Facilitating a Culture of Effectiveness

1. Improving Public Service Performance in the OECS in Times of Crisis November 02 - 03, 2009 (St. Lucia) Facilitating a Culture of Effectiveness Presented by Curt P. Wellington

2. Crisis or Post-Crisis? • The challenges we face today were not precipitated by the global economic crisis as much as they are facilitated by our failure to develop organisations that are resilient and responsive.

3. Can the Service Commissions be held accountable for our predicament? • While they are not totally blameless, we must remember that commissioners are frequently persons who have functioned in another era and whose perspectives have been shaped by that era. • Even where there is evidence that Commissions have devolve some of their authority to line ministries, the failure to take prompt and decisive action has resulted in the perpetuation of a culture of ineffectiveness.

4. Economic Issues facing Small Island States • Loss of preferential access for banana and sugar exports; • Building a competitive society in the face of significant emigration of skilled and educated resources to the developed countries; • Supporting the initiatives of an uncompetitive private sector that is expected to assume the role of prime mover of economic development; • Facilitating the transformation of the Public Sector to meet the increasing demands of our societies.

5. Role of Culture in Transformation • “We have focused on basics in Singapore. We used the family to push economic growth, factoring the ambitions of a person and his family into our planning. We have tried, for example, to improve the lot of children through education. The government can create a setting in which people can live happily and succeed and express themselves, but finally it is what people do with their lives that determines economic success or failure. Again, we were fortunate we had this cultural backdrop, the belief in thrift, hard work, filial piety and loyalty in the extended family, and, most of all, the respect for scholarship and learning.” • Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore (1994)

6. Consider that our public service institutions are but microcosms of the society. • Then what are the implications for our efforts at transformation to improve effectiveness?

7. We do not have the luxury of time • In Trinidad and Tobago, transformation initiatives have been attempted from as early as 1964. • Yet, according to the Trinidad and Tobago Vision 2020 Operational Plan 2007 – 2010, the Opinion Leaders’ Panel Baseline Report (2002) prepared by Market and Opinion Research International (MORI), characterised Government services as being “slow, inefficient and delivering poor customer service”.

8. Recognising that political futures can be destroyed or salvaged on the altar of public perception, the mantra of “performance” has found a permanent place in the political jargon. • In Trinidad and Tobago, we have seen the expansion of the “parallel” public service; and more recently, the Government (i.e. the political administration) has initiated the establishment of Special Purpose State Enterprises ostensibly to facilitate its developmental agenda.

9. The Vision 2020 Operational Plan emphasises that • “Public institutions must make a definitive break from old structures and old ways of doing things and take a fresh innovative approach to achieve better results.”

10. An even greater challenge is finding the mechanisms to transform our public organisations while operating within the framework of a regulatory environment (circa 1964 – 1979 in the case of Trinidad and Tobago; and 1979 -1983 for St Lucia) that was established for an entirely different era and for an equally different focus.

11. Impact of Reform Initiatives on Public Sector Organisations • Reform fatigue • Lack of an effective monitoring and evaluation framework • Mixed feelings about the impact of reform initiatives on the public service • The lack of strong visionary leadership • Political interference • Budgetary constraints • Low levels of remuneration • Public vs. Private sector efficiency • Workshop on “Increasing Public-Sector Effectiveness by Changing Organizational Culture” Accra, Ghana. 2003

12. Survey of 1900 Public Sector Managers in the UK • “Clarity of vision (66 per cent), integrity (52 per cent) and sound judgement (50 per cent) are the key personal attributes sought from public leaders by their followers. However only about 30 per cent of respondents see these behaviours demonstrated within their own organisation.” • “There is a pressing need for public sector managers to develop the ability to build and manage effective relationships both with politicians and across a diverse range of organisations.

13. “Managers in the survey identify communication skills, engaging employees with the vision and creating an enabling culture, as the top three skills they expect of public leaders in general. Yet only a third can see these skills in their own top team.” • The lack of creativity and innovation perceived within top teams and line managers is compounded by the low ratings given to leading innovation as a desirable skill in public sector leaders (only 20 per cent of managers included innovation as important). • Karen Charlesworth, Petra Cook & Dr Gene Crozier - Leading change in the public sector: Making the difference (2003)

14. Lessons for Caribbean Public Sector Managers • Know that more authority lies in the informal corridors of power • Engage more and control less • Be strategic • Continuously scan your external environment and develop your internal capabilities to become more responsive to external trends • Work with your team to develop and share a compelling vision for your organisation • Develop a project orientation

15. Build relationships • Let your alliances encompass the politicians, trade union representatives as well as your employees. Solicit their support as partners in development • Identify key work processes and continuously seek to improve them • Review good practices but know when yours is the most appropriate for your culture.

16. THANK YOU VERY MUCH