Breaking The Norms: Rethinking

the Machinery Of The Government

PRESENTATION BY:
GROUP 2
CHIKWEDE, KLERY
BALAO, PATRICIA BENJIE JOYCE ROXAS
MISBAH, FAZLULLAH

OECD. (2017). Embracing innovation in government: Global trends. pp 84 – 102.

http://www.oecd.org/gov/innovative-government/embracing-innovation-in-government.pdf
PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Introduction: Purpose of the case analysis

Case Study Context:

Problems/ Challenges presented in the case

Reform/ Innovation/ Change Efforts

Conclusion: Lessons from the case analysis

INTRODUCTION
Purpose of the case analysis
 Purpose of the case analysis Case Context
 Share the best practices in implementing innovation
• Steps in molding civil servants into
in government public sector innovators, which is
 Share how the key ingredients of innovation (people important as they will be major enablers
and money) can best be coordinated to enable
of innovation in the organization.
innovation in government services. • New strategies on funding and financing
innovation projects; as transformation
 Inform about the issues or challenges that
from traditional procurement and funding
organizations may face in the process of innovation. practices to innovative and proactive
 Share information on what the coordination practices are included in the case study.
qualities that an effective leader should possess to
effectively organize these resources for innovation.
 Recommend organizational actions which have
positive impact on innovation efforts.
CASE STUDY
 Main Factors of Innovation in the Government

PEOPLE MONEY

• Provide the blood/capital to realize public sector

• The core of public sector innovation goals
• Central at all stages of innovation • “Even simple innovations need some level of
• Enabler of innovation funding and financial support to move from an idea
• A component to be innovated as well to reality”

• Brains of public sector innovation. • Money can determine the eventual success of the
innovation.
• Money enables innovation
PEOPLE: THREE INNOVATION TRENDS WITH POTENTIAL TO BUILD
AND MANAGE WORKFORCE OF PUBLIC INNOVATORS
 Utilization of People Analytics to drive insights and forecast the future
- To better understand the workforce and their attributes.
- To formulate data-based decisions that will ensure governments have necessary workforce for
innovations introduced.
- Examples are US Department of Defense; Mexico Ministry of Energy, and UK’s Civil Service using
data analytics and employee surveys to innovate
 Breaking Down Silos
- Breaking walls that hinder collaboration between ministries or sectors
- Giving employees the opportunity to work in multidisciplinary groups.
- Examples are Slovenia’s partnership for change and Denmark’s Spreading innovation initiave

 Capacity Development of Public Servants as Innovators

OECD Public Sector Innovation Skills Model: based on the six “core” skills areas. Although the skills
are not always applicable to employee functions in daily basis, they need to be aware of these core
skills to support increased levels of innovation in the public sector.
OECD SIX “CORE” SKILLS FOR INNOVATION
Iteration: incrementally and
experimentally developing policies,
products and services.

l Data literacy: ensuring decisions are

data-driven and that data are not an
afterthought.

l User centricity: ensuring that public

services are focused on solving and
servicing user needs.

l Curiosity: seeking out and trying new

ideas or ways of working.

l Storytelling: explaining change in a

way that builds support.

l Insurgency: challenging the status quo

and working with unusual partners.
 MONEY: FOUR TRENDS RESHAPING THE WAY MONEY
FLOWS THROUGH AND BEYOND THE GOVERNMENT
 Innovation funds to support innovation projects inside government
- Innovation requires financial resource. Thus, special innovation funds should be included in the organization
budget.

 Innovative funding in fostering innovation in communities

- The way in which the government funds projects and the border between government and community also has
a significant impact.

 Innovative procurement providing new ways of buying value

- The role of the government as a purchaser has the power to influence or even create markets and become a
tool that could be leveraged for innovation in the public sector.

 Funding models moving from reactive to proactive

- In comparison to reactive funding wherein funding is dependent on current government plans or projects,
proactive funding will able to allocate funds for government projects in the future.
PROBLEMS/ CHALLENGES
PRESENTED IN THE CASE
Challenges in implementing Innovations in the Government
 Competing objectives within Ministries or
government departments.
 The need for merit, equity and fairness
 The need for reducing corruption, ensure
Competing Priorities across the Government transparency and build negotiation skills

 Large government bureaucracies, huge

budgets and large workforce.
 Therefore, implementing reforms take
Working through the Complexities of Government
significant amount of time and resources
 It then becomes hard to have an overview of
the government as a whole.

Evaluating innovation is difficult  It is difficult for government to measure own

internal operations or understand the costs.
 Human and financial management systems are
situated ‘upstream’ – far from the impact they
want to make
REFORM/ INNOVATION/
CHANGE EFFORTS
 PROPOSED REFORMS

STARTING SMALL: scaling down scope of reforms

BUILDING A CULTURE OF EMPOWERMENT AND SKILLS

- Increasing delegation on human and financial

management.
- Local agencies are encouraged to find own solutions
- The role of central government will be to coordinate
 INVESTMENT IN HUMAN CAPACITY

 According to OECD (2016b), there have been interventions conducted, but only to a certain extent.
 Out of the 38 countries who were surveyed, only four (Finland, Lithuania, Netherlands, and Slovak
Republic) have conducted extensive trainings for leaders for transformational projects and initiatives.
 One of the recommendations would be to benchmark from the four countries on how they developed
training and administered transformational leadership training programs in their organizations.
 A guide based on their experiences and practices could be used as a stepping stone for other countries in
developing and administering similar training programs in their country.
CONCLUSION
Lessons from the case analysis
 SUMMARY OF THE CASE

