Navigating Uncharted Waters: Embracing the Tides of Change
St. John's, NL
August 19-22, 2012
Highlights
Canadian public servants are experiencing a level of change not seen in a generation. This change is the result of global economic shocks, geopolitical shifts, climate change, technological innovations, demographic changes and political imperatives at all levels of government.
At the national level, the demands of fiscal restraint will inevitably result in a smaller government; a more muscular foreign policy will lead to a focus on the Arctic, trade agreements and military procurement; and a decrease in policy capacity will challenge the Federal Government to react appropriately to changes dictated by the electorate and by global events. The main challenge facing provincial and territorial governments will be meeting the health care needs of an aging population without starving other groups or choking the economy, and without going further into debt. At the municipal level, aging infrastructure will be the issue that keeps public servants up at night.
What kind of Canada will emerge from this tectonic shift in values? What will be the balance between the publics, the markets and civil society? As governments devolve traditional services how and who will deliver them? What will be the role of governments in ensuring accountability to the public? What new initiatives will governments need to take on, and what existing activities will need to be abandoned as a result? And what will be the role of public servants in helping to define our new identity?
From August 20th to 22nd, 2012, senior and new public servants and academics will gather in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador to examine these issues within three broad themes: (1) managing during a time of restraint; (2) meeting the human resources needs of governments in order to acquire the necessary skills and to reflect the country’s changing demographics; and (3) finding innovative ways of working together to achieve our desired social, environmental and economic objectives.
Here Be Dragons: Managing in Challenging Economic Times
After a long period of heady expansion, governments around the world are retrenching. Public servants at the national, provincial and municipal levels will be expected to do more with less – in some cases, with a lot less. But the public will continue to expect a high level of government services. Government managers will be asked to continue to deliver excellent service with fewer employees and with reduced financial capacity.
But this is not new. Public servants – and especially Canadian public servants – have demonstrated a great ability over the years to innovate and to continue to provide a very high quality of public services despite recessions and other challenges.
What has changed is the nature of the challenges. We are indeed in uncharted waters. The aging of the population, the globalization of the economy, the redrawing of geopolitical alliances, the erosion of the cradle-to-grave social welfare system, the growth in lobbyists and think-tanks, and technological advances are but some of the major environmental factors which are forcing public servants to re-think how they need to provide advice to their political masters as well as deliver services to the public.
Two challenges in particular loom large. The first is the restructuring of the Canadian economy, from a focus on extracting natural resources to a focus on world-leading financial services, advanced technologies, life sciences, defence, entertainment and other advanced-economy services; this change impacts such policy spheres as higher education, intellectual property, venture capital and innovation infrastructure. The other is increasing Canada’s presence in the North, which raises policy issues in communications and transportation infrastructure, settlement, Aboriginal governance, resource exploitation, sovereignty, etc.
Reefs, Shoals and Other Hazards: The Changing Face of the Public Service
As Canada changes, so will the face of its public service. Traditionally the employers of choice in Canada, governments will be challenged to continue hiring and retaining the best and the brightest; competition from multinational corporations, dot-com firms and other desirable employers in Canada and elsewhere will put pressure on governments to offer similar perks or working conditions in order to attract these highly mobile individuals – all the while being careful not to unfairly compete with the private sector.
The predominance of Baby Boomers will decrease in the public service, but many will remain in the workforce, sharing office space with different “generations” of younger workers. How can the contributions of these various groups of workers (wisdom, knowledge, energy, expertise) be optimized? And how can the public service meet the needs of younger workers, who may have different expectations regarding work-life balance, social media at work and employer loyalty?
Aboriginals, visible minorities, persons with disabilities, and other diverse populations will bring new viewpoints and expectations to the public service. Will the public service be receptive to their ideas and to their needs? As well, governments will be challenged to bring new blood into the public service during a time when the public service everywhere is shrinking.
Governments will need to find innovative ways to balance control and autonomy, transparency and confidentiality, perks and performance, if they are to remain an employer of choice in an environment where labour demand will exceed labour supply.
Ahoy, Matey!: Collaboration and Engagement
A ship’s crew, working together, can sail with confidence even into the unknown. Take for example the Viking, Leif Erickson who established a colony in this very province 500 years before the voyage of Christopher Columbus! The individual achieves more by working with others than he or she ever could by working alone. Collaborating with colleagues and engaging with external stakeholders is the proven method for success.
There is growing evidence across the country of horizontal collaboration between departments and agencies of the same government, arising out of the idea that some issues are too complex to be addressed by a single department or agency. There is also a mountain of evidence that collaboration between governments and non-governmental organizations often results in the delivery of services to clients that is more effective and efficient than if government were to do it alone. But can more be done?
Within Confederation, there is a long tradition of Federal-Provincial-Territorial collaboration, but even here, traditional ways of collaborating are changing. New fiscal arrangements are being discussed in relation to health care and social transfers. Federal procurement is all of a sudden playing a much more important role in regional development. The Gas Tax Fund opened new avenues for Federal funding to municipalities. These are but some of the significant changes which will affect how levels of government work together in the future.
New methods of collaboration on service delivery to citizens are being actively practiced across jurisdictions and levels of government, and Canada is considered a leader by many other countries in research on listening to what citizens think of the services governments are delivering and responding with best practices and innovative service delivery.
At the international level, Canada is exploring new free-trade agreements and is an active participant in trade, diplomatic and military efforts. This creates new challenges for public servants working in these areas.
Innovative private sector firms are using new ways to engage their customers and clients: crowd-sourcing, open sourcing and mass collaboration. Can some of these techniques be used to deliver government services more efficiently or to develop better policies? If so, what is the role of the public service vs. that of political parties and other groups in soliciting public input?
About IPAC
The Institute of Public Administration of Canada is a non-profit professional association, dedicated to promoting excellence in public administration. With seventeen regional groups and a growing membership across Canada, IPAC offers learning and networking opportunities for new and experienced public servants, academics, and others interested in public administration.
