One question public sector clients of mine frequently ask is, “How can we continue to provide services when we keep getting our budget cut?” All over the country, public sector jobs are more vulnerable now than ever before. In a weakened economy with much distress, many public services are under scrutiny, with some being under attack. Government pensions, benefits and job protections are often resented by the rest of the work force and retirees (i.e. other taxpayers). However they are not the only issues that are affecting the perception and reality of public service. I am not an alarmist, however I wanted to share a little futurist thinking with some practical ideas to consider.

The need or desire for what we now know as public services will not go away. In response to economic changes, public services are necessarily being scaled back to reflect budget constraints. This short-term strategy will buy some time as a survival strategy, but service cuts alone will not address what is really required. A competitive transformation in thinking and doing is necessary for all public sector agencies to avoid being hollowed out, or disappearing. Leaders recognize that changes need to happen soon.

The public sector is faced with increased competition. If the political will exists, many public services will be outsourced or privatized over the longer term. For some agencies and municipalities, this may be unavoidable and even sensible especially if economic conditions continue to stagnate or erode. When pressed, taxpayers won’t be willing to pay a premium to a municipal worker when a private employer, or the agency in the next town, can get the work done for less and perhaps even faster. Insightful and broad-minded union leaders recognize that many public service jobs may be transformed from union to non-union very quickly if the taxpayers decide to go in that direction. If that were to happen, only a small group of public sector project managers overseeing contracts would be needed. Very few public services are immune to this kind of transformation. Currently, less than 12% of the U.S. workforce belongs to a union. Regardless of where, or for whom one works, it is important to remember that union efforts were responsible for important changes and benefits that are found in all workplaces today. Unfortunately the continued erosion of union jobs over time might likely have an adverse affect that would eventually be felt by all workers.

I believe that the public sector can be proactive and transform itself, rather than choose to be change-averse, reactive and defensive in preserving the status quo. The key question that public sector leaders should ask, and be willing to act on, is, “How can we continue to stay relevant and provide value to those we serve?” I believe the answer can be found by following three courses of action right now – Collaborate, Innovate and Automate.

Collaborate

Everyone is busy and many feel they have too much work and not enough help. However, is everyone busy doing what is important and meaningful most all of the time? If not, there is an opportunity to refocus the work being done in order to stay relevant and valuable. Collaboration needs to be more than a buzzword. It has to be part of the way people work together to insure that individual and organizational goals remain focused and aligned. If an “Us vs. Them” mentality is allowed to overshadow “We”, the public sector’s value and effectiveness will continue to diminish. Managers need to be collaborating with their employees to understand from them what they, along with their clients and customers, need and expect. Organizations need to be regularly collaborating and engaging with those same clients and customers to help continually find better, more valuable solutions to their service needs. The result should be organizational goals that support changing needs. When the right goals are pursued at the right time, everyone involved in providing services can refocus their efforts in order to remain current, relevant and valuable. People should be busy doing the right things by design, not by accident.

Innovate

We know for sure that everything around us is moving faster and changing even faster. Every organization, especially those in the public sector, must continually assess and redesign their work processes to keep up with demands and expectations and the need to be increasingly cost-effective. This key may be the most straightforward approach. Every public service employee, regardless of role or classification, needs to be asking, “Is there a better and/or cheaper way for us to do this?” Every public sector leader, up and down the organization should be encouraging these questions and listening to the answers. Leaders also need to have the willingness to implement the sensible answers, quickly. In a competitive environment, agencies that are continually innovating have an opportunity to positively influence how they are viewed or branded by their customers, and the taxpayers that fund them. Even though change has been allowed to occur more slowly in the public sector, that slow pace can’t continue any longer if public service is to be performed by public servants in the future.

Automate

Although many public services require high-touch, in-person interaction to remain valuable, many don’t and those services need to continue to be automated if possible. There are many more opportunities to invest and expand e-government at every level, and across every agency or function. As smart phones continue to get in the hands of people at all levels of the socio-economic strata, all public service consumers will expect that on-line public services should have the same features and be accessed just as easily as commercial services. That means fast. Despite tight budgets, technology investments will need to be made now along with proactive decisions about how best to train and deploy the work force and achieve the right balance of high-touch and high-tech. If public sector agencies can’t or won’t keep up with the public’s evolving service and convenience expectations, the longer-term consequences for public agencies may be more than just missed opportunities. They may not survive in their current form.

To support innovation, there are also many other potential benefits of employing the right, cost-effective technology to streamline work processes internally. In many cases, some of that technology already exists and has been paid for. The problem is that it is not always being used effectively. As an example, how many really understand how to use or are even aware of all the features they already have in their Microsoft Office programs? If more did, is it possible that productivity could increase without any additional investment? There are additional opportunities for public sector workers to benefit from the use of collaboration and video conferencing software to work with each other and interact with customers. Public sector IT professionals should be on the leading edge in search of new technological solutions that incorporate the advantages of cloud computing and balance them with privacy and security challenges.

Every organization, private and public, is faced with the competitive need to respond in effective and meaningful ways to changing customer expectations. Public agencies need to focus on what it currently means to be relevant and valuable in their present form. How individual agencies respond will determine who thrives and survives.

© 2011 Jim Delia

Walter Cronkite died yesterday and I had a chance to reflect on my memories of him. I was a big fan of the Apollo launches when I was 9. I recall getting up early to watch each of them, leading up to Apollo 11 when man first walked on the moon. Coincidentally today is the 40th anniversary of that seminal event. It has been well documented that Cronkite was also a big fan of the space program and my enthusiasm for the various launches was fueled by his coverage of those launches, and especially the lead up to them. In those days a space launch created drama and anticipation and I wanted to follow what was going on. I felt something important and historic was about to happen as he counted off the time left to each lift-off – “T-minus 15 min….” Uncle Walter always made the events more memorable and exciting than my alternative of watching cartoons or Wonderama. As the rocket disappeared into the atmosphere, and the people in mission control seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, so would he. We had done it again. It was pretty cool.

I never wanted to be an astronaut but I was fascinated by what was involved leading up to each launch and the awesome technology and imagination that it took to bring us closer to that moon landing in 1969. For some kids, Cronkite may have inspired them to go into science. For me I was inspired to dream, and keep dreaming. As a grown-up consultant and entrepreneur, I keep trying to dream and whenever I can, I share the importance of being passionate and innovative. Putting a man on the moon was a generation’s “big hairy goal” (Collins and Porras) and they achieved it. I think this generation needs to find its inspiration and create another.