Americans today are facing a crisis in confidenceif not in fact
in the way many of our government institutions function and
perform. Skepticism abounds about the effectiveness of federal,
state, and local governmental organizations in, for example,
conducting war, securing our borders, providing emergency services,
and
educating our children in inner cities.
This crisis in confidence is not restricted to the general public
in opinion
polls or at the voting booths.Dedicated public servant
leaders,managers,
and employeesthose who entered the public sector with a higher
purpose to servealso have been frustrated and often stymied by the
tremendous difficulty of making the impact they came to make.
Daily,
they face red tape, administrative burdens, layers of oversight,
attitudes of
quiet desperation from coworkers, and other steep organizational
constraints.
Such problems have grown in recent years, as organizational
stovepipes designed for an earlier era now interfere with the
proactive
collaboration and quality of interaction neededwithin and across
agencies
to tackle the scale of todays problems.
However, our government institutions do tremendous good and
accomplish
much.An incredible reservoir of good will and drive remains
among those dedicated to serve.Officials and staffs at every level
perform
brilliantlysome heroicallyevery day in countless ways.Seven hundred
million pieces of mail are delivered by the U.S. Postal Service day
in andday out.After 9/11,Americans mobilized and rallied for
tremendous,united efforts.That day, and for weeks beyond,
firefighters, police, community volunteers, municipal
leaders, and citizens across the country, in concert with our
federal government, came together for unparalleled collective
action. Even in the toughest circumstances, people
are amazingly resilient and together find ways to perform
necessary feats, sometimes with spectacular results.
How can this reservoir of human energy be tapped
to produce the results needed from todays public-sector
institutions on a fuller scale? How can government agency
leaders and staff members best fulfill their mission requirements
in service to citizens while working through
institutional constraints?
This article looks at three levels of the public enterprise
agency leaders, staff members, and citizensand
explores how each can be empowered to operate effectively
within the bureaucratic landscape,overcoming structural
traps. A new way of thinking about effecting
change in public bureaucracies is required.
Roots of New Solutions
Agency leaders and staff members often feel overwhelmed
by bureaucracy as they focus on their mission.
New leaders, career executives, and managers enter
public institutions with high hopes for impact and
change, only to have them diminished after battling entrenched
regimen and norms.As a result, many of their
best-laid plans go unimplemented.
Often,structuralor otherhard-wiredorganizational
fixes are tried. Reporting boxes are reshuffled, new formal
authorities created, policies and processes reinvented,
potent information technologies applied, and new performance
management metrics established.These, and other
structurally oriented solutions, are frequently necessary
ingredients for lasting change. Indeed, as foundational components
in how an enterprise functions, they are vital.However,
as practitioners of change management,when we focus
on the human elements of new program, policy, and
system adoption and use,we often see such structural efforts
fall short of their intended aims.This structural overemphasis
overlooks human dynamics and receives undue priority
in the thinking about the problem.
Rearranging mechanics alone does not work.Such efforts
at structural reform may add to the felt weight of the
bureaucracy,making matters worse.While efforts at fullscale
transformation may be in order, those on the frontline
in agencies say,Enough already with all the initiatives.
We just want to get our jobs done!One agency in the Department
of Homeland Security said,Just help us catch
the bad guys.They were tired of the string of improvement
initiatives that by now had rung hollow and had simply
blended in as part of the background noise of the organization,
despite repeated efforts to get their buy-in.
In this deeper sense,what has been deemed change
management may actually, in a welcome way, be turning
into its opposite: a return to the continuity of the core
mission, relying on the constant of human nature to carry
the agency forward. Change managements most basic
value is helping agency leaders and staff members navigate
in and through the thicket of constraints inherent in the
bureaucracy
and facilitate peoples connection with each other to simply
perform tasks vital to the mission. In every organization,
no matter how strong the despair with the bureaucratic
state of affairs is, a waiting coalition of the willing, a de
facto constituencybecause of who they are and their
inner motivations for higher serviceis ready to be unleashed
on behalf of constructive action, as has been described
elsewhere.
