Tools
Practical worksheet tools for accountable governing
The wisest thing, we suppose,
that a man can do for his land,
Is the work that lies under his nose,
with the tools that lie under his hand. —Kipling
Useful tools that help implement GSG concepts
This collection of GSG's 22-tools can be used in sequence or select the tool that matches the decision at hand. Each form is designed to preserve evidence, ownership, deadlines, public explanations, and correction. Users are free to modify tools to fit their needs.
SELECT Implementation Tools
Tools for evidence-based candidate screening and selection. Choose people for public authority using job-related standards, evidence, fair process, and a preserved decision record.
Public Office Job Description Builder—GSG Select 1: Defines an office’s legal powers, essential duties, limits, selection method, resources, and reasonable performance expectations before candidates are evaluated.
Citizen Priority Selection Kit—GSG Select 2: Guides citizens and public bodies in converting broad public concerns into three to five measurable, governable priorities worthy of concentrated attention.
Candidate Qualification Matrix—GSG Select 3: Translates the public-office job description into weighted, job-related qualifications, evidence requirements, minimum thresholds, and consistent candidate scores.
Candidate Evidence and Reference Review—GSG Select 4: Provides a documented process for verifying a candidate’s claimed experience, results, conduct, references, and responses to material adverse information.
Candidate Conflict and Independence Disclosure—GSG Select 5: Identifies financial, organizational, personal, legal, and political relationships that could impair independent judgment or require disclosure, safeguards, or recusal.
Candidate Interview Scoring Sheet—GSG Select 6: Uses common questions, behavioral scoring standards, and documented evidence to make candidate interviews more consistent, comparable, and transparent.
Political Party Gatekeeper Review—GSG Select 7: Helps a political party determine whether a prospective candidate meets published minimum standards of legality, competence, integrity, democratic conduct, and governing readiness.
Candidate Selection Decision Record—GSG Select 8: Creates an auditable record of the selection process, criteria, evidence, conflicts, recusals, dissent, decision rationale, and final disposition.
FOCUS Implementation Tools
Tools for outcomes, measures, resources, authority, and reporting. Convert public priorities into verified baselines, measurable outcomes, credible measures, resources, ownership, and transparent reporting.
Promise-to-Performance Converter—GSG Focus 1: Tests whether a campaign promise can be converted into a measurable, authorized, funded, deliverable, and publicly reportable governing commitment.
Baseline and Evidence Verification Worksheet—GSG Focus 2: Establishes and verifies the starting condition, data source, definitions, calculation method, limitations, and evidence needed to judge future improvement.
Public Outcome and Goal Builder—GSG Focus 3: Converts a selected public priority into a defined outcome with a verified baseline, measurable target, deadline, evidence source, and honest statement of governmental control.
Measure Quality Test—GSG Focus 4: Evaluates whether a proposed performance measure is relevant, valid, reliable, timely, comparable, understandable, and resistant to manipulation.
Goal Ownership and Authority Map—GSG Focus 5: Clarifies the public owner, decision rights, shared authority, dependencies, handoffs, escalation routes, and accountability arrangements for achieving a goal.
Priority to Budget Alignment Worksheet—GSG Focus 6: Connects a selected priority to current spending, proposed budget changes, staff capacity, funding sources, tradeoffs, approvals, and public explanation.
Public Dashboard and Reporting Plan—GSG Focus 7: Defines what a public performance dashboard must report, who owns and verifies the information, how often it is updated, and how changes or corrections remain visible.
DELIVER Implementation Tools
Tools for milestones, reviews, correction, consequences, and learning. Track execution, review performance, correct misses, apply fair consequences, and preserve lessons for future governing.
Correction Trigger Builder—GSG Deliver 1: Establishes warning and failure thresholds in advance, together with the responsible owners, required responses, disclosure duties, and evidence needed to close a correction.
Recognition and Consequence Ladder—GSG Deliver 2: Links verified performance conditions to proportionate recognition, support, intervention, loss of discretion, political consequences, or lawful removal processes.
Milestone Delivery Tracker—GSG Deliver 3: Tracks milestones, owners, deadlines, dependencies, proof of completion, risks, recovery actions, and public status between the baseline and final outcome.
Performance Review Meeting Guide—GSG Deliver 4: Structures recurring review meetings around verified results, essential questions, decisions, corrective actions, responsible owners, deadlines, and public follow-through.
Corrective Action Plan—GSG Deliver 5: Documents the triggered failure, immediate public protection, verified causes, corrective actions, authority, owners, deadlines, evidence, escalation, disclosure, and closure requirements.
