imagining the future of the public service workforce · foresighter applying vision and imagination...
TRANSCRIPT
government.unimelb.edu.au
government.unimelb.edu.au
IMAGINING THE FUTURE OF THE
PUBLIC SERVICE WORKFORCE
A/Prof Helen Dickinson
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
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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
government.unimelb.edu.au
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.
government.unimelb.edu.au
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.
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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?
government.unimelb.edu.au
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