Implementing Government Priorities

I’m doing a talk today on ‘Implementing Government Priorities’ at Griffith University.

The context is the recent launch of Queensland’s targets and policy ambitions for the future – called 'Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland'. It’s essentially a set of targets that will go alongside a new performance management approach to drive public services here. It is in many ways quite similar to the UK’s ‘Public Service Agreements’.

I’ve been fairly involved in producing this, and am generally supportive despite having a few quibbles. Anyhow my argumentation today is that:

• Priority setting and performance management can be an effective model to drive public services – both politically and pragmatically
  
  
• But there have been a number of drawbacks with over reliance on the model – e.g. too one size fits all, risks disenfranchising front-line professionals
  
  
• Therefore need to refine how we use it – more devolution, proportionate intervention models, more engagement with citizens in its design and delivery
  
  
• But also we need to drive public services through other approaches – including use of public service information and transparency; user choice and voice; service devolution and autonomy; customer transformation; markets and contestability; and the public value and co-production model. Critically drawing on the most effective lever for each area.
  

This isn’t new stuff as such in the UK but certainly something not on the agenda here as yet.

Rapid demise of the NSW Strategy Unit

More positive feedback following my visit to the now collapsed NSW Government in the papers (see post on strategy and subsequent collapse) :


"Several sources have told The Daily Telegraph that in the government's dying days Mr Walters spent more time in Ms Meagher's office than he did at his office in Mr Iemma's newly created "Strategy Unit".

The outfit, whose four weeks of operation still sends even the most hardened political insiders into hysterics, was immediately abolished by the new Government."

Another success in spreading the brand...

The Art of Strategic Government: ten principles for modern government

After spending the last few weeks on visits to several state and commonwealth departments I've become strongly of the view that strategic capabilities really need beefing up down under. I'm intending to test the waters on this soon based around the following principles.

I'd be grateful for views -- anything missing, need adding or re-framing?

1. Have a clear sense of the big picture - after all governing is about more than just a technocratic exercise, it's about that society which an elected government seeks to create and that which it seeks to avoid.
   
   
2. Organise people, programmes and resources around this - for example through a clear and consistent approach to public service reform.
   
   
3. Create institutional spaces for strategy and high-level policy analysis, and to act as an innovation bridge between local and national.
   
   
4. Establish rules and incentives for the strategic and long-term - for example through targets, performance management, accounting reform.
   
   
5. Use strategic systems management to drive results - New Public Management mostly worked well for the Democrats and New Labour. But now we need a more nuanced and differentiated account of public services - for example harnessing various approaches from information and accountability to customer transformation to choice and empowerment when and where they work best.
   
   
6. Recognise the different roles and relationships between the state and citizens in today’s society (e.g. as citizens, subject, service users etc…).
   
   
7. Build public value through debate and dialogue on the key long-term issues (e.g. climate change, obesity).
   
   
8. Make ready to test, trial and evolve policy ideas over time.
   
   
9. Invest in the capacity and capability of the workforce.
   
   
10. Be decisive on making tough choices, especially where these involve costs now.

Taking the long term view in policymaking

I spent last week at Sydney's Graduate School of Government. It's run by Geoff Gallop who is the ex-Premier of Western Australia and good friend of Tony Blair's since their college days together. Geoff was kind enough to invite me to Sydney as a visting fellow and guest lecturer at the University.

I gave a number of talks on strategy and policymaking, as well as an evening address on long-termism in government (rather embarassingly to most of the public service's top brass from past and present). It'll be podcasted soon, but otherwise available here.

My argumentation was that we should broaden the concept of long-termism; and that governments are typically poor at planning for the long-term, but increasingly need to get better at it, and can do so through:

1. Creating spaces for long-term thinking in the architecture of government, with examples of the Strategy Unit, Foresight and so on
2. Using independent reviews and more independent analysis to create public value and consensus on long-term issues, such as through the Nick Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change
3. Designing systems, rules and incentives for long-termism through reform to national accounting rules and performance management approaches
4. Developing a culture and practice of long-termism in the public service workforce
5. Aligning strategic policy analysis to a level most appropriate to taking the long-term view

Interestingly, in so far as these are the right components, I think the UK is ahead of other countries. In discussion I also tried to emphasise that different combinations of these will be approporate in different circumstances. So, for example, simple accounting rules is unlikely to be much use in addressing the long-term threat of climate change, but the public value approach through honest and open debate might be more so.