The Last Post - maybe

Well it's a hot and humid Thursday July 8, 2010 in good old Toronto the Good.  After four years, tomorrow is my last day as CEO at IPAC.  It has been quite an experience working for a not-for-profit that focuses on public administration and management.  In those four years, I think we have accomplished quite a lot. When I joined IPAC in August 2006, I replaced Joseph Galimberti who had joined IPAC in 1969 and became Executive Director in 1975 until his sudden, untimely death in April 2006.  As you can imagine it is quite interesting and challenging to join an organization that had one person as its leader for 31 years. The thing one has to remember is that you cannot be the person you are succeeding, you have to be your own person and do things your way - which can sometimes be difficult for long time staff!

In these last four years, IPAC has evolved in terms of its outreach, programming and web presence (including this blog and my tweeting!).  There are more innovations to come in terms of IPAC's web presence but I will not divulge these as I don't want to spoil the surprise.  In this day and age organizations such as IPAC must embrace technology to leverage its work and spread the word about what it is doing.  I will leave others to judge what was accomplished in those 4 years.  In my previous post, "All Good Things", I  wrote about the support, or lack thereof from various jurisdictions in Canada.  I know that some will say that they do not provide core funding to organizations or they may even say why support IPAC as opposed to some other organization.  To these comments I just say that IPAC is the only national organization that brings together public servants from all orders of government in Canada and academics in the field of public administration and management.  IPAC conferences, both National Conferences and local events organized by any of our 17 active regional groups, bring together people from all orders of government and academics to discuss and debate issues in public management and policy and allows us to learn from our peers and create connections that will ultimately help create better public services. To those who have the power to do so, I say, support your chosen profession of public service.  If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

I think that all of us who have a few years under our belt (or in my case quite a few years!) have an obligation to give back to our chosen profession and ensure that the next generation of public servants have the same opportunities that we had to connect with their peers across the country, with their peers working in other orders of government and the opportunity to contribute to the evolution of excellent public service in Canada and around the world.  Remember that most of the public policy issues that we now face will require collaboration within government and between governments, between municipalities, provincial/territorial governments, aboriginal governments, broader public sector organizations and the federal government.  A crisis is a difficult time to build good working relationships, IPAC offers the opportunity for us to get to know each other and understand each other through our common bond - the desire to provide excellent public services to Canadians.

Well this may be my last post on this blog.  I want to thank all of you, my faithful readers, for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you over the last number of years.

Conférence 150!Canada - rapport final

Le rapport final de notre Conférence 150!Canada est maintenant disponible sur notre site web. La conférence qui s'est tenue au Centre national des Arts à Ottawa et a réuni 300 délégués de partout au pays pour entendre plus de 25 conférenciers de marque et pour développer un plan d'action pour célébrer le 150e anniversaire du Canada en 2017.
Je pense que vous trouverez le rapport plein d'idées sur la façon dont nous devrions aborder cette occasion mémorable. Comme dans
le cas des présentations des conférenciers, certains thèmes récurrents sont ressortis des tables rondes :
 

• Le sesquicentenaire devrait inclure tous les Canadiens et les Canadiennes. Les célébrations du 150e anniversaire devraient inviter tous les citoyens à apprendre les uns des autres et à prendre part aux traditions des autres. Nous pouvons célébrer le Canada de nombreuses manières, qui ont toutes leur place. Quelle que soit la façon choisie de célébrer, la population entière devrait se sentir invitée à participer.
• Cette célébration doit avoir une dimension internationale. Nous sommes une nation d’immigrants, mais nous sommes aussi une nation d’émigrants. Le Canada est le pays du G8 qui a la plus grande proportion de sa population vivant à l’étranger. Pour inclure tous les Canadiens et les Canadiennes, nous devons faire en sorte que cette célébration ait une dimension internationale.
• Inciter la communication nationale. Nous devons communiquer avec nos voisins d’autres secteurs et régions, et encourager la communication entre le gouvernement et les citoyens. Le sesquicentenaire représente une occasion pour toute la population canadienne de se parler et de partager cette expérience.
• Bâtir le Canada que nous voulons avoir. Le sesquicentenaire sera l’occasion de célébrer ce que nous avons accompli. Ce sera l’occasion d’honorer le Canada en réalisant nos aspirations pour notre pays. Cet anniversaire devrait être un catalyseur pour s’attaquer aux grands problèmes et mettre en branle des projets ambitieux qui créeront des changements positifs pour l’avenir.
• Commencer maintenant. Une réflexion sur le Canada et une discussion sur le sesquicentenaire constitue une démarche excitante. Nous n’avons pas besoin d’attendre qu’on nous donne la permission. Personne n’a à nous dire quoi faire. L’année 2017 approche et nous devons commencer à organiser sa célébration dès maintenant.