Thus, a central aim of agency leaders committed to
mission impact is to identify these early adopters inside
and outside the organization, facilitate their interaction
through working forums and other avenues, and then sanction
and build on their activities to drive the mission agenda
forward.By framing the organization as part of the environment
in which players operateand not the constant
object of their attention, as traditional thinking about
change would have itthese individuals are, in effect,separated
from the organizational regimen that constrains
their focus on mission.Thus, they are empowered to focus
on critical tasks and get things done.
Empowerment is a term that has gone in and out
of style, but in its true meaning, it is the right concept to
apply here.The sections that follow outline empowerment
at each of the three levels of the public enterpriseleaders,
staff members, and citizensso that the greater goodof the mission
can be realized, not consumed by the culture
of bureaucracy.The scope of this article limits it to
an introduction to the new concepts.They warrant further
description and dialogue in light of what is at stake.
Empowering Agency Leaders
When new political appointees and senior career managers
join or transfer to an agency, they often have new
and sometimes boldideas for advancing the organizations
mission. After all, that is why they came to serve.
Typically, they need a practical knowledge of the organizational
landscape they are enteringthe people,policies,
procedures, processes, and programs they are inheriting
and that form the context within which they will
operate. In addition, these new leaders often struggle to
quickly identify how the bureaucracy can provide the machinery
to carry out their critical tasks or how it can stand
in the way of their making progress.
Many enter with an understanding of the regulatory,
legal, and other infrastructure constraints that limit and
guide their actions.But they may not initially know how
to navigate,work through or work around, this internal,
intricate organizational terrain for maximum effect.Perhaps
most important, they may not readily know the key
people and constituencies in or related to the organization
who are natural allies for their ideas and interests.
Without this level of people-understanding and -support,
no hands will move the levers of the bureaucratic
machinery.Realizing their indispensability is pivotal in advancing
leaders agendas (see box).
Too often, however, such understanding of the people
dimension is left to chance, not dealt with deeply
enough,or only addressed tactically as a matter of detailed
implementation planning.This leaves leaders and other senior
agency managers trying to sell their major new programs
somewhat blindly to those who have to execute
itto garner so-called buy-in.However, the layers of institutional
regimen and resistance often prove formidable,
if not forbidding. Unfortunately, many well-intended
initiatives start with high hopes, only to be stalled in
execution because sufficient support cannot be rallied or
sustained.
For incoming leaders, the alternative to focusing on
managing resistance after the fact is to work to identify
the natural partnersthe coalition of the willingin the
organization (and across others they must depend on for
joint action),who will embrace their ideas, interests, and
agenda. If this is done before, or at least in parallel to, the
development of leaders agenda into programs, chances
of successful execution improve dramatically.
If a broad mission agendaand the need to improve
an agencys performance on core objectivescan be realized
in a range of program options,why not help leaders
stake out and frame those with the best chance of developing
support from the beginning?That is how success
builds.
Political appointees must connect early with the right
career executive partners and form working alliances with
other natural advocates at various organizational levels on
behalf of mission-critical tasks.This is the heart of a new
generation of change solutions to help empower agency
leaders for effective impact. It can be done in a variety
of ways.
Leadership and Organization
Transition Activities
Leadership and organization transition activities
support political appointees and senior career staff members
in accelerating the agencys ability to execute and deliver
mission results during administrative transition by
transition planning that takes stock of accomplishments,
identifies critical transition decisions and
roles, and prepares careerists and others in carrying
out interim operations; project deployment support that translates
the
future vision into sets of highest-priority projects
with the right owners assigned for sponsorship, organizational
support, and accountability to achieve
mission results, as new leaders come onboard; and
leadership and collaboration building that
strengthens appointees and career staff members
working relationships through mission-focused
working sessions, fostering mutual confidence
and trust.
