A risk management approach, presented to Smart Government conference 2011

1. Slide 1
Smart Government NZ 2011
Laura Sommer
I’ll challenge the idea that civil servants are risk averse.
I’ll take you through a tale of transition –
early breakthroughs achieved in the NZ State sector including my experience
Issues
Risk models created to deliver Govt 2.0
Implications for governance

2. Slide 2
Under close scrutiny
Fear of failure
Value for money
Permission
Factors that affect the response to risk include:
Close scrutiny – public organisations are under the close scrutiny of both politicians, the
media. Staff are not usually rewarded for taking risks.
Fear of failure:
James Gardner CTO at UK Department of Work and Pensions – “failure is very frightening,
but if you fail early enough that’s not really a failure, that’s a learning lesson from which you
move on quickly.”
Value for money: how can we demonstrate value for money? – difficult to measure the
quantifiable effect of Govt 2.0
Permission: do the civil servants have permission to be innovative in their approaches to
improve public services?

3. Slide 3
 Open data
 Collaboration
 Service provision
 Consultation
 Collaboration
Government 2.0
things that make Government 2.0 what it is – open data, collaboration, service provision,
consultation and collaboration with the public and between agencies,

4. Slide 4
 Resistant to change
 Slow to respond
 Something to hide?
 Unnecessary red tape
Some perceptions from a public perspective:
• what is the resistance to change – what’s stopping civil servants from shaking up
their services?
• the government as a big engine seems to be slow to respond to the changes that are
required in service delivery and policy development eg preparing the “case”, getting
evidence, repeating previous experiences because the institutional knowledge has
diminished with cuts
• does government have something to hide? Why are so many OIA requests necessary
to access government-held information?
• has government really addressed the administrative burden that SMEs, for instance,
experience?

5. Slide 5
 A vision
 Experiences
 Lessons
 Address risk
I’ll take you through a tale of experiences – some lessons that can be applied today.

6. Slide 6
Public/government engagement
Network technologies
By 2020, people’s engagement with government will have been transformed as increasing
and innovative use is made of the opportunities offered by network technologies.
This was our mandate to explore different ways to engage with public/business to improve
services and policies.

7. Slide 7
 Test
 Manage risk
 Be creative
 Show results
 Engage support
Overcoming risk adversity to managing risk.
Using the mandate to prototype different approaches (guest blog on Public Address – David
Hume)
Manage risk – identifying the actual and perceived risks and preparing mitigations.
E.g.
Managing both public and government expectations. We don’t have all the answers,
drafting naked on the wiki, RoadSafe campaign
Risk – is lack of senior management and minister’s support – engage early.
We gained Comms Mgr endorsement, connected with mandate, sought Minister’s comfort
level with connecting experience through her previous portfolios.
Be creative – multi-disciplinary and global approach (Joanne Caddy OECD, David Hume from
Canada on project team); community of practice; case studies such as the Police Act wiki;
Show results – went for small, manageable prototype with minimum resources on hand;
OECD Joanne Caddy emphasised importance to show tangible results as we progressed.
Engage support: engaged champions on the steering group, in the community of practice,
within the organisation and with senior decisionmakers. For the community – listening and
acknowledging they each have expertise and ideas that are valued. Bring a friend.

8. Slide 8
 Plan succession
 Priorities change
 Manage risk
 Capture evidence
 Engage support
Sustainability:
Strong drive by my team – yet I should have adopted a succession plan.
Priorities – it’s ironic that the demand is still there. We’re talking about Govt 2.0 at least 7
years later.
It’s a slow boat – patience, perseverance, being smart, adapting to changing situation by
thinking ahead.

9. Slide 9
Have a go@!
Generation Y – experiment, Clay Collins, blogger, author and Gen Y : Twentysomething: 7
reasons why my generation is more productive than yours (Brazen Careerist blog):
Reason 1 – we use the best tools: “Generation Y is more comfortable doing the
experimentation necessary to find the right tools and technologies for most effectively
completing a task.”
Reason 6: we’re experimental: “GENERATION y cares more about getting new experiences
and learning new skills than about not making mistakes. We’re willing to try new things, be
creative and take new angles. While this experimental approach might not results in
quantifiable productivity, it leads to the kind of shifts in thinking that save time and money
in the long-haul.”
One of the main strategies for overcoming risk aversion is to convince the stakeholders of
the need, potential and actual benefits arising from innovation and engage them in
consultative and participatory processes and through the demonstration of the utility of
innovations. This applies to employees, professional groups and end-users.
Politicians, policy makers and public managers should clearly communicate that there is and
must be risks involved in innovation processes, and that there is a difference between
mismanagement and the will to take sensible risks.
Innovation should have clear and sensible objectives. One should avoid “innovation for the
sake of innovation” and pure political and ideological windows dressing. Innovation in the
Public Sector, Publin, http://www.step.no/publin/finalsummary.html
Communicate, innovate, manage, demonstrate, engage, measure, evaluate.

10. Slide 10
 Governance
 Permission
 Risks
 Evidence
Implications for governance : good governance has been associated with democracy and
good civil rights, with transparency, with the rule of law, and with efficient public services.
Source: World bank
Leverage and engage permissions –
Link with priorities
Seek senior level endorsement through early heads-up (not a surprise),
Build
Report on progress; be on the front foot with identifying and managing risks.
Step changes rather than big bang approach: You must gather evidence along the way;
establish evaluation from the start; measure progress. Use results to report on progress and
risk management.
Government 2.0 transformation, the business case won’t initially be made with dollars and
cents. Instead progress will be measured in the following manner -productivity and
efficiency gains, new ideas and innovations, and finally recruiting and retention.

11. Slide 11
 What challenges do you face?
 What opportunities will you take?

12. Slide 12
 Laura Sommer
 LJ Systemic Options – system improvement
 e. Laura.sommer@xtra.co.nz
 m. 021 2207741