This article is written by Elena Bolbolian, director of innovation, performance and audit, City of Glendale, CA. This article is one of the entrants in Apolitical's 2020 American public servant writing competition.

With city government innovation teams growing in popularity across the globe, a lot of attention is given to the impact and influence these teams are making on public service.

Government innovation teams are made up of small groups of employees who work across departments to improve service delivery. The work of these teams involves conducting research, analysing data and designing processes. Often, these change agents introduce a new way of carrying out business at City Hall.

But innovation teams alone can’t solve every challenge at City Hall. Part of that is due to their size. In most cities that have a dedicated innovation team or effort, the number of employees ranges from two to eight.

Beyond the innovation team, individual employees can contribute to innovation by seeking opportunity in customer expressed pain points.

A day in the life of a permit technician

Let’s explore two examples with employees who are not part of an innovation team and see how their reaction to complaints can shape their response and in turn impact the public’s perception.

Most, if not all, cities have a permit department, where residents and business owners go to obtain a permit to remodel their house or open a business. In addition to the engineers that work in a permit centre, permit technicians play a vital role in the work that goes on there. A permit technician’s job is to help customers obtain permits by requesting information from them via city-produced forms, processing their application and collecting fees.

In one example of how this exchange can turn sour, a frustrated customer might point out three different sections of the permit form where the same information is requested by the city. Even though the customer fills out all three sections, she is discontent at having to do so and wants the permit technician to know that she feels the city is being inefficient and that her time is being wasted.

Taking action means more work because dealing with administrative or digital needs is not a responsibility of the lifeguard

Having received this negative input, the permit technician has one of two choices — she can look at it apathetically, as just another unhappy customer voicing frustration, or she can view it through the lens of understanding needs, as an opportunity to employ innovation.

If she decides to take the more positive route, the permit technician can approach the permit centre manager to make the case that it does not make sense for the city to ask for the same information in multiple places and that, further, the information is only entered once into the computer system anyway. She can explain the frustration of the customer and the ill words she chose of the city and that if this change isn’t made, more customers will likely encounter the same inefficiency.

The permit technician will be well served if this encounter with the manager takes place after the public counter is closed when the manager is more receptive to input. If the manager does not immediately agree to making the change, the permit technician should follow up in a few days to re-iterate the suggestion and remind the manager of the continuous harm to the city’s reputation for each day that action isn’t taken.

An innovative lifeguard

Next, let’s take the example of a lifeguard who is hired to ensure the safety of swimmers at public pools. On the first day of swim lessons for her child, a parent approaches the lifeguard to express dismay at having to drive to City Hall to complete the registration process for the swimming lesson. As she explains to the lifeguard, she is able to complete a majority of the registration process online, only to discover that she has to physically visit City Hall to drop off a liability waiver, the one form where the city requires an original signature.

The parent further complains about the business hours of City Hall, which required her to take time off from work in order to visit during open hours. The parent tells the lifeguard that she feels her valuable time was wasted and naturally places blame on City Hall.

Like the permit technician, the lifeguard now has the same two choices: either ignore the complaint and go on about his business, or exercise empathy and take action. Taking action means more work because dealing with administrative or digital needs is not a responsibility of the lifeguard.

Often solutions (or the innovation) comes from front-line employees, such as the lifeguard, because they are closest to the problem

The lifeguard can take action by notifying the administrative staff about the parent’s pain points. He can potentially offer a solution by recommending that the liability waiver be dropped off on the first day of swimming lesson (a parent has to show up anyway) in order to avoid the parent having to drive to City Hall. Often solutions (or the innovation) comes from front-line employees, such as the lifeguard, because they are closest to the problem. If his request goes unanswered, the lifeguard should approach a manager and make the case to get the process revised or risk low enrolment in the next season, which could potentially affect his employment.

Public servants don’t need the word “innovation” in their titles in order to make a difference in their communities. Employees with any title and at any level of the organisation can make an impact by seeing opportunity when others just see or hear problems.

Help spread the message of public sector innovation by sharing this article. Together we can improve government! — Elena Bolbolian

(Picture Credit: Unsplash)

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