Building the OPS of the Future
Editor’s note: Steve Orsini is the Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Ontario Public Service, and he’s passionate about transforming the public service for the future. Today, he’s sharing some insight on the newly launched OPS of the Future: 2018 Action Plan. You can find more stats and milestones about the project here.
As many of you have told me, in this digital era, change happens quickly and “we need to embrace change or be left behind.” I agree with this prevailing view.
The Ontario Public Service (OPS) is no stranger to change, but today’s challenges are especially complex. For example, shifting demographics, increased global uncertainty, fierce competition for talent, significant resource constraints and rapidly changing technology mean that now more than ever, we must find new and innovative ways to think, plan and work.
The OPS vision statement
You may have seen Sameer Vasta’s post about the Ontario Digital Service leadership principles. The eight principles described help support our new approach to transforming the OPS for the future.
As the world grows and changes, we cannot expect to lead using outdated principles and approaches. That’s why the OPS kicked off our OPS of the Future project last year by asking OPS employees: How can we transform ourselves to be prepared for the future? How can we better reflect the people of Ontario, and provide the services they need, while remaining committed to reliability and financial responsibility?
Wanting to be the change we hoped to see, we took a people-centred approach to answering these questions. Between in-person engagements and online submissions, the project team had over 40,000 interactions with OPS members, community leaders and partners. Throughout the project, the continuous feedback allowed us to tailor our new vision statement and commitments to better reflect what we heard from employees.
To be a leading public service that is inclusive, innovative, responsive and accountable.
Our new vision statement, “To be a leading public service that is inclusive, innovative, responsive and accountable,” embodies our commitment to be a leader in transforming public services to achieve greater efficiencies and better outcomes.
Three Key Pillars
To achieve this new vision, the OPS of the Future: 2018 Action Plan is built on three key pillars:
- Passionately serving Ontarians
- Boldly enabling change
- Actively empowering employees
This Action Plan is a critical next step in our transformation journey, building on past and current transformation efforts of the OPS throughout the province. For example, our Action Plan incorporates other OPS strategies, such as the recently launched Digital Action Plan, which commits to delivering a consistent, inclusive and delightful online experience for the people of Ontario.
As we join the multitude of organizations moving forward into the digital age, I feel confident that our plan is the right plan — because it was designed by all of us, together. These are steps that will both improve our ability to serve the people, communities and businesses of Ontario, while making the OPS a leader in public service.