 The case discussed how innovative changes in human resource management and financial management in the
organization can lead to the success of innovation-related plans, programs, and projects of the organization (the role
of coordination in leadership).
 In relation to leadership, one of the issues raised in the case study is the lack of extensive training for civil servants
in leading transformational projects and initiatives (OECD, 2016b).
 Without “breaking silos” and developing the capacity of employees in an organization, it would be a challenge for a
leader to guide his/her people in innovation actions.
 Additionally, if the leader does not posses the necessary competencies for to do that innovation will almost be
impossible.
 Therefore, it is important that before such innovation actions are initiated, a leader must undergo necessary training
and development programs to equip him/her with the necessary skills in leading innovations in the organization.
Recommendations

Do not accept the system as given

Undertake systems analysis through an innovation lens

Invest in human capacity

Encourage cross-government networks

What lessons can be drawn from the case analysis…leadership for coordination?

• Learning before leading: A soldier cannot go to the battlefield unprepared. As does a leader, who is
expected to lead changes in the organization. The role of a leader is not to do the job, but ensure that
every aspect of the organization (policies, systems, people) is working together to achieve the its goal. In
order to that, a leader needs to be equipped with competencies that will help him/her work with and build
a relationship with the employees of the organization.
• Breaking the wall: Breaking silos within the organization will not only lead to better policies and
systems, but better relationships between departments in the organization. A leader must promote
activities or projects in the workplace that will require collaboration between different departments in the
organization.
• Going beyond: Collaboration could also happen outside the organization. Leaders could also look into
activities that will encourage collaboration with other public organizations, private entities, and even
citizens. This could lead to the development of ideas that could have been unrealized within the
organization, innovations that not only will lead to improved organizational performance, but positively
impact other actors involved.
 INNOVATION, TEAMWORK, AND
LEADERSHIP IN THE GOVERNMENT

The case of Denmark and the US

 CASE STUDY OF DEMARK
• The Problem
• There are many good ideas of innovation with the people within the government and across.
• But they did not have a plate form to share these ideas.
• For this the government developed a national Center for public Sector Innovation (COI)
• This center is launched in 2016 to guide the people in simplified way who want to share an innovation and people who want to adapt it to a new context.

• Novelty
• The study of Danish Public Sector was published by the COI in 2016, the study show that almost 80% of the innovation is carried out with the collaboration of
external partners and 70% of the innovation idea come from other people solutions.

• Impact or Result of the COI

• Support of the experienced people in the implementation of the project
• Cost Reduction

• Challenges and Lesson Learned

• The main challenge in designing the Spreading Innovation guide was bringing together field experience and academic research on the diffusion of innovation
in government

• Currently, an important element to the success of the Spreading Innovation guide is institution matching.

• To achieve this objective, COI organizes networking events for its large audience
 MICRO-PURCHASE PLATFORM – UNITED
•
STATES
THE PROBLEM
• Contracting for software is often an arduous process. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which sets the rules for procurement in the United States government, is
nearly 2 000 pages long and difficult to navigate to obtain the products and services needed for civil servants to achieve their missions. Because of its complexity, government
employees can struggle to know how to buy services in an agile way.

• AN INNOVATIVE SOLUTION

• 18F has launched the Micro-purchase Platform, an auction-bidding system for open source software development that allows project teams to obtain software features
needed to better perform their duties, faster and more cheaply than through traditional processes.

• The person can buy any thing through credit card until the price is not exceed from 3500.

• IMPACT AND RESULTS

• Easy to use

• Every one can easily take part in the auctions.

• Government can save USD 1000 per Auction. The 18F held 37 auctions and save 70990 USD.

• 96 small businesses have newly registered to do business with the government

• CHALLENGES AND LESSONS LEARNED 18F

• officials who were interviewed stated that the main challenges they faced were mostly bureaucratic in nature, including long processes to enter into agreements to work with
other agencies. Such challenges can slow scaling of the platform to other agencies. However, 18F officials explained that these challenges can also help them to identify the
most pressing “pain points” and seek solutions for automating them through the platform.
 BREAKING SILOS?

 In connection with the other class readings, there are several steps that a leader could take in “Breaking
Silos”. In order to promote collaboration between different departments, the following are tips suggested
by Dona Shalala:

• Know the Culture of Your Organization

• Find ways to assure that Appropriate Coordination takes place
• Don’t Overlook the Needs and Abilities of the Career Public Service
• Choose the Best and Let Them do Their Jobs
• Stich Together a Loyal Team
• Stand Up and Fight for the People Who Work for You
• Set Firm Goals and Priorities and Stick with them
• Don’t Forget Politics is Always Part of Policymaking
• Look for Allies Where You Don’t Expect to Find Them
• Be Flexible, Realistic, and Don’t Expect to Win Every time
 BUILDING TEAMWORK?

Additionally, Gail Funke, author of the article “Leading for team success” share some tips for leadership
success in an organization through teambuilding:
• Be aware of the culture when implementing a team approach
• If teams are new to the organization, utilize principles of change management.
• Analyze your rationale for teams (task interdependence?)
• Know whether the teams are short-term or long-term and adjust accordingly
• Allow sufficient time for front-end activities of building of trust and relationships
• Be prepared to regroup as the team finds its way
• Deal directly and immediately with those who undermine the team process
• Remember the answers are always in the team. It is the reason why leaders use them
• Revise and adjust the organizational processes to support and reinforce teamwork
• Be available to provide the team time and other resources
• Allow time for midcourse corrections
• Enjoy the increased output and effectiveness of your team approach
THANK YOU!
SOMEONE@EXAMPLE.COM