View from the Street: Eyes on the prize, ears open to ideas: reform, service, and the public
Published
PAUL GRAY
Two statements, both from the opening section of the first minister’s Programme for Government speech on Tuesday, struck a chord.
“We will undertake radical and widespread public service reform, putting the individual at the heart of the changes we make.”
“To succeed, we will have to embrace change.”
Well, all change is local, and all change is difficult.
Scotland’s geography and Scotland’s communities are not evenly distributed. What works in the central belt doesn’t necessarily work in the Highlands, or in the Mull of Galloway.
Even when change is centrally designed, it must be amenable to local delivery. Outcomes are far more important to people than the precise mode of delivery, or the exact form and structure of the public sector arrangements that deliver these outcomes.
Change is difficult because it involves uncertainty. It’s difficult because it doesn’t necessarily honour the past – the good things that people did and the good outcomes they delivered under the current structures.
Change can feel like threat and criticism rather than opportunity and recognition. And people, whether they see themselves as citizens or employees, will want to know what it means for them and for those closest to them.
So, if you are going to make a change, then it’s best to make it as comprehensive as it needs to be. That doesn’t mean it has to be implemented all at once. But there is tremendous value in everyone understanding what the end point is, and that being expressed in terms of outcomes.
The first word in public service reform is “public”. The public deserve to know what they can expect from government. The next word is “service”. The public are entitled to expect a service. They have a right to know how that service will change and whether it will be better for them as a result. That’s why outcomes matter – they enable the end point to be expressed in a way that is meaningful to the people affected by the reforms. People care most about what they will experience, and they deserve to hear about that in terms relevant to them.
Outcomes also matter to the people delivering the services and delivering the reform. A focus on outcomes is important to help people responsible for reforms break down barriers, and to see proposals in terms of the impact on citizens, rather than seeing them in terms of how they affect a specific organisation.
It is not just useful, or even merely important, to hear the voice of citizens when reforms are proposed and discussed. It is vital. And it is equally vital that the quiet but thoughtful voices are given as much weight as the louder and more determined voices with specific agendas to pursue.
Successful reforms can be regarded as change programmes and those require three things to succeed. First, they need an aim that is specific, measurable and time bound.
Second, they need a clear method of delivering the aim. Telling people what to do might sound like a method but it rarely works, especially if you want buy-in. Methods might include legislation; they might use funding as leverage; they might involve persuasion and compromise at certain stages. But if you don’t have a method, you don’t have a change programme.
Third, they need a clear shared and agreed means of measuring progress towards the aim. A programme plan will tell you so much – and it is essential – but measurement tells you if the changes you are making are delivering the results you expect.
This week’s Programme for Government set out a clear commitment to radical reform. But it also left a great deal of space for conversation – and hence there is much still to be decided. As I said in the distant past that is 2021, achieving truly radical reform will require hard conversations and even harder decisions.