IPAC Survey of Deputy Ministers and Chief Administrative Officers - 2002

The “New Three R’s” of Public Management and the Key Pillars of the Forward-Management Agenda.

Every two years IPAC conducts a survey among Deputy Ministers, Chief Administrators Officers and IPAC Regional Groups on the top issues that concern them. (The next survey will take place in the fall of 2004.)

In 2002, former IPAC President Brian Marson and Peter Ross (Treasury Board Secretariat, Government of Canada) kindly analyzed the responses and submitted this report.

The results of IPAC’s 2002 survey of Deputy Ministers and Municipal CEOs are in. Public sector executives have told IPAC that the most important management issues facing their organizations over the next few years are:

1. Renewing the Human Dimension of the Public Service (234mentions);
2. Redesigning and Improving Service Delivery from a Citizens’ Perspective (95 mentions);
3. Results Measurement, Management and Accountability (93 mentions); and Rethinking Government, and Governance (90 mentions).

Deputies indicated that these management challenges are strongly impacted by an aging workforce, by increasing public expectations, and by the emergence of a tighter fiscal environment across the public sector.

The First Pillar: Human Resource Renewal Across the Public Sector
Of these four clusters of managementchallenges, human resources renewal issues are by far the greatest preoccupationof senior public sector executives. This bundle of issues is driven by “the New Three Rs”:

1. Retirement
2. Recruitment, and
3. Retention

Over the next few years, the demographics in the public sector in Canada will be driven by the retirement of the “baby boom” generation, and by the need to recruit and retain a new generation of younger managers andstaff. This phenomena was described by a federal Deputy Minister in the following terms:

As with many public organizations in Canada and elsewhere, (our department) is facing a significant demographic shift in our middle management and senior management cadre within the next five to ten years. This will necessitate an aggressive recruitment strategy, taking into account employment equity groups, as well as a revitalized leadership/management development approach.

To recruit and retain talented staff, many deputy ministers believe that they must strive to make the public sector, and their organizations more attractive places to work For this reason, in this year’s IPAC survey, a number of senior public sector executives emphasized the importance of creating a positive working environment and ensuring a healthy work-life balance within their organizations. Moreover, some senior executives believe that their organizations must work to change the current image of the public service if some of the best and the brightest are to be attracted to their organizations. The manager of a major Canadian city put it this way:

Over the next decade a significant portion of the public sector will retire, and the need to recruit and train new professionals has been evident for a number of years. However, the public sector is challenged by ongoing misconceptions and outdated visions of public sector career opportunities.

Another of the “generational handoff” and succession planning issues within the public service is the question of knowledge transfer and leadership/skills development. Senior public sector executives recognize that an important part of the management agenda over thenext few years is to transfer essential knowledge and skills from retiring employees to the new generation of public servants. Some executives take this challenge a step further, and identify the need for more structured approach to ongoing knowledge management within their organizations. They see retiring managers walk out of the door with the organization’s accumulated knowledge and experience still in their heads, and see the need for a knowledge management system. A Manitoba Deputy Minister explained it this way:

“Revitalizing the public service is a key issue all governments across Canada are currently facing. The realities of an aging public service require there placing and/or re-engaging public servants who are eligible for retirement and the need for succession planning to ensure a smooth transition. In addition, governments need to consider the hiring, training and development of the next generation of public servants and the issues associated with knowledge management that this entails.”

The Second Pillar: Citizen-Centred Service Improvement
Over the past few years, improving the quality of service to Canadians has been a recurring theme within the Deputy Ministers’ management agenda. This year, the survey identified citizen-centred service as the second major element of the forward management agenda. New elements this year are the impact of tighter budgets on service delivery, and the emergence of integrated multi-channel service delivery as an issue.

The implementation of citizen-centred approaches to service delivery, and the roll-out of the E-service channel, continue as the two major pillars of the service improvement agenda across the country.

Deputy Ministers and CAOs put it this way:

“To create a successful citizen-centred service delivery systems, governments must involve citizens in the reengineering process and must be open to new service delivery partnerships, organizational structures and governance models: (Manitoba Deputy Minister)

“New forms of service delivery such as Government On-Line will take on increased importance as governments strive to improve service and cut costs.” (federal Deputy Minister);

“Development of services on-line.” (Quebec Deputy Minister);

“The gap between what the public sector can afford and what citizens expect is widening. Through collaboration, public sector organizations can maximize their investment and increase the impact on our citizens.” (City Manager)

Many executives are looking to the Internet as a way to improve services while reducing costs. Others have noted the increasing inter-dependence of the service channels, especially the Internet and telephone channels. They see an emerging need to understand and manage service delivery across the various service channels (Internet, counter, telephone and mail) in a more integrated way.

The Third Pillar: Results-based Management and Accountability
Deputy Ministers and CAOs identify results-based management and accountability as a key pillar of the forward management agenda for their organizations, and for the public sector. In their responses, senior executives identified three different levels of results-based accountability:

1. The accountability for results of devolved delivery agencies to
funding departments;
2. The accountability for results of managers within departments to senior executives;
3. The accountability for results of departments to elected representatives and citizens.

There is also a surging concern across the country for improved modern comptrollership and the improved management of public resources.

Here are the performance-based management issues described in the senior executives’ own words:

“Improvement of performance measurement and accountability has been on the agenda of the Nova Scotia Government for some time now. However, an increased emphasis on programme valuation to foster continuous improvement is necessary.” (Nova Scotia Deputy Minister);

Our agency recently completed its first strategic plan using the balanced scorecard model…and is currently in the process of evaluating and refining its performance measures to develop measures that are more outcome-focused.”(Saskatchewan Deputy Minister);

Challenges include the development and implementation of guidelines that ensure that agencies adhere to the principle that accountability obligations and clients’ needs are the responsibility of service delivery partners along with governments.” (Ontario Deputy Minister)

The Fourth Pillar: Rethinking Government, and Governance Arrangements
Because of renewed fiscal pressures, as well as growing concerns about citizen trust and confidence, deputy ministers across the country have identified a set of emerging public sector governance and management challenges. These challenges include:

1. Rebuilding trust and confidence in government and public organizations;
2. Managing the impact of E-democracy (beyond E-service) on public institutions;
3. Engaging citizens to a greater extent in policy and governance processes;
4. Reviewing intergovernmental responsibilities, relationships and fiscal arrangements;
5. Expanding, and horizontally-integrating, the policy and planning functions of governments;
6. Rethinking programs, and managing reductions in response to renewed fiscal restraints.

Some of these issues, particularly the growing concerns about citizen-government relationships, appear to be emerging across the country as the new challenges for political leaders and public sector managers.

Summarizing the Forward Agenda: The Top Dozen Management Challenges
Within the four pillars or themes, these specific management challenges that drew the most comment from deputy ministers across Canada were (the number of references shown in brackets):

1a. Recruitment, retention and succession planning (107)
1b. Training, re-skilling and leadership development (29)
1c. Knowledge transfer and knowledge management (24)
2a. Citizen-centred service, single window (21)
2b. Service partnerships, ASD (19)
2c. Cost pressures on service delivery (14)
2d. E-service and multi-channel integration (17)
3a. Performance measurement and results management (34)
3b. Improved accountability and transparency (21)
3c. Modern comptrollership, financial management (16)
4a. Budget reductions, downsizing (17)
4b. Citizen engagement and E-democracy (14)