UNITED NATIONS PUBLIC SERVICE FORUM WORKSHOP 7
Session: Past Lessons and Future Shifts in
Public Service Delivery
LEADERSHIP FOR
THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Dr. Khalid Al-Yahya
Managing Director, Accenture Management Consulting – Middle East
Khalid.al.yahya@accenture.com
25 -26 June 2013
Hundreds of government reforms pursued the region in
the last 10 years; some succeed! Why?
Clear vision and commitment from the top leadership (Dubai Government
Excellence Program, SADAD in Saudi Arabia, One-Stop Shop in Cairo)
Engage all stakeholders early on in defining the problem and thinking about
solutions
Internal and external communication
Implementation capabilities (financial, human, and technical resources) for all
internal and external stakeholders
Engage and empower talent from within supplemented by resident experts
Enforcement and oversight agencies
Focus on small scope then scale up - organic evolutionary reform or rational
technocratic
Source: Beschel, Yousef, Al-Yahya, Public Sector Reform in the MENA. WB. 2013
LEADERSHIP FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Hundreds of government reforms pursued the region in
the last 10 years; some succeed! Why?
Avoid conflict with the prevailing political culture head on with agendas that are too
broad or threatening
Strategy to deal with opposition
Employ evidence and facts and benchmarking
Tactical flexibility in getting there—reforms that were bold in concept but cautious and
careful implementation
Generate credibility early in the process (be transparent, accessible, quick wins)
Leadership behavior
– Serve as a model for professional behavior (e.g., be the first and last in office)
– put an end to nepotism and granting special favors to employees
– While retaining their long-term strategic vision, successful leaders were also willing to “get
their hands” dirty in the details when necessary
– Create strong leadership teams backed by talent and intellectual capital
– De-link reforms from personalities in broader reform
Source: Bachel, Yousef, Al-Yahya, Public Sector Reform in the MENA. WB. 2013
LEADERSHIP FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Two Paradigms of Government Transformation
Rational/Technocratic
Organic/Evolutionary
Context:
Context:
Works best in stable political and administrative environments
with strong backing from senior officials, where political and
bureaucratic resistance is manageable.
Works best in situations that are fluid and rapidly changing,
where broader political support is weak or uncertain, and where
political and bureaucratic resistance is high.
Planning & Design:
Planning & Design:
Systems driven. Proposed interventions are carefully planned
in advance, often with the help of international experts, in a
manner consistent with prevailing best practice. They are
created to address problems and deficiencies in overall
systems and institutions in a comprehensive manner with a
specific fixed goal or endpoint.
Problem driven. Initial interventions are designed to address
immediate challenges and concerns, often related to broader
political imperatives. The development of the reform agenda
takes place on an ad-hoc and evolutionary basis, as efforts to
solve specific problems create opportunities for or necessitate
the resolution of others.
Implementation:
Implementation:
Implementation is proactive and proceeds in well-structured
phases consistent with an overall plan in a manner driven with
time-bound targets and milestones.
Implementation is often reactive to developments and pursues
a course of “strategic opportunism,” taking advantage of
opportunities that present themselves.
Prototypical Reforms:
Prototypical Reforms:
Those that require comprehensive and sustained
implementation to be effective, such as the introduction of
large IT systems or staff rationalization. Those that are
relatively less constrained by time or financial constraints,
where significant capacity exists to manage and coordinate a
comprehensive agenda.
Reforms that need to be implemented quickly under limited
budget constraints. Reforms where staff capacity is constrained
and the ability to manage large, complex projects is lacking.
Reforms that can be implemented as one-off exercises or in
discrete phases.
Source: Beschel, Yousef, Al-Yahya, Public Sector Reform in the MENA. WB. 2013
LEADERSHIP FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Potential Checklist
• Does strong political will exist for implementing changes at the highest
levels of government?
• Is the political and administrative environment stable?
• Do the proposed reforms need to be implemented in their entirety for
them to be effective?
• Does the managerial capacity exist to pursue a large integrated agenda,
and do well-functioning coordination mechanisms exist?
• Have detailed strategic and operational plans been developed for
implementation?
• Have major problems been properly identified and prioritized?
• Does a clear understanding exist of relationship between the proposed
institutional fixes and the broader concerns they are intended to solve?
