Public servants or consultants?

This article is written by Emily Mason. Emily spent 20+ years working in the New Zealand public service and is now Managing Director of FrankAdvice | FrankCapability.

• The problem: Creating division between public servants and consultants shifts the focus from what matters most – rigorously addressing the world’s most complex problems.
• Why it matters: In a world where we’re faced with increasingly complex challenges in increasingly short timeframes, the need to give great advice is more crucial than ever.
• The solution: The answer is following a disciplined decision-making process when approaching every problem, every time. Look at it that way and ultimately, public servants and consultants serve the same goal. When they do, they help leaders of every political persuasion make better decisions – and that’s one way we deal with our greatest challenges, helping our economy prosper and supporting our communities.

In the run up to New Zealand’s general election, Christopher Luxon, Leader of the Opposition, commented about ending the consultant ‘gravy train’ and improving the public service. That prompted a response from Kerry Davies, National Secretary of the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi:

“So, please explain, Mr Luxon, how we can continue to deal with our great challenges, help our economy prosper and support communities around the country with a smaller public service?”

In reality, this isn’t an either/or. Both public servants and consultants are critical to good decision-making by leaders.

First of all, constant improvement has to be a goal for the public service. That’s not the same as saying public servants are rubbish at their job – only that they’re always striving for better, like any other profession. The challenges we face as a society are growing and changing, year on year. The combination of Covid-19, cyclone Gabrielle, floods and earthquakes has had our Prime Minister looking out the window for “a plague of locusts”. In the face of these challenges, the public service must grow and change too.

In the private sector, you would never outsource your unique ‘selling point’. Why would the public service be any different?

So, how does the public service consistently upskill, and deliver for New Zealanders at the same time? How can they do all this while they focus on efficiency and effectiveness?

The core responsibilities of the public service are supporting the government to implement its policies, and delivering services for New Zealanders. And these core responsibilities should be delivered by public servants. In the private sector, you would never outsource your unique ‘selling point’. Why would the public service be any different?

But in a ‘self-contained system’, where most advice to ministers comes from the public service, the core work of public servants needs to be subject to independent scrutiny. That’s healthy in any profession – and it’s a key role for consultants. Consultants can provide an ‘outside-in’ perspective and a breadth of experience that comes from working with many government agencies.

There’s a second reason consultants matter for good decision-making by leaders. It’s more than just providing independent scrutiny. Consultants can help build public service capability, even as the core responsibilities of the public service are protected.

Public service efficiency and effectiveness are achieved when public servants can apply the steps that lead to rigorous advice – supporting good decision-making by leaders. When advice is rigorous, ministers can see the same critical “ingredients” every time. This isn’t sexy, but when the public service has the recipe right, and the key steps are in place, it can then focus on the content of the advice. It doesn’t have to make dinner from scratch every time.

Plenty of commentators have gone through the ingredients of good advice, from defining the problem to gathering evidence to weighing the options. And the public service, with its expertise, doesn’t struggle to know what to do.

When advice is generated under time pressure and competing priorities, it’s not the ‘what’ of advice that can be challenging but the ‘how’.

The answer is following a disciplined decision-making process when approaching every problem, every time. Look at it that way and, ultimately, public servants and consultants serve the same goal. When they do, they help leaders of every political persuasion make better decisions – and that’s one way we deal with our greatest challenges, helping our economy prosper and supporting our communities.

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