I have just read – Public Service Entrepreneurs – a really good piece about public sector reform by Andrew Adonis. In it he talks about the need for radical reform of public sector delivery and, in particular, fostering an entrepreneurial approach…
… [an] entrepreneurial mindset will be essential. We need to break away from a view of public services that focuses on the efficient and effective distribution of state resources and instead focus on the opportunities to improve people’s lives, …
…and goes on…
The reason many struggle with the concept [of the reforms] is that it often fails to translate into practical reality for people on the ground.
This makes great sense to me. Lately, there has been much written and discussed about new ways of doing things. A lot of it has focused on principles and governance and structure and process – all of which of course are important – but I have seen very little emphasis on the new behaviours that will be necessary to make it work.
Take a look at the new Government ICT Strategy. It is (genuinely) a sound document, but read the foreword: there is nothing about the human element of the change. To me it’s just unthinkable that we could make such huge reforms without attending explicitly to culture, attitudes and behaviour.
If we are to make lasting change then it is really, really important that we have a simple behavioural model that can be expressed in a few words and that can be very easily understood and confidently adopted by everybody, wherever they are or at whatever level. I think that Andrew Adonis has picked just the right thing (“one ring to bind them all” perhaps). “Be entrepreneurial”, is all the instruction that will be needed.
Glad you lke Andrew’s piece. Andrew is not a member of the shadow cabinet but Director of the independent think tank and charity, the Institute for Government (IfG). The IT report by the IfG – System Error – did however discuss the cutltural change needed to implement the goverment ICT strategy. I hope you get the chance to read this too.
Nadine, thanks for putting that straight: apologies to Andrew. Yes, I have read the System Error report and I really liked what you guys have said. But there is a but…
…I can’t help feeling that there is not sufficient emphasis on the behavioural aspects of the problem in your report either. System Error absolutely does identify culture as an important issue, but to my mind there is little on actually what to do about it; and what is said does not make it as far as the report’s summary. I have just re-read the eight recommendations and, to me, these talk mainly about governance, process and structure; number 6 does cover people aspects but mainly in the context of training. Perhaps I have a skewed view of the situation (and maybe a vested interest because of the nature of my business) but I can’t help thinking that there is a screamingly important blind spot being missed, which is why I was so taken by what Andrew Adonis had to say in his article.
Thanks Mark, you are absolutely right that behavioural change is vital and we do emphasise some of the behavioural aspects of change near the end of System Error (pp54-57).
We designed our recommendations to encourage behavioural change. For example, we recommend that all government departments should run several projects following agile principles. This is because we believe just giving it a try is one of the most powerful ways to reveal and confront the various behavioural and practical barriers.