This article is written by Julio Romo, Founder, Twofourseven Strategy.

Governments have always needed support to help turn their political pledges into policies and services. And in these unsettling times, help from external experts and organisations has never been more vital.

External support is generally brought in to Government and their respective Civil Services for one of two reasons, either because of a lack of personnel or a lack of expertise. In either case, the working relationship between consultants, contractors and advisors and their Government contract owners can be fraught, especially when it comes to the designing and delivering controversial policies and services.

In the last ten years since digital and social media has become a fixture of our daily lives, more people and businesses have flocked online, leading governments around the world to follow in their footsteps, sending them on a never-ending digital transformation journey. Whether in Europe, America, Asia or Africa, you just have to look at how people have moved to smartphones to see service delivery can be designed to a hyper-local level.

But while the focus of service delivery for governments is about reaching the many, wherever they are, the many today are also connected together through social media. This has led citizens to be more vocal and critical about services — an issue that challenges the reputations of political leaders and the services that they are responsible for.

Governments are on a never-ending digital transformation journey

Coinciding with the rise of digital and social media, during the last ten years I have worked with Governments and public service organisations in Europe, South East Asia and the Middle East. The one key issue that I was asked about, wherever I was in the world, was regarding reputation management, either about the perception of government policies or the design and delivery of services. Wherever you are, concern about how they are perceived was central to any project that a Government embarked on.

In order to deliver policies and services, there are eight points that I would advise Governments and their external contractors and advisors to focus on:

1. Be open and transparent

Sounds very simple, but it often isn’t.

One of the UK’s Government Digital Service (GDS) key design principles is ‘Make things open: it makes things better’ and this is critical, as transparency leads to accountability, which helps manage perception.

2. Back up your views and counsel with data

“Advisers advise, ministers decide”, and this should never be forgotten.

Whether consultants and contractors are on a project because of a lack of personnel or the need for expertise, insight should always be backed up with research and data. Dashboards and briefings should be available and readily accessible with data gathered and published to a high standard.

3. Understand your stakeholders

More essential than anything is understanding all those who can make or break a project.

Research your internal and external stakeholders and engage with them. Find out the position, their interests and fears. Know if they are going to be champions or detractors, and if it’s the latter, ask “why so?”

4. User research

Similarly, with the importance of data, knowledge of people and their behaviours is vital for the success of a policy, project or service.

Never underestimate people and think that they can be easily nudged, either during the development of a service or in the live adoption stage.

Gather information about your audience and use it to better present your work.

5. Work in an Agile way

Too many services have come to an aggressive standstill when political priorities change, even when the financial investment has been substantial.

Make sure that when you’re on board that you present your outcomes in a manner will enable you to deliver with a team that works in an Agile way

6. Invest in communications

Communications and reputational development are often only considered before a service or policy is about to go live. This is a mistake.

It is essential to set messaging of a policy or service in the development stage of a project and manage this through with internal and external stakeholders.

Yes, there are risks, but stakeholder engagement will help you identify and determine these, and manage them accordingly.

7. Measure and focus on your outcomes, not your outputs

—Far too often the focus is on outputs rather than the journey towards the outcomes of a service or policy.

Outcomes is what services, Governments and those in office get measured on. Political capital and the positive reputation of civil servants is gained from effective delivery of services.

8. Under-promise and over-deliver

One of the biggest risks comes from over-promising and failing to deliver, especially to a timetable that has been agreed.

It is essential to be open and transparent about challenges and the timetable needed to deliver what has been promised by the consultant, the advisor and more importantly those in office, who are held to account by the media and the electorate.

Under-promising does not mean not being innovative or challenging, it means managing risk and reputations. — Julio Romo

Julio Romo is Founder of Twofourseven Strategy. Since 2010 he’s worked as a consultant and trainer with governments and public service organisations in Europe, the GCC and South East Asia. Between 2017-2019 he was with the UK’s Department for International Trade as the Head of Communications and Engagement for their Digital, Data and Technology Directorate (DDaT).

(Picture credit: Unsplash )

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