Social Networking

Interesting article in the Economist on the rise and use of Social Networking. It is a good read. For those who do not know, IPAC has launched a new IPAC e-connect site that is a networking site to link public servants across the country. If you haven't joined, do so today and connect across the country & around the world with other dedicated public servants.

We officially launched the e-connect site on January 27th and throughout the day a number of different live chats took place on subjects that were discussed at the October New Professionals conference. Check out the site & join in the discussions.

Resilience, Reliability & Results

A “resilient” organization, team, or individual has the ability to bounce back from a hard hit, to deal with adversity and return to a high level of performance. This idea has been gaining prominence in several fields in the last few years. In safety in high-consequence industries (aviation, chemical, nuclear, and healthcare), it means the ability to recover from accidents and also to prevent them before they happen. In human and social development, it means the ability of individuals and communities to rise above their circumstances and better themselves despite misfortunes or difficult conditions. In organizational terms, in means the capacity of a government, healthcare system, or private-sector company to recover from environmental shocks, adapt to the new situation, and return to a well-performing equilibrium point.

Why is resilience an important capacity for organizations, groups, and individuals to develop? In 1988, in a report for the Office of the Auditor General, Federal Government of Canada, Otto Brodtrick wrote:

“Well-performing organizations encourage risk taking. They are willing to try new methods when common sense dictates that better results can be achieved by following the spirit of a regulation, instead of the letter. However, staff must hold the values of stewardship, service and results, and they must consult with each other. When their people are governed by these values, the well-performing organizations encourage risk taking as a matter of strategy.”

Strategic risk-taking and risk management, toward optimizing performance, are hallmarks of the Resilient Organization. Given budget shortfalls, aging populations, and increasing demands for targeted, high-quality services, governments and healthcare systems must develop their capacity for resilience if they hope to accomplish their mandates. The same thing is true, in different ways, for high-consequence industries and the private sector. Achieving good performance in pockets seems more attainable than maintaining and sustaining it over large segments of a system or organization. Building organizational resilience is a necessary performance platform in today’s environment.

This is even more true today than it was ten or twenty years ago. Many governments, hospitals, school boards are facing budget crises and severe fiscal constraints across Canada, Europe, and the U.S. Take the healthcare sector as a further illustration. In many Canadian provinces spending on health care is fast approaching half of the provincial budget and is growing at a rate of 5-8% per annum. This is at the same time as governments are running significant deficits and demand for health services are climbing. This is also at the same time when government should be focusing more of their scare resources on investing for the future. Departments/Ministries of Health and Finance can only meet their fiscal accountabilities if they adopt the Resilient Organization perspective. Otherwise, their strategies will be limited to broad-brush cuts in service which do not change the basic dynamics of the system. Resilience can achieve both: steadily bending the cost curve, while increasing the quality of care and access to service. How? By improving alignment across the sector, enabling organizations to adapt, flex, and anticipate to environmental shocks, and (in general) reducing the costs of coordination by improving system-wide teamwork and situational awareness. All of these are characteristics of a highly-reliable, resilient healthcare system.

There are a number of studies that show that by only focusing on results, organizational improvement is temporary and not embedded in the culture of the organization. Using the same resources, one can focus on creating a resilient organization that will achieve the desired results over the long term.

In a future post I will write about a new paper by some leading US Healthcare thinkers on "Transforming Healthcare: A Safety Imperative". It is a fascinating paper and I think hits the nail on the head in terms of how to transform health care.

Discussion on International Development

Video interview with Mark Malloch-Brown on international development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Mr. Malloch-Brown is former head of the United Nations Development Programme and former British Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

This is a very interesting interview.

Topical Briefs

As part of IPAC's knowledge sharing strategy, IPAC developed "Topical Briefs" on a number of different issues, that is:

E-Government;
Citizen-Centered Service;
Single-Windows and Integrated Service Delivery;
Codes of Ethics;
Performance Measurement;
Whistle-Blowing;
Alternative Service Delivery;
Conflict of Interest; and
Public Private Partnerships

These briefs were written by Ken Kernaghan and funded by the World Bank Institute and is part of our International work. These are wonderful short pieces outlining the key issues under all these topics. Take a look at these....there is much more on the IPAC website as well.

Role of the State

In this week's edition of The Economist the cover story is about the growth of government, especially in the developed world. The editorial and accompanying article show that even in the United States under George Bush, government has grown. This growth in the US began before the recent market meltdown and the intervention by the state to prop up the US banking industry and automotive industry. The Economist editorial and article make the point that the upcoming baby boomer retirements will create even more pressure on governments as this generation start to access health care and other services.

The editorial makes a good point that "smaller" government does not necessarily mean "better" government - what is needed is a "right" sized government to deliver the services that citizens demand.

More on Haiti

I am sure that you have all been watching the news out of Haiti. There was another aftershock today that was quite strong. The devastation in that country is beyond comprehension. The immediate needs are to provide medical assistance and to feed the population.

The responsiveness of the Canadian public service, including the armed forces, has been nothing but extraordinary. I think all Canadians should be proud of how our country and our government have responded.

There will be many years of rebuilding in Haiti. Not only infrastructure but also all aspects of civil society, public services, education, health care and the economy. As I wrote previously, the relationship between Canada and Haiti is a special one and I know that Canada will be at the forefront of this multiyear rebuilding.

I also think that IPAC and its members can play a crucial role in the rebuilding of the Haitian public service. As we are doing in many other countries around the world we can bring Canadian public sector expertise to bear and assist in building a non-partisan, efficient and effective public service.

Tomorrow's bureaucrats

Interesting editorial in today's Ottawa Citizen about the civil service.

Tomorrow's bureaucrats


what do you think?