 Le rapport fournit des recommandations concrètes pour nous tous sur la façon dont nous pouvons aller de l'avant. N'oubliez pas que la  Conférence 150!Canada n'était que le début de notre voyage incroyable à 2017.

150!Canada Conference - Final Report

The final report of our 150!Canada conference is now available on our website.  The conference which was held at the National Art Centre in Ottawa and brought together 300 delegates from across the country to hear from over 25 distinguished speakers and develop a plan of action to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday in 2017.

I think that you will find the report chock full of ideas on how we should be approaching this momentous occasion.  There were several recurring themes that came out of the roundtables that were held on the second day of the conference:

• The Sesquicentennial should include all Canadians. Sesquicentennial celebrations should encourage all Canadians to learn from one another and share their traditions. There are many different and important ways to celebrate Canada. However we celebrate, all Canadians should feel welcome.

• This needs to be a global celebration. We are a nation of immigrants, but we’re also a nation of emigrants. 2.8 million Canadians live abroad — more than the population of Atlantic Canada, or the Praries. To include all Canadians, we need to take this celebration to the world.

• Open channels for communication. We should use the Sesquicentennial to reach out to one another and create new ways to connect. Let’s promote dialogue between communities, and different sectors.

• Build the Canada we want. The Sesquicentennial is an occasion to celebrate our accomplishments, and look ahead. It’s time to start punching above our weight. If we’re honest about our challenges, we can make 2017 a catalyst for change.

• Start now. Our 150th anniversary excites Canadians. People want to talk about the country and its future, but there isn’t time to waste. Organizers spent a decade preparing for the Centennial. The time to get started is now.

The report provides concrete recommendations for all of us on how we can move forward.  Remember that the 150!Canada conference was but the start of our incredible journey to 2017.

World Cup

Every four years productivity around the world decreases as people are glued to their TVs to watch that magnificent game - football (or soccer).  This year has been no exception - especially now that you can watch the matches streamed over the net!  It has been an exciting tournament so far with a few upsets.  And note how seriously some governments (you were probably wondering how I was going to tie this to public administration!) take the results from the world cup - France has called an inquiry into how badly the national team played and the discord within the team and Nigeria has banned its team from playing internationally for the next two years.

Hope you enjoy this video........

Winding Down

Well, my last day at IPAC is a week away - July 9th.  I'm sure you all enjoyed Canada Day yesterday and celebrated this great country of ours.  It is truly an wonderful country.  Yesterday we released the report from our 150!Canada conference and it was e-mailed out to participants.  We will be posting it on the website early next week and will send it out to all members as well.  Watch for it.

In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy a couple of songs by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole....

Toutes les bonnes choses ......... et le 202 ème blogue

Eh bien selon le décompte sur Blogger, ceci est mon 202ème poste depuis que j'ai commencé le blogue à la fin d'août 2007. Mes premiers blogues étaient de notre conférence annuelle à Winnipeg et j'ai posté directement sur notre site web. Un an ou moins plus tard, j'ai décidé de passer au site public Blogger qui m'a donné beaucoup plus de flexibilité en termes de transfert de photos, de vidéos ainsi qu'une plus grand auditoire. Et la "cerise sur le sundae" c'est que c'est gratuit!  

