E x c e l l e n c e i n p u b l i c s e r v i c e : D e l i v e r y a n d r e f o rm Dato Sri Dr Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad, deputy director-general of the Public Service Department of Malaysia, noted the difficulties some organisations have in moving from rowing to steering, with executives who are more into hierarchical compliance than innovation and service improvement. The challenges, she said, were that public service is still too centralised, hierarchical and bureaucratic, lacking in transformational leadership, low on innovation and creativity, low on analytic ability, low on responsiveness and stuck in silos with limited external engagement. Readers can burrow down into the 46 strategies and 190 initiatives designed to support the transformation in Malaysia, but should realise the cycle of transformation never ends – there is always redesign based on monitoring, evaluation and assessment of impacts. Professor Dennis Hilgers of Johannes Kepler University in Austria was a particularly popular speaker. He suggested governments could use methods like those employed by InnoCentive.com to crowdsource solutions to difficult problems. He further explained that outsiders who may not be obvious are a major force for innovation that networking with obvious stakeholders won’t reach. Graham Teskey, principal governance specialist for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia, looked at what works in aid and development, and how resilience and more effective institutions are built. He did not advocate for any one best model for international agencies to be imposed, but pointed to key success factors, including voice and accountability; effective governance; regulatory quality; quality of public administration; and reduced corruption. In other words, the basis for development is trusted, honest governance and public service. Mark Rozario, CEO of the Malaysia Innovation Agency, stressed the need to ‘embrace’ innovation, not just seek minor improvements. Leaders should demand results, with integrity, creating value through continuous improvement. Resilience and sustainability comes through empowered people providing excellent service. Better tools, design-focused thinking, enhanced delivery and public–private partnerships (PPPs) are all mechanisms that can be used. Common threads and emerging ideas The principles of good public management remain the same Among several speakers who articulated this model, Daniel Watson (chief human resource officer for the government of Canada) shared how, on the Canadian Prairies where he grew up, the principles of farming had always been the same: prepare the soil, select the seed, ensure moisture and nutrition, remove the weeds and then, and only then, harvest the crop. These are the same principles as when land was first cultivated there in the 1880s and the same principles apply to farming in all 53 Commonwealth countries. For example, on the Canadian Prairies, an important tool is a huge, multiple-wheel drive tractor, with a six-speaker sound system, a cooler for drinks and a 20-bottom plough. It does a hectare in minutes. In Thailand, the equivalent is the ‘iron ox’, a small, walk-behind motorised one-bottom plough. Each tool is used for the same principle: to prepare the soil. But the huge Canadian tractor would soon bog down in the rice paddies of Thailand and the iron ox would take forever to break sod on huge Canadian farms. Same principles, differing practices. Analysis is needed as we share good practices, to understand the underlying principles and apply the tools appropriately to the situation. Government is where the tough problems come to be addressed Like Alice and the Red Queen, we need to learn to transform our organisations and our approaches to deal with future challenges. Silos need to be broken down Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin stated: ‘The silo mentality needs to be broken down and organisations have to learn to work in unison, like the fingers of the hand. Structures and procedures need to be streamlined so that public servants can network with one another.’ Many other speakers repeated this sentiment. Much of the innovation in governance has centred on task forces and teams – new governance structures outside the silos. But many speakers called for destruction of the silos and creation of new collaborative structures, rather than ‘work-arounds’ such as task forces and poking holes in the silos. An internal locus of control Some public servants feel overwhelmed; they feel pressured to ‘do more with less’ or to become ‘more like the private sector’. But the leaders speaking at the conference had a more positive focus, which was that they were in control and were committed to ‘providing better service at lower cost’. Many exchanged information on techniques and tools with which to do this. It is not enough to have a mandate to improve; the desire to improve must be embraced by all. Public service should be seen as an exciting opportunity to be innovative and improve service, while reducing costs. People need to be empowered more than pushed. They need to be provided with better tools. Honesty and courage ‘Speaking truth to power’ is sometimes honoured more in the saying than the doing. At this conference, there was, among some speakers, a remarkable degree of candour. Participants especially appreciated those speakers who showed honesty and courage, for example, by sharing their objectives, doing a gap analysis between the current state and the desired state that is not necessarily flattering, and following it with a plan on how the gaps would be closed. Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2014/15 40 International statements People are not born citizens. We become citizens as we accept the constraints and responsibilities that come as a result of being a member of a broader community. Public institutions create citizens … some of the most intractable problems are not due to too much government but to a lack of state able to forge a united citizenry governed by a common rule. Jocelyne Bourgon, president of Public Governance International There is a tremendous intrinsic motivation to solve problems and contribute to solutions. Extrinsic rewards don’t hurt, but intrinsic motivation is powerful. Ask for help. Professor Dennis Hilgers, Johannes Kepler University, Austria
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