Made2Measure

Effective performance measures drive success. They are clear, focused, and actionable. They serve both as incentives and practical tools for improvement. Not uncommonly, the act of measurement itself will trigger positive actions. The 20-item court Employee Engagement survey developed by the National Center for State Courts for both trial courts (see Measure 8 of the CourTools ) and for appellate courts (see Measure 7 at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddc3k4gt_14cpvjn2c2 ) is a measure that fits this bill. Employee engagement is a constant challenge for court managers. This challenge is even more daunting for “millennials” – a new crop of young people in the work force who were born between 1980 and 2001. Court managers will need them for succession planning as retiring baby boomers leave their positions. Trouble is that the general perception of the millennial generation seems to be that it has great – and sometimes unreasonable -- expectations. These young workers tend to be more op...

The Montana Supreme Court last month became the first high court and only the second state appellate court (see the Oregon Court of Appeal’s 2007 Bench and Bar Survey ) to survey members of the state’s appellate bar and trial bench about how well they believe the state high court is performing. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, it made a summary of the survey results public almost immediately. As explained by Montana Chief Justice Karla M. Gray in a cover letter posted on the Supreme Court’s website yesterday ( see Montana Bar and Bench Survey Results ), the Court asked nearly 1,000 appellate lawyers, as well as all of Montana’s District Court Judges and the University of Montana Law School teaching faculty, for their thoughts on the Court’s performance. Respondents rated the Court’s performance in areas central to its primary obligations, including whether the Court’s decisions are based on facts and applicable law, whether the Court’s published opinions...