Change Initiative

Within the public sector its hard to avoid change. Its generally accepted that things need to be done better and for less money. So organisations across the whole sector are busy expending energy, effort (and occasionally some money) at making themselves  better.  I am up to my neck at the moment in helping roll out a change programme: great when it goes well,  dispiriting when it doesn't and  always exhausting regardless.   

The key to making change worthwhile is deciding: what change? This is tricky not least because there are shed loads of products out there from which to choose. And all of them naturally (so its said) will transform your organisation. Balanced Scorecard? Lean Management? TQM? Leadership Development? ABC?

All have their advocates and all of them doubtless have their place.  But into this mix I would  add    public sector leaders who  tend to be very passionate about reforming public service and who encourage a climate in which change is embraced .  This in turn can lead to lots of ideas and initiatives top down and bottom up,  and a huge diversion of effort  which if not managed means we forget there's a  day job to be done as well.  In this frenetic environment in which new ideas emerge in quick succession I fear that some initiatives  get sidelined as soon as the next big idea hits the streets. As a result  they  run out of steam before we get a chance to see them through. 

Apart from the basket of change options we also have to deal with the desire for pace. Its not enough that we change. Its equally important that we do so quickly.  It is I think an article of faith that pace is always important. So  that's what we (try to) do.   But at times the average public sector manager must feel like a hamster on a wheel, pausing only to take on board the exhortation  to run faster.

In the next few years I wonder whether the public sector will be able to reform  itself in this way. Public Finances are under pressure and the money to pay for new initiatives will be hard to find.  So maybe in these straitened times it might be an idea to dust off some of those initiatives that never got finished (or even saw the light of day) and extract some value from them. And maybe do them at a more measured pace. At a pace that allows us hamsters to jump down from our wheel, draw breath and, well,  enjoy life a bit more.