I was happy to present to this symposium, organized by my friends at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.

1. Expectations for
Public Sector Boards
19 October 2016

2. “Within the context of the growth
plan and transformational
change.…”

3. “Talk about the Government of
Saskatchewan’s expectations for
public sector boards.”

6. –Gary Hamel Michele Zanini, October 2014
“Today’s organizations were simply never
designed to change proactively or deeply.”

7. –Hamel and Zanini, McKinsey Commentary, October 2014
“They were built for discipline and efficiency,
enforced through hierarchy and routinization.”

8. The phrase change
management…

9. Implies change
can be managed.

10. If change is truly
transformational…if it
breaks new ground….

11. It can’t be
predetermined.

12. It can rarely be
accurately predicted.

13. What does Ian know
about board
governance ?

15. Actual board
governance is rare.

16. “Effective governance by a board of trustees is a
relatively rare and unnatural act…trustees are
often little more than high-powered, well
intentioned people engaged in low level
activities.”
–Chait, Holland, and Taylor, 1996, pg. 1

17. –Drucker, 1974, pg. 628 as quoted in “Carver’s Policy Governance
Model in Nonprofit organizations”. Available at
http://www.carvergovernance.com/pg-np.htm
“There is one thing boards have
in common; they do not function.”

18. Boards deliver
accountability

19. Boards are the conduit
between the customer
and the owner.

20. Now more than ever, we
need the front-line
wisdom of boards.

25. Build a platform
for change..

26. do not embark on
a change process.

28. –Seattle Times, November 17, 2002
“The usual, political way to
handle a projected deficit is to
take last year’s budget and cut…”

29. “That’s like taking last year’s
family car and reducing its weight
with a blowtorch and shears.”

30. –As quoted in Chapter 1 of David Osborne’s
“The Price of Government”
“But cutting $2 billion from this
vehicle does not make it a
compact, it makes it a wreck.”

31. Government needs the
deep knowledge of
boards…

32. …to turn the budgeting
process on its head.

33. Start with the results
we demand…

34. Set the price we
are willing to
pay.

35. Turn our fiscal challenges into
an opportunity to get increased
value out of public institutions.

36. A budget that
• Buys programs that deliver results;
• produces government at its most effective size;
• prompts strategic reviews, consolidation.

37. • Use technology to empower customers;
• make everyone accountable for results.

39. In the context of
transformational change…
• success is higher levels of satisfaction;
• success is lower cost to the taxpayer.

41. Yahoo began in 1994
• Market value of $128 billion in 2000;
• Could have bought Google for $1 million;
• Could have bought Facebook for $1 billion;
• 2008: $45 billion offer from Microsoft.
• Sold to Version, July 25th, $4.8 billion

42. Defeat had many fathers….

44. Board articulate values
• What we do and do not want;
• What we will do, what we will never do;
• Clarity in articulation of values;
• Clarity in measurement;
• Clarity in assignment of accountability.

45. One Possible
Tool for Boards

53. “Design thinking starts with empathy, establishing
a deep understanding of those we are designing
for.”
Designing For Growth

55. “Business executives, more often than not, value
order and control above all else.
Design, in contrast, favours trying over extensive
planning and is overwhelmingly experimental in its
approach.
Designers expect to iterate their way to
increasingly better answers—creating prototypes
with paper, foam or video.”