Policymakers are facing up to a world transformed from just a few years ago. The priority now is not to flinch from these challenges but to face them head on
It was an honour to speak at CIPFA’s annual conference this week in London.
CIPFA is an organisation that has its roots in the industrial revolution. Its first meeting took place in 1885. By then, the industrial revolution was driving population change as workers swapped agrarian land for the factories, causing pollution that began to change the environment. The industrial revolution also drove technological advancement, changed the role of women, enabled a middle class to emerge and provoked a debate about rising inequality.
These were the megatrends of the day. Nearly 130 years later, we are again seeing power shift from one part of the world to another. We are talking again about migration, climate change and the role of women – this time on a more global scale.
These changes can sometimes be hard to notice, however. Did you know, for example, that by 2019, the seven emerging economies (E7) — China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Russia and Turkey — are expected to form a larger economic bloc than the developed G7 countries?
Or that there are projections that by 2020 there will be 50 billion devices exchanging information on a continuous basis without human beings involved?
So, how do public servants respond? In these times of profound change, they need to be highly flexible. They need to be able to adapt much more quickly to new directions from government, but also to new demands from citizens and new issues that may not have been previously foreseen.
It can be done. Take Singapore for example. Years ago people used to criticise its political system, and it is certainly not without flaws, but these days Singapore is more often cited as an example for how to get things done. Governments— and senior public servants — need to find new ways of leading, using knowledge from one part of the world and applying it to their own contexts, getting ahead of changes rather than lagging behind.
Government also needs to look to partners with whom it can team up to deliver for citizens. Senior public sector leaders must make effective connections across the public, private, entrepreneurial and not-for-profit sectors. The solutions are no longer in the hands of governments alone, they require effective and coordinated action.
For public services to keep improving, they need to be even more responsive to rapidly changing conditions and build the capacity to operate effectively in complex networks across public, private and non-profit spheres — domestically and internationally.
We need more young people and more women at the table when decisions are made. Diversity in leadership and decision making is crucial to delivering effective government services and economic competitiveness. This requires nothing less than a cultural transformation across the public and private sectors.
The presence of strong role models and women leaders in organisations will help, as will greater accountability of those responsible for implementing policies that promote diversity. There is now plenty of evidence that tapping into diverse points of view and thinking contributes towards improved performance.
And in the public sector we need this now more than ever to manage risk, build resilience and get the right reforms in place that are required for the future.
Global megatrends are changing how citizens view government and public services. The challenge now is to use this opportunity to revitalise and reinvent public services in constructive and creative ways. The end result — empowered citizens and restored trust — is a prize worth fighting for.
Uschi Schreiber is global markets leader and chair of the Global Accounts Committee at EY.