Entrepreneurial Leaders for Mission
Impact and Results
Entrepreneurial leaders for mission impact and results
coach and provide other support to government executives
to tap into the pent-up demand for real change that
already exists in the organization by
identifying and linking willing leaders and staff
members to unite in making meaningful change
happen, intra- or inter-agency, without relying on
reorganizations, and
supporting strategic and operational planning
choices through analysis of where key organizational
support already exists to drive successful implementation.
Empowering Agency Staff Members
At the end of the day, how well government agencies
accomplish their missions depends on how effectively
employees work together to achieve overarching aims.The
ability of government employees to find ways to collaborate
within and across organizational stovepipes to get
the right information to the right people at the right
timeand to make the right things happendefines successful
service.This is even more urgent today, in an era
when cross-agency collaboration and joint action is essential
to maintaining peace and security and delivering
cost-effective government services.
Just as leaders new to agencies seek to make a real impact,
government employees at every level are motivated
to make a difference.These employees, despite what
seems like overwhelming odds, have managed year after
year to find effective ways to get things done, to innovate,
and to respond to pressing needs.They have done this on
their own and with each other, with or without recognition
or reward.
In this, government is not unique.Virtually all kinds
of major enterprises encumbered by excessive bureaucratic
policy and procedure have high-performing, creative people
who push the limits in spite of the challenges.They
are driven to do their best regardless of circumstance.However,
the situation is more pronounced in our public institutions,
given the entrenched bureaucratic state of affairs,
inherent difficulties in making structural change work, and
urgent and vital missions.
These are the employees who make up the coalition
of the willing.Their work may not be readily visible, but
they are making their mark.Underneath the organizations
formal structure, they have found ways to connect with
others and make things happen (see box).This is the de
facto organization at work.Some would do more, and contribute
to needed change, if only they were tapped.
Traditional methods of organizational change often
ignore these informal networks of performers. By moving
too quickly to reorganize or only looking at formal
position authority, they ignore the rich creative processes
and influence networks already in place.A new generation
of change solutions can help agency leaders identify
and connect with such performers and their networks
on a wider scale.These solutions also empower staff members
to leverage their existing working relationships in support
of new agendas and critical tasks.Several new avenues
of approach are available.Social Network Analysis
Social network analysis,using robust computer-assisted
methods, identifies and maps internal people networks
within and across organizations to
capitalize on informal work and decision-making
relationships already in place around a strategic initiative,
major task, or other common cause;
identify informal best practices in getting work
done;
mobilize early adopters to set the stage for change
that others can later come to accept; and
measure the degree of organizational collaboration
and alignment over time.
Field Readiness Management
Field readiness management supports implementation
of large-scale initiatives in complex, decentralized organizational
environments and where increased integration
between headquarters and field operations is newly required.
These activities provide a capability to
assess, mobilize, and report on field readiness and
risks;
clarify implementation roles and interdependent
tasks for leaders and project staff members across
an initiatives life cycle; and
make needed joint decisions using an agreed-upon
definition of readiness.
Education and Training Efforts
Education and training efforts prepare leaders and staff
members in new ways of effecting change in public bureaucracies,
including
entrepreneurial action in public services agencies,
effective networking practices in bureaucratic environments,
and
change management.
Empowering Citizens
Any discussion of a new generation of change solutions
for government organizations must address the ultimate
end-customer of agency service: citizens.
In theWeb 2.0 age, the fluidity and wide access to
multimedia, real-time information puts a premium on collaboration
and cross-agency cooperation at every level. In
this environment, government organizations must increasingly
be able to utilize means of reaching and engaging
citizens that differ from those of the past.
Powerful social and information technology now enables
engaging citizen stakeholders and helping them respond
to a variety of challenges. Coordination of multimedia
outreach to citizens, communities, and commercial
enterprises has taken on new importance in major initiatives,
including homeland security, public health, education
reform, and local citizen action. Helping appropriate
agencies understand the information needs of
different stakeholders at different times, and then coordinating
outreach to create a more informed citizenry,has
important social value. Information alerts and broadcasts
range from everyday matters such as the switch to digitalTV
to major emergencies such as forest fires.
