.

Metrics drive performance. "Push for results" means continuously determining if outcomes align with goals and if specific interventions are working. This involves integrating private-sector discipline of measurable performance into public service, focusing on metrics beyond just budgets and narratives. The MBTA's recovery from "Snowmageddon" in 2015 demonstrated this, using green-yellow-red tracking charts for every aspect of service to monitor progress and identify problems.

Three levels of metrics:

• Top-line results: Overall impact (e.g., total cases, hospitalizations for Covid-19).
• Key services/programs: Performance of specific initiatives (e.g., on-time performance for MBTA, call abandonment rates for Health Connector).
• Individual transaction level: The granular experience of the customer (e.g., wait times at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, resolution of individual health insurance issues).

Continuous improvement cycle. The core of "push for results" is the "measure, evaluate, adjust, repeat" cycle. This involves regularly reviewing performance metrics in open forums, dissecting successes and failures, and making rapid course corrections. For example, when Massachusetts' initial Covid-19 vaccine rollout stumbled, the team quickly reevaluated its approach, adjusted distribution models, and improved the appointment system, ultimately becoming a top performer among states.

5. Embrace Public Sector Uniqueness: Collaboration Over Competition

The strength of the Results Framework is that it builds on a deep understanding of what makes the public sector different.

Distinct operating rules. The public sector operates under fundamentally different rules than the private sector, and effective governance embraces these distinctions rather than trying to force a "business principles" mold. Decisions are public, agendas are broad, budgets are rigid, and legislative mandates often dictate "how" work is done. Unlike the private sector where failure might lead to competitors stepping in, government services are often a last resort, making failure unacceptable.

Collaboration is essential. By design, government institutions disperse power, making collaboration, cooperation, and compromise not just desirable but necessary. The Bridgewater State Hospital turnaround, improving conditions for men with severe mental illness, succeeded by bringing together diverse stakeholders:

• Patients' families and legal advocates
• Staff and their union
• The state legislature for funding
  This required trust, humility, respect, and compromise from all parties to achieve a positive outcome, demonstrating that "working with" is more effective than "working at" one another.

Beyond partisanship. The framework encourages leaders to transcend partisan divides, focusing on shared purpose and problem-solving. Governor Baker's bipartisan cabinet and chief of staff appointments signaled an administration focused on internal government workings rather than political scorecards. This approach fosters an environment where the best ideas, regardless of their origin, can be embraced to deliver results and restore faith in public services.

6. Crisis as Opportunity: Act Decisively and Build Capacity

Never waste a crisis. Here was a crisis, and here was an opportunity.

Catalyst for change. Crises, while challenging, present unique opportunities to address long-standing, intractable problems that the status quo has resisted. The "Snowmageddon" of 2015, which crippled the MBTA, exposed decades of underinvestment and forced a comprehensive overhaul of the transit system. This moment of acute failure became the impetus for fundamental structural change.

Immediate intervention. When an agency is in crisis, it requires a different kind of help—support beyond its existing capacity. This often means external intervention and the creation of dedicated teams. For the MBTA, Governor Baker established a special panel of national and local experts to conduct a "no-holds-barred evaluation," leading to the creation of the Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) and a new leadership team.

Building new infrastructure. Crises necessitate the rapid creation of new infrastructure and processes. The Covid-19 pandemic, for instance, spurred the immediate establishment of the Covid-19 Response Command Center, led by Secretary Marylou Sudders. This center rapidly built capacity for:

• Global procurement of PPE
• Massive expansion of testing infrastructure
• Development of a statewide contact tracing program
• Protection of the healthcare system through surge capacity and field hospitals
  These actions, though born of urgency, laid foundations for sustained response.

7. Urgency and Agility: Disrupt the Status Quo for Faster Outcomes

Urgency can disrupt the status quo, but it must be evident.

Time as a tool. Urgency is a powerful trigger for change, especially in bureaucracies resistant to new approaches. By leading with time in the project-planning triangle (time, scope, resources), aggressive deadlines are set, forcing organizations to prioritize, innovate, and act quickly. The Community Tracing Collaborative, for example, aimed to make its first calls within two weeks, rapidly developing a functional system with subsequent improvements.

Agile implementation. The framework advocates for an "agile" approach, breaking down large, multi-year efforts into smaller, meaningful chunks that deliver incremental improvements over the short term. This contrasts with traditional "waterfall" methods that delay significant results until a project's end. The Massachusetts Health Connector turnaround utilized a "rapid-release approach," implementing system enhancements every six to eight weeks, creating a continuous stream of improved functionality and building confidence.

Challenging bureaucracy. Urgency directly combats the "status quo"—the unspoken force that maintains existing habits, procedures, and interpretations of rules. It demands new approaches and stretches the organization to do things differently. The DCF turnaround, facing a need for hundreds of new hires, streamlined its laborious employment methods through a business-process analysis, eliminating redundancies and introducing job fairs to accelerate recruitment from months to days.