J'ai joint l'IAPC en tant que PDG en août 2006 juste à temps pour la conférence annuelle de l'Île du Prince Edouard. Au cours des 4 dernières années, j'ai eu le plaisir de rencontrer de nombreux fonctionnaires dévoués de partout au pays - d'une mer à l'autre - et de tous les niveaux de gouvernement. Il est regrettable que le public canadien ne sache pas toutes les grandes réalisations des fonctionnaires. À l'IAPC, nous avons essayé de mettre en évidence l'excellence grâce à nos prix et d'autres événements. Dans le temps que j'ai été ici, j'ai revu des centaines et des centaines de soumissions pour notre Prix de gestion innovatrice commandité par IBM Canada et KPMG; notre  Prix IAPC/Deloitte de leadership dans le secteur public; et la crème de la crème, la Médaille Vanier. En lisant les soumissions j'ai toujours été frappé par les merveilleux exemples de service public. Chaque année, il était difficile de choisir les finalistes parmi les candidats et encore plus difficile de sélectionner les gagnants - en fait tous sont gagnants! 

J'ai eu l'occasion de rencontrer de nombreux universitaires de nos grandes universités qui enseignent l'administration publique et la politique public. Leurs travaux constituent un sous-tendent du travail de la fonction publique au Canada. Au fil des années, j'ai lu une pléthore d'articles extraordinaires dans la revue Administration publique du Canada. 


J'ai eu l'occasion de travailler avec les présidents incroyable dans mes 4 ans à l'IAPC - Luc Bernier, Carol Layton, Louis Borgeat, Bill Greenlaw et Wynne Young. Ils sont tous bénévoles et ont très occupé avec leur emplois, mais ils croient tous dans la fonction publique et dans l'IAPC et on librement donné de leur temps et continue à donner de leur temps à l'IAPC. La même chose vaut pour le conseil d'administration, les présidents des groupes régionaux et leurs exécutifs et tous les bénévoles qui donnent de leur temps parce qu'ils croient que l'excellence dans le service public est important au Canada et partout dans le monde. Les 17 groupes régionaux de l'IAPC sont très actif et offrent un large éventail d'activités d'apprentissage à la fois membres de l'IAPC et les non-membres. 

Et je m'en voudrais si je ne mentionne pas le personnel dévoué de l'IAPC.  

Donc, vous devriez avoir deviné que je quitte l'IAPC. En effet, je vais continuer à travailler dans le domaine de l'administration publique et la politique comme sous-ministre adjoint au ministère de l'Éducation de l'Ontario. J'ai hâte aux défis et aux opportunités que ce boulot va apporter. 

Pour ces hauts fonctionnaires qui ont lu mon blogue, je tiens à vous encourager à augmenter votre soutien à l'IAPC. Il existe de nombreuses juridictions qui n'ont pas augmenté leur contribution à IAPC depuis le début des années 1990 et d'autres (vous savez qui vous êtes), qui ne fournissent aucune aide de base à cette magnifique institution. Comme je l'ai mentionné dans mon dernier éditorial dans le numéro de juin du magazine Management Secteur Public, sans l'IAPC je crois vraiment que le corps des connaissances actuelles de l'administration publique au Canada ne serait pas aussi grande qu'elle l'est aujourd'hui. Je vous invite à redonner à votre profession choisie - le service public - et à investir dans l'avenir les fonctionnaires en soutenant l'IAPC.

All Good Things.........and the 201st blog post

Well according to the count on Blogger, this is my 201st post since I started the blog in late August 2007. My first blogs were from our annual conference in Winnipeg and I actually posted directly on the website.  A year or less later I decided to move to Blogger a public site that gave me much more flexibility in terms of uploading pictures, videos as well as greater exposure.  And the "cerise sur le sundae" as we say in Québec is that it is free!

I joined IPAC as CEO in August 2006 just in time for the Annual conference in PEI.  In the last 4 years, I have had the pleasure of meeting many dedicated public servants from across the country - from sea to sea to sea - and from all orders of government.  It is unfortunate that the Canadian public does not hear of all the great accomplishments of public servants.  At IPAC we have tried to highlight this excellence through our awards and other events. In the time I have been here I have reviewed hundreds upon hundreds of submissions for our Innovative Management Awards co-sponsored by IBM Canada and KPMG; our IPAC/Deloitte Public Sector Leadership Awards and la crème de la crème, the Vanier Medal.  As I read these I was always struck by the wonderful examples of public service that leaped off the page.  Every year it was difficult to choose the finalists from among the nominees and harder still to select the winners - actually all are winners!

