Government must help us face the future

Toby Fyfe offers seven ideas to assist the bureaucracy.

It is not fashionable to praise leaders in government. In fact, it is not fashionable to praise government itself. The current narrative, exemplified by President Donald Trump in his state of the union address, which referred to government “coercion, domination and control,” is that government is a burden. It does not provide value, is slow, wasteful and costly, and its leaders, rather than doing important and difficult jobs, are overpaid and have a sense of entitlement.

Most public servants with whom I engage through my work at the Institute on Governance are committed to their jobs and want to serve the public good. But this is not an easy environment. The entire democratic system they work in appears to be at risk, threatened by populism and a post-truth world. The workplace itself is changing. Digital technologies are turning the hierarchical, cautious and risk-averse public service on its head, putting centrally based decision-making at risk as multiple truths impede on fact-based discussions and decision-making.

The biggest danger facing government is that its leaders develop a sense of complacency, a belief that things will settle down in time. Unfortunately, the past few years suggest governments are not keeping up. If they cannot adapt, they may simply become irrelevant both to citizens and the politicians they serve.

Public service leaders must do more than offer “fearless advice and loyal implementation” and provide good policy advice and efficient, cost-effective services, important though these are. They must drive government change. Here are seven ideas to help public service leaders do just that:

1. Understand the changing scope of public sector governance. Governments will remain relevant if citizens trust they are operating transparently, convening different viewpoints fairly and openly, and adding value to society

Governments will remain relevant if citizens trust they are operating transparently.

and the economy. Yet trust in public institutions is low. Public service leaders are working in a post-industrial economy with government institutions, structures and processes still rooted in the industrial age. Within this reality, they need to collaborate across organizations, sectors and civil society to improve public sector decision-making.

2. Understand that most of today’s big policy issues are complex. A complex problem involves many players, each of whom will have a legitimate view on, and stake in, defining it and what is needed to solve it. In a world where opinions can be amplified by social media, the process of finding a common, middle ground — the traditional goal of governments, by the way — is necessary even if time-consuming, expensive and often frustrating.

3. Respond to the real issue; don’t be captured by yesterday’s paradigm. In Ottawa, for example, the first reaction to Uber was to ban it because it did not meet the regulatory criteria in place for the taxi age. The city was captured in an old regulatory paradigm that stifled innovative thinking.

4. Focus on citizens, not institutions. See Uber study, above. Clear citizen demand forced the city to change its view. Ask yourself: How relevant do you think citizens believed their civic government was?

5. Don’t be happy with the status quo. Always ask: Do we have to do it this way? And why?

6. Prepare citizens for the future. Government has many roles: policy development, social programming, service delivery, regulation oversight, weather, garbage collection, health care, security — the list is endless. In a world of change and uncertainty, as traditional jobs disappear, the precariat increases and new demographics impact the workplace, a principle role of government — and therefore public service leaders — should be to help citizens prepare for the future.

7. Develop a sense of urgency. Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, said: “If the rate of change on the outside is greater than that on the inside, then the end is near.” Public servant leaders need to drive real change so that the government maintains the trust of citizens today and in the years to come.