Innovation as Leadership in LG

Context

• Innovation: better solutions that meet new requirements………….new ideas

• Improvement: doing the same thing better (business as usual/best practice)

Revolution: Typing, taking photos ……times 1000

Innovation in Government• Federal

• State

• Local

…………is generally slow at some levels

FOLG background• LG is the most complex service business on earth: 150 but the

same

• LG is too busy reacting and regulating to be strategic, so other levels of Govt. make all the big decisions (BAU)

ContextCouncils are currently facing a number of major challenges including:• A new regulatory regime demanding a minimum standard of performance• Publicly available comparative performance information• Rapidly escalating community expectations and increased media scrutiny • A freeze on Grants Commission allocations and reduction in other Federal $• The prospect of rate capping• Road funding changes under development• Criticism about the lack of integration of Council plans • Challenging political environments• Skills shortages and ageing workforce• The shift to digital government• Implementing the recommendations of recent VAGO investigations > all resulting in ongoing threats to Council services and sustainability.Across the sector Councils will need to adapt and innovate to remain viable and relevant to their communities.

Old and new• Councils continue to do things 79 times: duplication/waste• Commonwealth funding for LG is reducing• Most Councils can’t scale the ‘Digital Divide’

– Individual Councils don’t have the resources to leverage t• Old: each Council does its own thing

– LG costs rising rapidly– Community expectations not met– Many councils not sustainable– Growing scops of LG activities– Ad hoc collaborationOutcome: intervention/amalgamation

• New: collaborate and innovate or die– All Councils are essentially in the same business

• But how to deliver?– Issues of change management and organisational culture

FOLG• We need to articulate what the future of LG looks like or others

will do it for us• The world is transforming into a networked collaborative society• LG needs to align itself with the global push for reform and

productivity• We need to do more with less• LG needs to lead change or have it imposed: we need to decide on

our future game plan

Community Budgeting– “There’s no city in the world where it is business as usual anymore”– Kathy Alexander, CEO of the City of Melbourne is putting the word out

on Council's first people's panel that will decide how the City will allocate its budget for the next ten years.

FOLG Summit: propositions Commission of Inquiry into Rewiring Public Services to Improve Community Outcomes: Propositions from the Commission

1. Local Government will take control of its own destiny and stop playing the victim and stop cap in hand whingeing behaviours

2. In future, budgets (negotiable elements) should be set by using crowd- sourcing methodology to determine priorities and services for the year.

3. In future councils will work collaboratively for delivery of back office services via shared services arrangements.

4. In future councils will exercise leadership with other tiers of government in a whole system approach.

5. The sector makes a commitment that every council in Victoria will be financially successful within 4 years and will make a collective commitment to achieve this

6. Councils will commit to moving to IT that is designed to enable genuinely transformative change.

7. Local government will play a leadership role in identifying new business models to transform the delivery of public services in a way that uses far less resources

The challenge is to respond ahead of the curve

If local government don’t respond, other levels of government will –and hasn’t that always been the issue?

…………BUT not addressing local community priorities

Example Application Map 2008 Internet

Harmony(Family Day

Care)

Valuation Database

AutoCAD(CAD)

MYOB

Titan Security(BuildingAccess)

Loan Register

Phone Extension

Listing

Fire Infringement

Notices

Disability Parking

Coach Tours

Car Parking Appraisals

Key Register

Food Stall Permits

Emergency Response Register

Building Maintenance

Risk Register

Who’s In

Waste Management

WorksPermits

Sextants Register

(Yea Cemetery)

Stems Septic Tank Database

Roadside Mapping &

Species

Moloney Asset Management

Planning Permits &

Compliance

Planning Permit Conditions Monitoring

Routine Maintenance

Rubbish Bins

GravelRe-Sheeting

ProgramKey Register

Roads to Recovery

Road Register

Bridge Inspection

System

Extra Works Major Bridge

Works

Linemarking Pavement

Renewal Program

Drainage Renewals & Upgrades

Footpath & Kerb Renewal

Programs

Sundry Debtors

Fuel Usage

Footpath Inspections

Playground Inspections

Staff Training

Approved Sub Contractor Register

Works Schedules

Open Space Register

Financial Statements

Loan Repayments

Home Maintenance

Model Accounts

Lease Register

FringeBenefits

Investments Register

Wages Budgeting

Greenhouse Gas

Calculations

Terminations

Trust Register

Maternity Leave

Calculations

Back Pay Calculations

Payroll Spreadsheets

Work CoverSuperannuation

Rate Certificate Register

Septic Tank Register

Infromax(Building

Maintenance)

Septic Tanks

IRIS(Maternity & Child

Healthcare)

Crystal Reports

Image Library(Mapped

Drive)

Vision Super(Superannuation)

External Org.

ATO

External Org.

Manual Exportfrom Payroll

Corporate System

Accounts Receivable

Records Register

Building Control

Payroll

Property Management

System

Rating

Accounts Payable

Statutory Planning

Financials

Harmony(KL Early

Learning Centre)

Sharikat Khoo(Home &

Community Care)

BIS(Mgt. Reporting & Budgeting)

Animal Control

I-Services(CRM)

Health Admin.

