The importance of openness and transparency for the Public Sector - a simple metaphor

When money and resources were plenty, our personal accountability is often forgotten about and environmental sustainability goes out of the window. Why? Some may call it 'greed', I call it a human hoarding instinct which in pre-historic times helped us survive however in the modern world can have serious economic and environmental implications. The metaphor below sets out a simple lesson in the importance of being open and transparent in the current climate.

 

When money was plenty, the world created gas-guzzling 4x4s and demand for them grew as they promised safety and reliability. The negatives, i.e. impact on the environment by guzzling the earth's resources among others, were given little consideration. Today, with much more openness and transparancy about the state of the world's resources and the environment, many people are taken more personal accountability and are wanting to minimize the strains on their pocket, wishing to purchase a car which is less costly to run and kinder to the environment.

 

So how does this metaphor help the Public Sector to prioritise its activities? Similarly, at times of plenty the Public Sector has created a number of luxury services at no 'direct' cost to the customer. In the current climate, Council needs to consider prioritising their services to cope with financial constraints and needs to more openly and transparently communicate their financial reality with the communities it supports.

 

The result of not communicating will lead to communities not fully accepting and supporting the changes, and a continuation of legal and costly challenges triggered by the changes in service provision. 

 

The Commissioning approach, if it includes a full commitment to openness and transparency, will act as an enabler of this prioritisation exercise for the Public Sector. It will allow the Public Sector to analyse its activities in light of financial, economic and environmental sustainability and current demands for services.

Staying afloat - helping organisations survive financial difficulties

Is your organisation experiencing financial challenges? Not unusual in this day and age as financial pressures have affected us all in one way or another. Metaphors can really help you to prioritise your activities and outcomes and how to communicate to your employees. It may help you to think about a ship at risk of sinking. What is the first thing you do?

There are three behavioural options: 'denial', 'panic' or 'analyse, plan, act and review'.

Denial will only mean that those in positions of power and others who depend on them will be caught out. Denial stops communication about what is likely to happen, stops the seeking of highly-needed support and the resulting non-action is most likely to mean the ship will sink with many ill-prepared casualties.

Panic causes more panic. It is infectious and soon ends in chaos. Panic can translate in not knowing where to start, lead to knee jerk and therefore ill-informed decision-making. Reactivity has a negative effect on those who rely on the direction of those in positions of power. The likely result - a sinking ship and ill-prepared casualties (unless you are lucky to be surrounded by others who are more resilient).

The only winning formula is to 'analyse, plan, act and review' in other words, take a step back, get 'all hands on deck' to analyse the damage and trust everyone's commitment to do everything in their power to prevent the worst case scenario. Asking everyone to support the outcomes will also mean they will be more resilient and ready for any further changes (even if it means that the sinking of the ship could not be prevented).

If you find that your workforce are not acting in the way you would expect in an organisation dealing with uncertainty, it is likely that clear, honest and transparent communication is needed or that the communication is not being cascaded by those who lack the resilience needed to cope and lead others in these ever-changing times.

The changing role of Councils

To date, Councils have prided themselves on keeping their communities safe. Their leadership style has closely matched that of a parent creating safety for dependents. In the good times the relationship between Councils and the communities they support has been peaceful and mutually respectful as dependents have felt safe and looked-after. Financial uncertainty has however created some strain in this relationship.

What is needed now however is for Councils to empower their communities to take risks in order to survive the double-dip recession and the impact of an ageing population, which means a signifiant cultural shift and a need to think differently about the Council's priorities. Councils need to embrace the fact that they are interdependent on the support and creativity of the communities they have to date supported to deliver a wider variety of services to meet their own needs. Their role needs to change from 'safety-provider' to 'risk-enabler', a change not to be underestimated (please refer back to the parent-dependent analogy)!

To reduce the risk, it is crucial for Council to be humble, use a more coaching-style of community leadership and be honest, open and transparent in the sharing of information so that communities can make better informed decisions.

What would make Councils feel more at ease with the changes required? I'd really welcome your thoughts and views.

RELATED READING:

Councils' exaggerated risk aversion puts charity contracts under threat -http://www.guardian.co.uk/local-government-network/2012/feb/27/councils-risk-aversion-puts-charity-contracts-at-risk

Letting go: how to set public services free from council control -http://www.guardian.co.uk/local-government-network/2012/mar/14/public-services-council-control

Question of the day ... on building trust

Humility is a crucial element in building trust!

Ask yourself - Are you setting standards for others that you yourself, with the best intensions in the world, cannot achieve?

Thought of the day ... on breaking learned dependency

The only way to break 'learned dependency' is to start with a blank sheet of paper, presenting open, transparent and balanced information and collaborate fully with others who are passionate on finding solutions.

In contrast, when a solution is brought to the table by an 'expert', ownership by others is completely lost as:
- no other carries the same passion for the solution
- no other want to step on the expert's toes
- no other will understand the reasons/benefits of the solution in full

Create leaders, not followers!

Idea of the Day ... on Changing Behaviour through Design

In Belgium and the Netherlands they have put large butterfly nets along the cycle paths to encourage people to throw their litter in the right place rather than littering just anywhere. This design is based on a technique called 'Nudge' which uses people's nature/instinctive behaviours as the starting point of any design.

 
Nudge Theory too is used to design care homes for people with Dementia, in highways design and putting low-cost gym equipment in parks.

How else could we use 'nudge' for the benefit of the wider community?

Thought of the day ... on silo-working

The true impact of silo-working, competativeness and lack of collaboration! Does anyone really win?