Term Performance Scorecard—GSG Deliver 6: Creates an evidence-based review of an official’s commitments, authority, resources, execution, results, corrections, stewardship, and overall performance during a term.
After Action and Lessons Review—GSG Deliver 7: Converts a completed initiative, crisis, correction, or term into a record of results, causes, decisions, differing perspectives, lessons learned, and required institutional changes.
Download All GSG Tools Here
A complete package containing all tools is provided in both .pdf and .docx formats:
GSG Implementation Tools.zip
ELECTION 2026
Candidates tell us what they want to do. Ask how they will govern.
Download the seven-question candidate and forum kit.
Examples of Tools and Measures available elsewhere. These are sometimes situation specific, and not necessarily tied into an overall management system like Gold Standard Governance. Wisdom suggests staying focused on building a system and getting processes to flow correctly. Avoid the risk of putting things into the mix that are not additive to results. Nonetheless, always keeping an eye out for benchmarks will help avoid stagnant think. Never refrain from borrowing good ideas!
Ballotpedia Candidate Connection — Standardized candidate questionnaires with answers published on candidate profiles. It is a useful distribution and response-verification model, although GSG’s questionnaire is more focused on governing capability. Candidate Connection
VOTE411 voter guides — Shows how identical questions and unedited candidate responses can be organized by race and delivered to individual voters. VOTE411 Personalized Ballot
Center for Effective Lawmaking — Uses a published methodology to measure how successfully legislators move substantive proposals through the legislative process. It also offers a practical new-member guide. Scoring methodologyand new-member guide
Plain-language guides to elected offices — MRSC’s guides explain the actual powers and responsibilities of mayors, councils, and managers. Although Washington-specific, they illustrate the kind of office “job description” GSG advocates. Roles and Responsibilities
Center for Presidential Transition guides — Detailed timelines, checklists, decision points, agency-review materials, and position descriptions. These provide a strong precedent for the GSG 100-day packet. Transition resources
Performance.gov Agency Priority Goals — Agencies select approximately four or five important goals, name responsible officials, publish measures, and review progress quarterly. This is a direct working example of Focus and Deliver. Agency Priority Goals
GAO Managing for Results resources — Concise guides covering strategic goals, agency priority goals, quarterly reviews, performance plans, corrective action, and transparent reporting. These would provide authoritative support for several GSG concepts. Managing for Results
New York City Mayor’s Management Report — A major real-world example of agency measures, indicator definitions, trend reporting, spending information, and public performance dashboards. Mayor’s Management Report
What Works Cities Assessment — Forty-three criteria defining the practices of a well-managed, data-driven city, plus a shorter eight-question Data Snapshot. It is an excellent model for a GSG institutional self-assessment. What Works Cities Assessment
Results for America Standards of Excellence — Public scorecards assessing whether federal and state governments use evidence, data, evaluation, and results in budgeting and management. Federal Standard and State Standard
OECD Citizen Participation Guidelines — A ten-step process for designing, conducting, reporting, and evaluating citizen participation, with a usable planning checklist and eight participation methods. OECD guidelines
Participatory Budgeting Project toolkits — Scoping, outreach, implementation, and evaluation tools that help governments let citizens propose and rank spending priorities. Guides and toolkits
U.S. Digital Services Playbook — Thirteen “plays,” each accompanied by a checklist and diagnostic questions. Particularly relevant concepts include understanding public needs, assigning one responsible leader, using data, structuring contracts for delivery, and defaulting to openness. Digital Services Playbook
United Kingdom Government Service Standard — A fourteen-point standard used to assess whether a public service understands users, solves the intended problem, defines success, reports performance, and improves continuously. UK Service Standard
CDC Program Evaluation Framework and logic models — Practical tools connecting resources and government activities to outputs and measurable public outcomes. Particularly useful for separating “work performed” from “conditions improved.” Evaluation Framework and logic-model guidance
Open Government Partnership participation standards — Provides standards for citizen–government co-creation, stakeholder forums, implementation monitoring, independent review, and course correction. Participation and Co-Creation Standards
National Civic League Civic Index — A 32-question community self-assessment covering seven elements of “civic capital,” intended for facilitated community discussion and improvement planning. Civic Index
Results-Based Accountability/Turn the Curve — A repeatable process for examining a baseline, identifying causes, selecting partners and strategies, and determining whether an indicator is improving. This is close to GSG’s correction concept and should be cited rather than copied. Turn the Curve
Other Existing Online Tools
Possible Value in Adding to Processes in Your System