I have had the opportunity to meet with many academics from our great Universities who teach public administration and policy.  Their work provides an underpinning to the work of public service in Canada.  Over the years I have read a plethora of extraordinary articles in the Canadian Public Administration journal.

I have had the opportunity of working with incredible Presidents in my 4 years at IPAC - Luc Bernier, Carol Layton, Louis Borgeat, Bill Greenlaw and Wynne Young.  They are all volunteers and have very busy "day" jobs but they all believe in public service and in IPAC and freely gave of their time and continue to give of their time to IPAC.  The same holds true for the Board of Directors, the Regional Group Chairs and Regional Group Executives and all the volunteers who give of their time because they believe that excellence in public service is important in Canada and around the world. IPAC very active 17 regional groups provide a wide range of learning activities to both IPAC members and non-members alike.

And I would be remiss if I did not mention the dedicated staff at IPAC who keep the place running.

So you should have guessed by now that I am leaving IPAC.  Indeed I am going to continue to work in the field of public administration and policy as an assistant deputy minister with the Ontario Ministry of Education. I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that the new job will bring and I look fondly back at my time at IPAC.

For those senior public servants who read my blog, I want to encourage you to increase your support to IPAC.  There are many jurisdictions who have not increased their contribution in support of IPAC since the early 1990's and others (you know who you are) who provide no core support to this wonderful institution.  As I mentioned in my last editorial in the June issue of Public Sector Management magazine, without IPAC I truly believe that the existing body of knowledge on public administration in Canada would not be as extensive as it is today. I urge you to give back to your chosen profession - the public service - and to invest in future public servants by supporting IPAC.

Prix IAPC pour la gestion innovatrice

Eh bien nous avons finalement lu les plus de 80 présentations que nous avons reçu cette année le Prix de gestion innovatrice commondité par IBM Canada et KPMG. Neuf finalistes ont été sélectionnés et ils feront des présentations au jury de sélection au début de juillet, à Toronto.

Comme vous le savez le thème de cette année est la collaboration. Il y avait de nombreux soumissions valables, mais nous avons dû faire un choix pour sélectionner les finalistes. Inutile de dire que les choix ont été difficiles à faire étant donné le calibre des plus de 80 soumissions.
Et les finalistes sont:

• Public Transportation for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games - South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (Translink)
• Aboriginal Economic Partnerships - Alberta Aboriginal Relations
• Alberta's 10 year plan to End Homelessness - Alberta Housing & Urban Affairs
• Working Horizontally to Develop a Transformative Initiative on Accessible Transportation - Accessibility Directorate, Ontario Ministry of Community & Social Services
• Ontario's Statistical Neighbours: A Tool for Planning - Ontario Ministry of Education
• Human Resources Process Lab - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Restructuring Canada's Automotive Industry - Industry Canada
• Impetus for Change: Federal, Provincial, Territorial Pandemic Coordination - Public Health Agency of Canada
• La négociation et la mise en oeuvre de l'Accord de commerce et de coopération Québec-Ontario - Ministère de Dévelloppement économique, de l'Innovation et de l'Exportation

Innovative Management Award - Finalists

Well we finally made it through the over 80 submissions that we received for this year Innovative Management Award co-sponsored by IBM Canada and KPMG.  Nine finalists were selected and they will be making presentations to the selection jury in early July in Toronto.

As you may recall the theme for this year's award is collaboration. There were many worthy submissions but we had to make a choice to decide on the finalists.  Needless to say that the choices were difficult to make given the calibre of the over 80 submissions.

And the finalists are:

• Public Transportation for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games - South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (Translink)
• Aboriginal Economic Partnerships - Alberta Aboriginal Relations
• Alberta's 10 year plan to End Homelessness - Alberta Housing & Urban Affairs
• Working Horizontally to Develop a Transformative Initiative on Accessible Transportation - Accessibility Directorate, Ontario Ministry of Community & Social Services
• Ontario's Statistical Neighbours: A Tool for Planning - Ontario Ministry of Education
• Human Resources Process Lab - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Restructuring Canada's Automotive Industry - Industry Canada
• Impetus for Change: Federal, Provincial, Territorial Pandemic Coordination - Public Health Agency of Canada
• La négociation et la mise en oeuvre de l'Accord de commerce et de coopération Québec-Ontario - Ministère de Dévelloppement économique, de l'Innovation et de l'Exportation

National Public Service Week 2010

June 13 to 19, 2010 is National Public Service Week.  It is that time of year when some governments across Canada celebrate public service and the achievements of public servants.  The Governor General of Canada has put out a statement commending the public servants for the work that they do.

