imagining the future of the public service workforce · foresighter applying vision and imagination...

government.unimelb.edu.au

government.unimelb.edu.au

IMAGINING THE FUTURE OF THE

PUBLIC SERVICE WORKFORCE

A/Prof Helen Dickinson

Helen.dickinson@unimelb.edu.au

government.unimelb.edu.au

government.unimelb.edu.au

“Advances in recent years have created an unprecedented case for change in

the ways in which public services work. We are seeing a greater focus on

effectiveness, efficiency and accountability and far more demanding citizens

who expect an increasingly high level of service delivery, comparable to what

they get from the private sector. At the same time, in a climate of budgetary

pressures and, in the drive for greater efficiency, politicians and regulatory

bodies are expecting government organizations to do more for less. Managers

of public services are under pressure to adopt reforms in order to realize the

benefits that new processes, systems and technologies can bring. To respond

to these complex and changing demands and deliver public service value,

government organizations are increasingly considering the ways in which their

workforces are configured. Designing new ways of working is becoming

a key element of public service reform”.

government.unimelb.edu.au

External environment

• Citizen relations

• Technological

• Internationalisation

• Fiscal

• Wicked issues

Internal

• Industrial relations

• Loss of talent in recent reforms

• Externalisation

• Lack of diversity

• Changing relationship with politics?

What are the major challenges?

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The changing nature of work

• Length of work life

• Part time and casualisation of

work

• Career chapters

• Portfolio careers

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The story so far…

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Project research questions

• What is the range of different roles of the twenty-first century public

servant?

• What are the competencies and skills that public servants require

to achieve these roles?

• What are the support and training requirements of these roles?

• How might government better support and promote public service

careers?

government.unimelb.edu.au

government.unimelb.edu.au

Change and public services

government.unimelb.edu.au

Having a vision of the 21st century public

servant matters – and if you don’t form one

someone else will for you.

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Who are public servants and what

do they do?

• Employed directly by government.

• Policy/service-related roles

• Creator of public value

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21st century public servant roles

• Generalist vs

specialist

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Role Description

Expert Exercises judgement in decision making, drawing on relevant

skills and experience.

Regulator Assesses performance of resources against standards.

Engager Works to better understand the needs and drivers of the general

population and feed this into decision making processes.

Reticulist Develops and uses networking skills to identify new sources of

expertise and support and/or to bring together agents who

together can achieve desired outcomes.

Commissioner Involves the full set of activities from needs assessment to service

delivery and evaluation.

Curator Keeping, overseeing and interpreting values, cultures and

institutional memory.

Foresighter Applying vision and imagination to strategic thinking and

anticipating future shifts in the operating environment.

Storyteller Authoring and communicating a coherent narrative about what the

new world will look like.

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21st century public servant skills

• Technical

• Human

• Conceptual

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Skill Definition

Technical Ability to use methods, procedures, processes, tools,

techniques, and specialized knowledge to perform

specific tasks.

Analytic Ability to identify key variables, see how they are

interrelated, and decide which ones should receive the

most attention.

Decision making Ability to choose effective solutions from among

alternatives whilst balancing a range of competing

values.

Administrative Ability to follow policies and procedures, process

paper work in an orderly manner, and manage

expenditure within limits set by budgets.

government.unimelb.edu.au

Human Ability to work cooperatively with others, to

communicate effectively, to motivate and train others,

to resolve conflicts, and to be a team player.

Communication Ability to send and receive information, thoughts, and

feelings, which create common understanding and

meaning. Ability to construct narratives and

communicate this through an array of different media.

Interpersonal Ability to develop and maintain a trusting and open

relationship with superiors, subordinates and peers to

facilitate the free exchange of information and provide

a productive work setting.

Co-production Ability to engage with a variety of different

communities in order to design and deliver public

services in an equal and reciprocal relationship.

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Conceptual Ability to see the organisation as a whole and solve

problems from a systematic point of view. An important

part of this skill involves not simply reacting to issues that

are important now but working proactively to anticipate the

kinds of issues that will be important in the future.

Diagnostic Ability to determine the probable cause of a problem from

examining a set of symptoms. This involved the ability to

think about complex issues and situations and to pick out

the kinds of factors that might alleviate this.

Flexible Ability to deal with ambiguous and complex situations and

rapidly changing demands. Ability to manage change and

respond to shifts in a range of factors including the political

executive.

Design Ability to develop complex systems and processes to

deliver public services. This will be done by employing a

range of different techniques from engagement of a range

of different stakeholder groups to harnessing digital

technologies and principles of design.

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Information and digital skills are crucial

• Increasingly congested arena, many

voices and evidence forms.

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Information professionals: 21st century

public servants in action?

government.unimelb.edu.au

government.unimelb.edu.au

Information professionals: 21st century

public servants in action?

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Education, development and recruitment

• Balance of formal vs experiential learning

• The possibilities of mobility

• Workforce planning

• Recruitment practices

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Attracting the next generation

• This will be increasingly challenging in the future

context.

• But lots that public services can capitalise on.

• Not all about remuneration, ways of rewarding

particular forms of behaviours and practices.

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Digital natives

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What can we take from this

• Agency and the public sector voice.

• Not just structures and processes, but

cultures.

• Craft and revisiting traditional skills.

government.unimelb.edu.au

government.unimelb.edu.au

Find out more about this work

• Full report

• http://21stcenturypublics

ervant.wordpress.com/

• #21cPS

government.unimelb.edu.au

government.unimelb.edu.au