Information campaigns are sometimes not enough.
The means are also available to directly support local communities
to help them become more actively engaged and
generate plans and activities in support of local or national
issues.Large-scale discussion and problem-solving forums,
along with information campaigns,may also be required
to drive progress for some community challenges.
Strengthening first responder radio communications
capabilitiesat the forefront of many lessons
learned post 9/11is one such challenge.Although imperative
to homeland security, changes ordered by the federal
government to improve public safety communications
have not always been readily accepted or implemented,
given the range of players and institutional complexity involved.
In one case, strategic outreach and awareness campaigns
were developed to deliver information to affected
individuals, businesses, and public safety agencies,
leveraging professional associations to maximize reach and
impact.Also,community-building techniques were employed
to encourage collaboration between interdependent
stakeholders within and across regions.This effort
brought large numbers of stakeholders together to understand
the issues and to plan and agree upon how they
would support implementation of the mandated changes.
School reform, a top concern for many parents, is another
challenge. The National Academy of Public Administrations
Collaboration Project has identified Utahs
Politicopia, a new e-democracy initiative based on a wiki
platform, as a notable instance of citizen empowerment
in school reform. Politicopia was used to promote citizen
interaction and dialogue concerning an education reform
initiative, generating more than 150 comments to
clarify the issue.Two Utah representatives cited the dialogue
on Politicopia as affecting their decision in the 38-
to-37 vote in favor of the proposed reform. Several other states,
including Rhode Island, Indiana,Montana,Connecticut,
Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, are forming sites similar
to Politicopia.
Participatory approaches such as these hold much
promise for empowering citizens on important issues
and easing some institutional gridlock.
Community Building
Community building creates face-to-face and virtual
interactive forums to bring diverse stakeholders together
for debate, problem solving, and joint action on timesensitive,
critical issues.These working forums provide the
platform for broad participation and agreement on
top concerns and priorities,
potential solutions and implications,
roles and responsibilities, and
key actions and next steps.
Strategic Awareness
and Outreach Campaigns
Strategic awareness and outreach campaigns provide
robust communications planning and tactics for major initiatives
and programs and support community-building
efforts.These efforts support varying constituenciescitizens,
employees, other agencies, regulatory bodies, professional
associations, private industry, and the media
and promote broad-based
awareness and call-to-action plans,
crisis management, and
brand reputation management.
Outlook
Much is possible to help unlock the human capabilities
and higher motivation to serve already resident in our public
bureaucraciesand increasingly demanded by their
constituencies.Although the problems faced by modern
governments often require solutions with technological
interoperability, todays problems require effective human
interoperability for any real resolution.
Such progress is not easy in the face of steep challenges
or in the wake of our inherited institutional constraints.
Bureaucracy, even with the best of intentions to move
through it, casts a long shadow. Still,we have no alternative
but to try.The good news is that much of that human
capacity and willingness is waiting to be tapped by
imaginative public-service leaders with the will to do so.
The large-scale people mobilization that proved so
effective in the immediate wake of 9/11 is a reminder of
how collaboration and commitment is possible when the
issue is compelling.
This new generation of change solutions can contribute
to the effectiveness of our public institutions.We
are committed to applying,developing, and evolving these
solutions for that effect.The change solution strategies discussed
in this article do not fall neatly into mutually exclusive
buckets: each can be used to support leaders, staff
members, and citizens.They can and, when appropriate,
should be creatively combined with each other and with
other management strategies for dynamic effect.The problems
our public institutions face require clear and new
thinking, stretching beyond current conventions and single-
pronged solutions.
Further research and multiclient studies should provide
additional understanding and insight into how each
of these solutions can be most effective.We invite your
participation and collaboration with us in moving this new
generation of change solutions forward to help make government
work.