That’s the thesis of a report recently published by the IBM Center for the Business of Government, Performance Accountability: The Five Building Blocks and Six Essential Practices.

The 72-page report offers practical suggestions and real-life examples of how to make a government organization more accountable without creating a culture that becomes obsessed with avoiding punishment. Putting too much emphasis on performance measures can actually lead to weaker performance, author Shelley H. Metzenbaum asserts.

Metzenbaum, a visiting professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, devotes a short chapter to each of the five building blocks:

1. Set clear, measurable goals. An example is President John F. Kennedy’s target of landing a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s. He didn’t just say, “Let’s build a strong space program.” Nor did he threaten penalties or promise incentives. He gave a very focused goal with a deadline.

2. Use measurement to motivate, illuminate and communicate. Metzenbaum advises caution with measurements such as performance rankings. People who go into sales typically thrive in environments that compare performance. Others, such as people who choose government as a career, are less likely to be “stimulated positively through comparison.”

3. Provide verbal feedback. Goals and measures “have little value unless someone pays attention to them.” In fact, just paying attention to employees sometimes is “the magic motivator” that can make all the difference, Metzenbaum said.

4. Make time for “interactive inquiry,” which means holding scheduled meetings to promote group feedback. Frequent meetings reinforce the power of goals and measures when they are used to discuss progress, identify problems and get feedback from others. But this building block only works if meetings are done “in an honest, open and accepting atmosphere.”

5. Use externally provided incentives cautiously. Punitive external incentives, such as speeding tickets, can be powerful in some circumstances, but they can also backfire, Metzenbaum said. If an incentive is too powerful, people sometimes resort to “measurement manipulation” or setting “timid targets.”

The free report is available at www.businessofgovernment.org, or by calling (202) 515-4504.