There are many activities taking place across the country that are aimed at celebrating the excellence in public service that we find day in and day out in public services in Canada.  The Government of Canada has a website dedicated to National Public Service Week that includes information about activities being undertaken by the Federal government.  The Government of Manitoba has also set up a website to highlight what is happening in that province for National Public Service Week.

While I am happy that some public services are celebrating National Public Service Week, it would be great to have a coordinated campaign that includes the public service of all orders of government across Canada that highlights the value of public service in Canada.  Maybe next year??

In the meantime, I would urge all public servants to take pride in their work and to celebrate their chosen profession.  Have a great public service week!

E-Government in the USA

Have come across a couple of reports on E-government in the USA.  The first is from Pew Research and is a survey that describes the relationship of citizens to public administration - according to this study, 40% of adult internet users have gone online to obtain raw data about government spending and about government activities.  And 31% of online adults have used social media to stay informed about government activities and want to be more engaged & contribute to policy development.  This last part on the desire of citizens wanting to contribute to policy development does not surprise me as I have written about the advantage of what I called "open source policy development" in past blogs.  You can access the Pew study here.

The second report is a report from the Office of Management and Budget entitled "FY 2009 Report to Congress on the Implementation of The E-Government Act of 2002".  This report describes how the US government uses e-government tools to improve its performance and delivery of services and information to the public.  The report also delves into transparency and participation initiatives.

In its first year in office, the Obama Administration leveraged the power of information technology to transform the Federal Government. Starting on his first full day in office, the President led this effort by issuing a directive to make the Government more open and transparent. The Administration engaged the American people in new ways such as virtual town hall meetings and improved the quality of the services delivered to the public. Key initiatives demonstrate the commitment to changing the way Government works:

• In May 2009, Data.gov was launched to enhance access to Federal data. Since then, the site has grown to contain over 167,000 datasets and tools for using the data. After the Environmental Protection Agency toxic release data was featured on Data.gov, the frequency of downloads of that data increased over tenfold.
• In June 2009, the IT Dashboard was implemented to provide unprecedented transparency into $78 billion in annual Federal spending on IT investments. Agency CIOs now review the IT Dashboard monthly to provide updated status information on major IT investments more frequently than ever before.
• In September 2009, Apps.gov was launched to provide Federal agencies easy access to new cloud computing and social media technologies. This enabled agencies to transform their computing services quickly and avoid months of delay and redundant effort.
• In October 2009, a new platform, CyberScope, was launched to streamline the annual security reporting workload and improved the ability to analyze and report on IT security across the Federal Government.
• In December 2009, OMB issued the Open Government Directive instructing all agencies to implement the principles of transparency, participation and collaboration set forth by the President.

 The report also includes many examples of initiatives undertaken in e-government that have application to Canada. You can access the full report here.

The High Road: the Podcast

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Terry Fallis has written a sequel to his award winning first novel The Best Laid Plans.  His second novel entitled, The High Road is scheduled to be published in September 2010.  For those who followed Terry's experience with self-publishing his first novel before McClelland & Stewart published it know that Terry also podcast his first novel.  Well M&S has agreed to allow Terry to podcast The High Road!!  That is quite unusual for a publisher and kudos to M&S.  Well Terry has started his podcast and you can listen to Terry reading his novel on iTunes or on his website.

I have listened to the first two chapters and listening to Terry read his work is a delight.  And obviously I am not the only one who thinks so as THR has risen up the iTunes charts and others such as the President of the Canadian Booksellers Association have lauded Terry's book.

I would heartily recommend that you listen to this wonderful Canadian political novel.  If you enjoyed The Best Laid Plans, you will love The High Road.

 

Innovative Management Award - More

A few days ago I blogged about IPAC's Innovative Management Award.  Well the application deadline has arrived along with almost 100 submissions!  I am now plowing my way through a number of these submissions and I can tell that it will be a very difficult job to come up with a handful of finalists from the amazing examples of collaboration that I have read about so far. These are such great examples of how governments right across Canada are engaging in collaboration to develop better policies and programs.  The collaborations include multiple ministries/departments within a jurisdiction, collaboration with other orders of government - federal, provincial, municipal and aboriginal, collaboration with the private sector, collaboration with NGO's and community groups, collaboration with citizens and collaboration with other countries.  WOW!!!

I am not sure how I will triage all these submissions, but one thing I can attest to is that citizens should be proud of the public service in Canada for engaging in innovative and collaborative approaches to program & policy development and implementation.  Stay tuned for the list of the finalists shortly (have to have it shortly as the awards jury meets in early July to hear from the finalists and award the Gold, Silver & Bronze).

Once again, thanks to our sponsors, IBM Canada and KPMG for supporting this important award and especially thanks to all the organizations across Canada that have submitted nominations.

2nd Curve Health Care Organizations

As part of IPAC's "Sustaining Transformation: Building a Resilient Organization" conference that we held on May 31st & June 1st, Dr. Marty Merry spoke about the opportunity to create 2nd curve health care organizations.

His premise is that the complexity of our health care system as outpaced its capacity to deliver safe patient care under the old "craft" model. What is required to move from a 4 sigma (6,210 defects/1 million = avoidable deaths) to a 6 sigma organization (3.4 defects/1 million) is a paradigm shift. Moving to a second curve system that imports the best of management science into the field of health care delivery would move an organization from 4 to 6 sigma. As Dr. Merry noted - what is the rate of preventable deaths that would be acceptable. If we say that we are satisfied with 95% success rate, that means that 50,000 people die from preventable deaths in our system. The only real answer that is acceptable is ZERO!

But how do we get there?

Dr Merry laid out "The Vision: 10 Rules of Performance in a Redesigned/2nd Curve Health Care System" (adapted from the Institute of Medicine, 2003):

1. Care is based on continuous  healing relationships;
2. Care is customized based on patient needs and values;
3. The patient is the source of control;
4. Knowledge is shared and information flows freely;
5. Decision making is evidence based;
6. Safety is a system property;
7. Transparency is necessary;
8. Needs are anticipated;
9. Waste is continuously decreased; and
10. Cooperation among clinicians is a priority.

Dr. Merry spoke about the characteristics of a second curve health care organization that is patient focused.  I could not do justice to his full talk, but have no fear as we will be posting the videos of his talk on teh IPAC website shortly.

Resilience Conference

As I wrote previously, on Monday & Tuesday, we organized a conference entitled “Sustaining Transformation: Building a Resilient Organization” that focused on health care.  We had an amazing array of speakers! The conference was videoed and will be posting the videos on our website in the next short while.

Among our keynote speakers was Saäd Rafi, DM of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care who spoke to the delegates on the need for resilience and a focus on quality of care. He spoke of the need for health care organizations to act as a real system that is better aligned to quality health outcomes and that the future core business of the sector is a focus on quality care. There are some who equate the amount of funding to the level of quality. Saäd emphasized that more money does not result in better quality. Indeed there is an argument that true quality is less expensive as it focuses on the best practices for the delivery of care based on evidence. Saäd spoke about the Ontario government’s new legislation “Excellent Care for All” that is presently being debated in the Legislature. This legislation focuses on quality and patient outcomes and requires every hospital to develop an annual Quality Plan that includes regular surveys of patients, their families, and staff to gauge the level of quality being delivered.

Saäd also connected what the Ministry is doing to the 4 parts of resilience model- Responds, Monitors, Anticipates and Learns. He emphasized that the learn is the most difficult as it requires behavioral changes in the system as a whole. The delegates appreciated his take on the challenges and opportunities ahead and the need to build truly resilient organizations in order to be successful.

There were a number of other incredible speakers, such as Dr. Marty Merry and Dr. Josh Tepper on 2nd curve health care organizations that I will blog about in a future update.

Innovative Management Award

In 1990, IPAC established "The IPAC Award for Innovative Management" to recognize the exceptional management within the public sector of Canada. Each year a new theme is chosen by the IPAC Board of Directors and our sponsors - IBM Canada and KPMG. In those 20 years we have been privileged to see many extraordinary examples of innovation at its best from right across the full spectrum of the public sector in Canada. On the IPAC website we have a database of all the winners and finalists through all these years.

In many years IPAC receives 100 submissions from across the country. These 100 submissions are whittled down to a group of finalists who are invited to present their innovative management submission to a jury composed of distinguished public servants. The top three finalists are then invited to make presentations at the IPAC Annual Conference and winners are announced.

This years theme is "Collaboration at Work".

Governments in Canada and around the world face complex problems that reach across ministerial mandates, regulatory purview and jurisdictions, and affect citizens and stakeholders in predictable and unintended ways. While resources are increasingly limited, citizens expect governments to work together to tackle "wicked problems."

Collaboration is needed within an entire governmental enterprise or public organization, with other governments, the broader public sector, NGOs and with citizens. Natural disasters or flu epidemics, adapting to and mitigating climate change, dealing with the impacts of a global recession, caring for the most vulnerable members of our society, or helping other countries develop their institutions and public services: one single government entity, acting alone, cannot achieve the results that our citizens expect.

We demand that governments act in concert with actors from business, civil society as well as with citizens, and work effectively with other orders of government to achieve the best outcomes. We require that this cooperative approach be cost effective, swift, innovative and transparent. We also expect public sector values to be respected.

For 2010, the Innovative Management Awards will recognize governmental/public sector organizations that have shown new and innovative ways of cutting across bureaucratic boundaries and silos to address the complex issues facing society.

The deadline to submit your application is June 7, 2010.  Go to the Innovative Management section of the IPAC website to fill in the application form.

Resilience, Reliability and Results

On Monday May 31st, and Tuesday June 1st, IPAC will be holding a conference focusing on health care entitled Sustainable Transformation: Building a Resilient Organization.

As part of IPAC's health care research project we will be releasing a study of five acute-care hospitals in the Waterloo-Wellington region that highlight the stories of these "high performers in the making" and their respective experiences with ED PIP – the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s “Emergency Department Process Improvement Program.”

This 8 month initiative which ran from March – October 2009 engaged front-line staff from across these organizations in "quality by design" decision-making, planning, piloting and implementing of process improvement changes in Emergency Departments and across Inpatient Units. With Wave 2 just finishing and an additional 17 Ontario Hospital sites added to the roll-out, ED PIP may be one of the most significant transformational efforts to take place in Ontario hospitals in decades. In its early days PIP has clearly demonstrated success by enhancing the quality of the patient experience through improved access to care and flow through the system at the following Wave 1 sites:

• Groves Memorial Hospital, Fergus
• Guelph General Hospital, Guelph
• St. Mary’s General Hospital, Kitchener-Waterloo
• Grand River Hospital, Kitchener-Waterloo
• Cambridge Memorial Hospital, Cambridge

The case studies provide a context for specific process improvement strategies that could be adopted in other hospitals and outline the challenges or barriers that may prevent the adoption of these process improvements. This study considers:

• the significance of a learning culture that builds capacity and resilience in its people;
• the importance of process improvement designs that enhance system effectiveness and efficiencies and increase overall reliability in care delivery and patient outcomes; and
• the value of a management and performance measurement infrastructure that encourages and supports the desired results of the transformation.

With a spirit of persistent crafting and sustaining of robust strategies and improvements in care, these ‘stories’ and ‘lessons learned’ can influence, inspire and dare us to consider what is possible as we continue the journey of healthcare reform in the province of Ontario.

You can access these cases and much more on the IPAC Health Care Leaders Forum page of the IPAC website.

Next week I will be blogging from our Health care conference.  As I've written before on this blog, we must come to grips with the increased demands of our health care system if we are to ensure a longer term fiscally sustainable future and a society that invests in other important areas such as education, the arts and infrastructure.

Patient Safety & Quality Health Care

An interesting new report, published in April 2010, by the European Commission on the perceptions of patient safety and the quality of healthcare. The survey was conducted in 27 members states of the European Union. Nearly half the respondents feel that they could be harmed by healthcare in their country, and the majority of respondents feel hospital infections or incorrect, missed or delayed diagnoses are either fairly likely or very likely to occur.

• The majority of respondents feel hospital infections or incorrect, missed or delayed diagnoses are either fairly likely or very likely to occur when receiving healthcare in their own country.

• Over 25% of respondents claim that they or a member of their family have experienced an adverse event with healthcare. However, these events largely go unreported.

• Where adverse experiences were reported this was mainly to the hospital management or the relevant doctor, nurse or pharmacist.

• Nearly one third of respondents do not know which body is responsible for patient safety in their country. Others see the ministry of health or the healthcare providers (e.g. clinic, hospital, doctor, nurse) as the responsible bodies.

• Of the people who underwent surgery, 17% say written consent was never obtained, though great variance across the Member States is evident.

• Most respondents (73%) say television is their main source of information regarding adverse events in healthcare, followed by newspapers and magazines (44%) and friends or family (31%). Only 9% would seek information in official statistics or in hospital.

• Whether harm occurred in their own country, or another Member State, respondents expect that an investigation into the case or financial compensation would be the forms of redress.

• Should they be harmed in their own country, most respondents anticipate that they would seek help from a lawyer, or else the hospital management or ministry of health. If the harm occurs in another Member State, they claim they would first contact their embassy or consulate.

• When thinking of high quality healthcare, the most important criterion is well trained medical staff, followed by treatment that works. Thereafter, no waiting lists, modern medical equipment and respect of a patient’s dignity receive roughly equal responses.

• Most respondents rate the healthcare in their country as good, though the majority feel it is fairly good rather than very good. However, there is again great variance on a national level (from 97% to 25% of respondents rating quality of healthcare in their country as good).

• Respondents from 16 EU Member States consider the quality of healthcare in their country as worse than in other Member States, whereas respondents from 11 Member States consider it as better.

This is a fascinating report and Canadians should be aware that we have similar issues in this country.

La Gouverneure générale remet la Médaille Vanier

Le 13 mai la gouverneure générale du Canada a présenté la Médaille Vanier au Dr Gordon S. Smith lors d'une cérémonie à Rideau Hall. Ce fut une occasion merveilleuse et l'IAPC est fier que Son Excellence a présidé cette cérémonie importante.

Dr Smith, Wynne Young (la présidente de l'IAPC) et moi sont arrivé à 9:30 où nous avons été accueillis par le merveilleux personnel de Rideau Hall. On nous a montré où la cérémonie aurait lieu et ce que nous avions à faire. Après nous sommes allés à la salon "Mme Vanier" et ont nous a offert café, thé, etc que nous avons attendu que la cérémonie commence a 10h30.

La gouverneure générale a prononcé un discours admirable sur le service public que vous devriez tous lire. Wynne Young a ensuite remercié la GG pour son hospitalité et a présenté le Lauréate de 2009 de la médaille Vanier, Dr Smith. Dr Smith a ensuite reçu sa médaille de la Gouverneure générale et il a parlé pendant quelques minutes sur le service public et sa carrière et sa relation avec Rideau Hall.

Après le chant de «O Canada» nous avons été invités à une réception où la merveilleuse GG nous a rejoint.

Ce fut un événement merveilleux et nous sommes très reconnaissants que la gouverneure général a été en mesure de présider à la cérémonie de cette année.

Pictures from Vanier Reception/Photos de la réception de la Médaille Vanier

Here are a few pictures from the reception at Rideau Hall following the Vanier Medal ceremony.  This picture is of our incoming President, Denise Amyot and the Governor General.

Voici quelques photos de la réception à Rideau Hall, après la cérémonie de la Médaille Vanier. Cette photo est de notre présidente entrante, Denise Amyot et de la Gouverneure générale Michaëlle Jean.

These pictures were taken in the beautiful gardens of Rideau Hall.  Picture below from left to right are: Kaili Levesque, Chair National Capital Regional Group, Denise Amyot, Incoming IPAC President, Nancy Chahwan, IPAC National Secretary, me and Nancy Faraday-Smith, IPAC VP.

Ces photos ont été prises dans les jardins magnifiques de Rideau Hall. Photo ci-dessous, de gauche à droite: Kaili Lévesque, présidente du Groupe régional de la capitale nationale, Denise Amyot, présidente entrante de l'IAPC, Nancy Chahwan, Secrétaire national de l'IAPC, moi et Nancy Faraday-Smith, vice-présidente de l' IAPC.