The Australian Public Service (APS) is undertaking a project looking at how to foster innovation in the public sector. This project will make recommendations about how to strengthen an innovation culture in the provision of government services.
A cross-agency team has been formed, overseen by a Steering Committee of senior public servants from a number of agencies, to undertake the project. The team will report to the Australian Government’s Management Advisory Committee (MAC). The MAC advises the Australian Government on matters relating to the management of the APS.
The project website is here and has all the information on the project including the terms of reference and the email contact address, and will include information on consultation arrangements as they are finalised, including a discussion paper and request for submissions. There is also a Twitter account for the project (@PSInnovate) which will note the opportunities for input and developments about the project. We encourage you to follow us if you are interested.
Whilst this is an Australian Government initiative, it will be important to heed lessons from around the world, and the project team welcomes input from public/civil servants / government employees (or even other interested parties) from other countries. So if you are interested you can do that via the website or you can start by commenting below.
Alex Roberts
Public Sector Innovation MAC Project Team
Hi Alex – You might like to check out SURV Central on govloop. Early days yet, but I could not agree more about heeding lessons. Steve
Hi Alex – One of the aspects I am interested in, due to my work and role, is the extent to which Web 2 technologies and innovation rub up against traditional hierarchical structures and, lets get a tad precise about this here, leadership and management behaviours. I don’t think it is a question of being ‘anti-hierarchy’ as such but a question of how we reconcile the two – that is, innovation and traditionalism. In many ways this boils down to how to discuss undiscussables. It may not be a question of not throwing the baby out with the bath water, but a question of throwing the bath itself out.
Cheers – Steve