Goodbyes and what I’ll be taking with me
After a couple of fantastic years with FutureGov I’ve made the decision to move out of Sydney and have been lucky enough to find a new role managing an innovation unit at the Department of Primary Industries NSW.
In the last two years I’ve seen so much change happening across government. When I think back to the way of working I had experienced in my last gig as a public servant I am reminded that there has been a sort of energy and appetite for change injected into so many pockets since then. We are seeing new ways of working and organising public servants and relationships with the private sector - the Sydney start-up hub is a great example of this. We’ve seen the rise of the CDO as a key leader and we’re feeling what a digitally mature user-centred public service experience can feel like through some of the great things Service NSW has achieved for example.
I’ve been reflecting on my time operating as an influencer and change maker from the ‘outside’ and considering what I’ll be taking with me as I re-enter the public service. As my last message as Head of FutureGov Australia I thought I’d put out there a few of those observations.
DIGITAL IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS
Why is it that our expectations as citizens and consumers has been raised in our personal lives to the point where we expect to be able to complete most transactions and access any information we might need seamlessly, yet when it comes to our roles as public servants we put on the blinkers and pretend our government organisations don’t need to keep up?
Digital is not the domain solely of the CIO. Digital is about the culture and mindset of your organisation as much as its about your systems and tools. If you want to really become an effective business or organisation and not redundant in this digital era you need to think about true organisational transformation. It’s not about the tech in isolation of your people, your governance, your culture. In the words of our Dominic Campbell “Everyone needs to understand digital technology. End of.”
RE-TRAIN
I’ve seen a shift towards building capability internally which is fantastic. I totally agree that public servants should be being re-trained to take a user-centred approach to solving problems, to understand what digital transformation means and to think critically and creatively test opportunities to do things differently. But all of this will be wasted effort if we don’t create the space for those staff to re-enter the organisation with the opportunity to truly apply what they have learnt, to work differently.
Re-training should be part of broader and deliberate organisational redesign or we’re going to see these re-trained people march straight out the door to use their new-found skills elsewhere to greater effect. It’s really important that the public service adapts and keeps pace and to do that we need to bring the workforce along with us. Re-training individuals is clearly important, but don’t think that will be the silver bullet.
VALUE SPECIALISTS
As I’ve said, re-training is important. I have however observed a trend across government organisations that worries me. That is the re-classifying of existing staff into specialist roles. I’ve been lucky in the last two years to have worked with many highly qualified and hugely talented Designers and understand the importance of not undervaluing this as a specialist discipline.
I’ve often heard the phrase “we are all designers really”, and I agree with the sentiment of that completely. However, we are not all formally trained Human-Centred Service or Organisational Designers. There is a certain disposition that cannot be taught and HCD professionals have this in spades. Create the space to bring these trained specialists into your teams as part of your core staff. And again, create an environment where those HCD and digital transformation specialists can do their job well. Couple them with your re-trained staff and you’re building a really different and exciting organisation!
BE BRAVER
I’ve spoken to hundreds of people within public services who are trying hard to think and work differently. Recently I wrote about a breakfast we hosted with senior leaders in NSW government and focussed on culture, collaboration and mindset as the biggest barriers to transformation. Truthfully, in so many individuals I have seen a desire to collaborate better, and the beginnings of a change in mindset and culture. However, over time we have created such a tangled bureaucratic operating environment that I fear unravelling it is taking too long.
The culture of total risk aversion must be changed. We should for example be applying user-centred design principles and practices to complicated policy spaces like information sharing and privacy. Really listen to what users are telling you they are comfortable with, and the moment you hear the all-too-familiar risk averse language creeping in at the pointy end of a decision - be brave. Do it sensibly and sensitively - test small and learn from others, but you must be braver.
A FINAL THANK YOU!
I’ve learnt so much from working with inspiring change makers like Dominic Campbell and the rest of the team at FutureGov. Our Australian team is continuing to grow and taking on more interesting and complex problem spaces all the time and I am so excited to see where FutureGov’s new Australian Studio Director Sarah Hurcombe takes things!
I’ll remain a FutureGov-er at heart and will go back into the public service with a strong transformation mindset determined to inspire and effect change from within. Wish me luck!