8. Beyond Averages: Seek Granular Data for True Insight

When a presentation starts with “On average, we have found …,” our eyebrows furl. Why? Because averages hide what’s actually going on at the individual level.

Averages mislead. Relying solely on average metrics can mask critical underlying problems and lead to ineffective interventions. Averages obscure extremes and can make situations appear acceptable when, at the individual level, severe issues persist. For example, the MBTA's average on-time performance looked acceptable, but granular data revealed significant delays during peak commuting hours when trains were busiest and most crowded.

Granular data reveals truth. To truly understand a problem and design effective solutions, it's essential to break down data to the individual customer or transaction level. This deeper dive reveals the true "points of pain" and informs targeted interventions. Examples include:

• Registry of Motor Vehicles: Average wait times concealed that some customers faced hours-long delays at busy locations.
• Rental assistance applications: An average processing time of 6-10 weeks hid hundreds of applications dating back to the previous summer.
• DCF social worker caseloads: An average caseload of 19 masked that over 40% of social workers were responsible for 20 or more families, endangering vulnerable children.

Informing targeted action. By unpacking data at the individual experience level, the most effective interventions can be made. For the DCF, this led to categorizing offices by performance and developing specific caseload management strategies tailored to individual social workers and local office needs, ultimately reducing high caseloads and improving child protection. This focus ensures that resources are directed where they are most needed, leading to more equitable and impactful results.

9. Communication is Paramount: Transparency Builds Trust

Good communication builds partners and enables trust.

Essential for public sector. While important in the private sector, communication is absolutely essential in the public sector, where every decision is open to scrutiny. A comprehensive communication plan is a requirement for successful initiatives, ensuring timely, accurate, and helpful information reaches all stakeholders. This includes elected officials, partner agencies, and, crucially, the public.

Proactive and transparent. Effective communication involves more than just announcements; it's a continuous, two-way process. This means:

• Involving communication leads: Integrating them into leadership and team meetings to ground messages in project realities and raise key questions.
• Planning rollouts: Carefully orchestrating how new policies, reports, or operational changes are communicated to avoid surprises, especially for elected officials and impacted communities.
• Seeking feedback: Actively listening to various audiences to understand how messages are received and to inform necessary adjustments.

Media engagement. Public sector leaders must embrace the media, viewing reporters as proxies for the public. This involves being available, preparing thoroughly, understanding different communication forums, and building relationships based on trust. Governor Baker's emotional airport press conference after the Patriots plane delivered PPE, or his candid remarks about the vaccine rollout's "hair on fire" moments, demonstrated authenticity and transparency, even in challenging times.

10. Learn from Failure: Adjust Quickly and Persist Relentlessly

I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

Embrace course correction. No major initiative, especially in the complex public sector, proceeds without setbacks, disappointments, and detours. The framework emphasizes that failures are learning opportunities, and the ability to quickly identify, acknowledge, and adjust is critical for sustained progress. This requires humility and a willingness to pivot when facts on the ground change.

Murphy's Law is real. Leaders must anticipate that "if something can go wrong, it very likely will." This means planning for potential failures, having prevention strategies, and being ready with rapid responses. When the Massachusetts vaccine appointment website crashed, Governor Baker's team quickly expanded partnerships, strengthened the existing site, and built a new preregistration system, demonstrating a rapid "measure, evaluate, adjust, repeat" cycle.

Persistence over perfection. The journey of public service is about "grinding it out"—steady progress, necessary course correction, and relentless advance. It's not about achieving perfection on the first try, but about the courage to acknowledge mistakes, learn from them, and keep pushing forward. The DCF turnaround, despite the tragic death of David Almond, continued to embrace recommendations and make improvements, recognizing that continuous enhancement is vital for child welfare.

11. Build Trust: Effective Government Nurtures Democracy

Good government services are not just what we should expect; they are necessary to nurture and protect our democracy.

Government's vital role. Government, when managed with intelligence and compassion, is a powerful solution to many societal problems, and the only solution to some. Caring for vulnerable children, providing health insurance to the poor, or creating reliable transit options are incredibly hard tasks, yet they are essential functions that underpin a functioning society. The Covid-19 pandemic starkly highlighted how much lives and livelihoods depend on effective local, state, and national governments.

Performance builds trust. Effective public services are part of the implicit contract between the people and their government. When government delivers results and reports them honestly, it builds trust in public institutions. Conversely, faulty services breed cynicism and undermine belief in democracy. As political scientist Amy Lerman notes, people experience policy not as partisans, but as parents or patients, and tangible benefits can change their views, breaking through partisanship.

Beyond partisanship. The framework implicitly argues that focusing on the "how" of governing—the practical, iterative work of problem-solving—is crucial to counter the toxic brew of factionalism and mistrust that often dominates public discourse. By demonstrating that government can do big things and do them well, leaders can restore faith in collective action and protect democratic institutions from populist narratives that thrive on perceived ineffectiveness.

Last updated: January 17, 2026