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Not everything in the public sector is a bed of roses!

A pesonal view by B Holland

Many public sector organisations are well run, indeed elsewhere I have argued that they are often better run than in the private sector (for more on this...); however others are not such a bed of roses.

I find people who want to do good stuff and can't because of unnecessary controls and egos that get in the road. I find there's an abundance of talent either worn down or never tested. For more on this...

Some public sector organisations try like crazy to succeed but no matter how hard they try are unable to make a difference because they need the active co-operation of several other organisations within the sector in order to make the system at the larger level work. They need to be far better at building relationships and networking. They're too internally focussed and need to focus more clearly on the bigger system. For more on this...

Some public sector organisations are not clear about how they add value. They are too fuzzy and unfocused. Currently, the Budget operates independently of strategy rather than functioning as an instrument of strategy.

Some don't know what their value proposition is. They try to be everything to everybody and fail. In my experience it's quite amazing what a difference it makes when the organisation understands with total clarity what its Value Proposition is and aligns all aspects to it. For more on this...

In some public sector organisations the top team is too siloed. They work as though keeping information and building silos was their aim in life. When the top team works in this way you can almost guarantee that it will be replicated throughout the organisation: people will not be communicating, will not be co-operating and will not be working to the better good of the organisation. In my experience the most important mind shift required is for the top team to see how their success depends upon the success of the bigger system. This often takes some time and mentoring and/or training over an extended period. For more on this...

Way back in 2004 Alan Cassidy (Leadership Development Centre) was quoted in Management 11/2004: "We are finding that the key gaps in senior executives going for CE roles are in two major areas. They're really strong in critical thinking and good at stakeholder/community relations but they're generally weaker on the people management side and some of the business systems and processes needed to run efficient and effective organisations..... there's a huge culture of busyness ...". I don't think much has changed.

In some organisations there is an over-reliance on compliance and regulation rather than the creativity and innovation required to create a better environment. Some are more interested in processing stuff than influencing and supporting self-reliance. In some there is a short-term focus of doing things to people rather than a long-term focus of changing the environment where everyone can grow and thrive. It's a low risk quantitative experience rather than a high-risk quality experience leading to inspiration and a stronger society. In my experience the New Zealand public sector management system is still geared more to the short-term production of outputs rather than to planning for the long haul, and accounting for what has been produced rather than to evaluate progress in achieving major strategic objectives. For more on this...

The main problem is a lack of focus on the real role and how the organisations can make the most difference. This is quite easily rectified by people in the organisations taking the time out to review their long-term direction and reason for being.