§ Planning§ Building Control§ Animal Control§ Health§ Rates & Property§ Asset Register§ Names & Addresses§ CRM

Employee Kiosk &

Online Leave

Contract Register

Manual File Upload toProperty & Rating

Sesame(Valuations)External App.

Mobile Phone Usage

Land Line Usage

ManualExport / Import

ManualExport / Import

Manual File Transfer

BRSS Telstra Electronic Billing

External App.

Manual Exportfrom Payroll

Asset Register

Trust Register

Bank Reconciliation

Receipting

Estimates

Inventory Control

Hazard & Injury Register

Committees of Management

Certificates

Plant

Bank(Bank Online)

External Org.

Playgrounds

Trees

Bridges

Toilets

Manual LayerUpdate Nightly

Storm Water Data

MapInfo / Easimaps

(GIS)

State Government(Map Data)External Org.

Scheme Amendments

Asset System

Road Asyst(Road

Maintenance)Capital Editor

Footpaths GIS

Manual File Transfer

Manual File Transfer

Credit Cards

Monthly ManualUpload

WebFleet(Fleet

Management)

Australian Child Immunisation

Register

Internet(WebComm

Hosted Externally)

Business Directory

Community Directory

Secure Pay

Intranet(WebComm

Hosted Internally)

EventsBooking Calendar

Here’s the thing• State and Federal Governments are planning for

Digital Government (Victoria: 1 ‘pipe’ for LG)• When LG does nothing, others will decide. LG will

then– complain– react– report – shave costs, fine tune

• BUT, when LG leads, others follow

67%

4%

25%

4%

1. Yes

2. No

3. Partly

4. Unsure

change in the next 5 to 10 years?Does Local government require transformational

Co-designplanning

Technology enabled

opportunities

Place based delivery

Councils Leading Change

Council-centric decisions

Fragmented resourcing

Service costs are rising

LG at the crossroads

Leading for future success

Colugo at the cross-roads

Where we need to be – Councils of the Future

Where we are now– business as usual

Performance and financial

challenges

Ad-hoc collaboration

Two speed LG

Increasingcommunity

expectations

Poor spatial awareness

Strategic regional

collaborations

Community driven

participation

Broker of key services

Adaptive Community

cultures

LG at thecrossroad

s

A question of leadership

The reality of austerity

The UK LGA Funding Outlook 2013

www.local.gov.uk

UK

Local government is • trusted• competent• has the solutionsSatisfaction with LG is rising, despite the funding cuts.

Where are Victorian Councils going?

• LG will transform in the next 10 years: what role will Councils have in that transformation?

• Driven by – technology/internet– rapidly changing community expectations– fewer dollars/resources

• The 4 year Council Plan should tell us – How Council will meet the challenge of change– How Council will scale the digital divide– How to do more with less– How innovation will transform council services

LG: Collaborate and innovate or die

• But how to deliver?• How to establish a culture of innovation and

collaboration?• How important is transformative leadership?• Who are the champions of change in LG?• Who drives change in LG?• How can Councils deliver better performance

at lower cost?• How can councils collaborate more effectively?

How can Councils deliver better performance at lower cost?

• Requires a commitment to a fundamental change in the way services are planned, organised and delivered.

• Need to engage citizens in service design and delivery

• Need to put innovation and collaboration high on Council and regional agendas/plans

• Requires leadership

Innovation in LG

• Innovation is how large organisations remain sustainable and retain public support

• LG has – drivers– organisational skills and attitudes– also needs

• greater focus on collaborative innovation in regional/state-wide groups

• greater knowledge-sharing between Councils/regions

LG Innovation action plan: ACELG• Ensuring that proposed or envisaged amalgamations are driven by an

innovation outcome rather than a narrow search for efficiency.• Developing innovation skills, capacities and capabilities, particularly in areas

that involve transformational innovations.• Creating a culture and working environment that encourages and facilitates

partnerships and collaborations with other government entities, businesses, universities, nongovernment organisations (NGOs) and the broader community.

• Using outsourcing and commissioning as an opportunity for securing innovation outcomes.

• Examining opportunities for open innovation and support for innovation tournaments or contests that reward the development and implementation of new ideas.

• Strengthening knowledge exchange networks to build innovation capability

The Swift Journey……………how collaboration

benefits participants

Benefits to Members

• A saving of on average 30% to annual operating expenses.

• No longer the need to perform system monitoring or system backups.

• Functionality that would be difficult to justify on a stand-alone basis.

• Automatically receive new updates of operating system at no cost.

• A reliable, stable operating environment.• Savings through Consortium purchases.

• The use of a modern system that has led to improved Patron services.

• The Consortium has introduced new standards and work practices, that has improved productivity within the Participating Libraries.

Now

2016

2018

Colla

bora

tive

Inno

vatio

n

LG Cloud Platform – shared space for collaboration

Not all the councils will want to or be able to collaborate via the LG Cloud

Some collaborative projects will embrace the LG Cloud and run with it.

Some projects chose to run independent of the LG Cloud.

Right now the LG Cloud appears too esoteric for some projects to embrace

The early adopters will be key to seeding the concept and demonstrating its merits.

Council

The Future of Local Government Services YouTube Anthony Kemp (3 mins)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbbdHJS2t8I