• Does senior leadership have a sophisticated grasp of the political and
administrative dynamics, threats and opportunities confronting their
agency on a real-time basis, and the skill and gravitas to take reforms
forward?
• Can the organization move quickly to take advantage of opportunities that
present themselves?
Source: Beschel, Yousef, Al-Yahya, Public Sector Reform in the MENA. WB. 2013
LEADERSHIP FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Navigating Future Shifts – Global Outlook
• The fundamental gaps between what
governments want to achieve and
what they can achieve with public
service will galvanize government
leaders to decisive actions.
• To test the thinking, Accenture
undertook a far-reaching research
program, surveying 5000 citizens
worldwide and tapping into the
knowledge of respected experts in 10
countries, to try and quantify the
impact if governments continue public
service provision as is.
• The results of the modeling show that
all governments will face a short-fall in
funding in 2025 to meet the sociodemographic driven demand
projections if they do not change how
public services are delivered.
LEADERSHIP FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Citizens’ Priorities for Government
• The citizen survey of 5,000 citizens across ten countries displays citizens
'satisfaction levels, key areas for government attention, quality of access to
government services and perceptions of public employee skill levels
• Source: Ipsos MORI, 2012.
LEADERSHIP FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Four structural shifts can help governments deliver
more effective, sustainable public service outcomes
From Reactive to Insight Driven: using new technologies and
new models of collaboration to problem-solve proactively,
reducing wasted effort and costs and improving the results
achieved.
•
Insight Driven
Mission Productivity
From Budget Cuts to Mission
Productivity: broad and
integrated thinking to better
prioritize and manage initiatives,
to restructure programs so as to
eliminate the duplication of
fragmented delivery and to
leverage the considerable scale
and assets of government as a
whole.
PSF EALA
Public
Entrepreneurship
•
From Public Managers to Public
Entrepreneurs: using the machinery
of government to stimulate
economic outcomes and
collaborating in new ways across and
outside public service boundaries to
multiply the impact of governments’
investments.
Personalized Services
•
.
From Standardized Services to Personalized Services: designing
services in partnership with citizens—and delivering them in
integrated ways to provide exactly what’s needed, when needed,
in the most appropriate manner.
•
8
LEADERSHIP FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT
The Structural Shift:
From Standardized Services to Personalized Services
The shift to personalized services implies designing services in
partnership with citizens—and delivering them in integrated
ways to provide exactly what’s needed, when needed, in the
most appropriate manner.
More personalized service drives better outcomes at sustainable
costs.
Requirements
• Develop deeper, data-driven insights.
• Design around citizen needs.
• Engage citizens in service design.
• Improve delivery networks.
• Integrate across agencies/networks.
LEADERSHIP FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT
The Structural Shift:
From Reactive to Insight Driven
The shift to insight driven implies using new technologies and new
models of collaboration to problem-solve proactively, reducing wasted
effort and costs and improving the results achieved.
Becoming insight driven addresses public service productivity from
both sides—reducing costs and improving the outcomes themselves.
Requirements
• More assured identity systems.
• Greater collaboration and cooperation across systems.
• Anticipate and apply proactive measures.
LEADERSHIP FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT
The Structural Shift:
From Public Managers to Public Entrepreneurs
The shift to public entrepreneurship implies using the machinery of
government to stimulate economic outcomes and collaborating in new
ways across and outside public service boundaries to multiply the
impact of governments’ investments.
By putting in place an environment that enhances the conditions for
entrepreneurship, economies can harness future waves of growth in
the global economy.
Requirements
• Improved procurement.
• Greater access to government data.
• Greater use of technology.
• Increased diversity of new public service models.
LEADERSHIP FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT
The Structural Shift:
From Budget Cuts to Mission Productivity
The shift to mission productivity implies broad and integrated thinking to better prioritize
and manage initiatives, to restructure programs so as to eliminate the duplication of
fragmented delivery and to leverage the considerable scale and assets of governments as a
whole.
Making a structural shift from focusing on piecemeal efficiency initiatives to a focus on
driving productivity to its core will help governments deliver better outcomes for the same
or lower cost.
Requirements
Active governance through…
• Prioritization.
• Performance management.
• Core mission restructuring.
• Operationally excellent administration.
• Leveraging the scale of government.
• Leveraging existing assets.
LEADERSHIP FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT