Today was the first full day of the Global Network of Government Innovators conference here in Cambridge, Mass. In the morning Thomas Vilsack, former Governor of Iowa (1998 – 2006) spoke about the need for innovation to solve problems facing society.
Governor Vilsack spoke about the challenges facing the United States and the world from lack of health care coverage for 47 million Americans, to the 350 million malnourished children around the world to Climate Change. He then outlined the 4 barriers to innovation that need to be dealt with in order to innovate.
The first barrier is cultural. As any of you who have been involved in innovation know, most people are resistant to change. They prefer the status quo because that means that they don’t have to change how they do things. Governor Vilsack, not surprisingly, said that leadership is the key to overcoming the cultural barrier. “Leaders challenge the status quo”. To do that leaders must have/set out a clear vision and use that vision to highlight the problem with the status quo. This will create the creative tension needed to innovate. One example the Governor used was the decision to invest in Early Childhood Education. Using 3rd party experts, the Governor used non-traditional arguments to push for investments in ECE – these included the economic arguments that showed that a dollar invested in ECE had a much higher return than investing that dollar in primary/secondary or post secondary education.
The second barrier is the economic barrier. As we all know, change requires resources to accomplish. Therefore governments need a budgetary system that is tied to results. In Iowa under the Governor, the State established 5 key goals and required that all government programs tie to those goals. By focusing on results and gathering the appropriate data one can establish why a particular program is important to meeting the goals outlined. These goals are posted on the web and are updated every quarter. As well, a performance contract was developed between the Governor and the department heads that outlined expectations and included rewards for meeting/exceeding goals. These goals were not all monetary in nature but also include things such as the Governor addressing all the staff of that department.
The third barrier is the scientific barrier. The Governor lamented the fact that the US has gotten away from funding basic research and that the private sector funds very specific research not basic research. He used the example of Climate Change as an area that requires a substantive investment in basic research to innovate. Where is the research into innovative ways to deal with the storage and sequestration of CO2?
The last barrier to innovation is the political/regulatory barrier. The Governor emphasized that most government processes and regulations discourage innovation. To encourage innovation in Iowa, the state under the Governors leadership established “Charter Agencies” in Iowa. At first, 6 such agencies were created in Iowa. In exchange for their commitment to produce measurable results and reduce expenditures, the agencies were given greater flexibility and authority.
Finally, the Governor spoke about the need to have a system that does not punish mistakes. He stated that “you cannot innovate if you are fearful of mistakes” and that “mistakes are OK as long as you learn from them”. He encouraged innovators to experiment and try new ideas in part of the system and see if it works.
Stay tuned for more on this very interesting conference, including what the UK is doing to increase citizen engagement.
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