This article is written by Francesco Giacomini - Policy Advisor, UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

A while ago someone asked me: what’s the single most useful tool in the policymaking toolbox? As a young Policy Advisor for the UK Civil Service, this to me seemed the classic “million dollar” question.

The question puzzled me for weeks, and still today, I don't think anyone could really provide a comprehensive answer.

Think unlike

In our modern world, unpredictable events have made policymaking incredibly difficult and complex, and despite having technology to help us, we have struggled to make correct predictions that would help us produce better policy. The ongoing coronavirus crisis is just the most recent example, as many see this crisis as the beginning of a new era with long-term economic and social disruptions that will in turn make policymaking incredibly hard.

In recent years the UK civil service has been dominated by two forecasting tools that are used to predict the outcomes of a good policy: the evidence-based policymaking (EBPM) approach on the one hand and the rise of Big Data and computer modelling on the other.

Applied indiscriminately, EBPM risks becoming a one-model-fits-all, accounting only for hard facts and leaving “soft intelligence” behind with the risk of cutting corners on very complex issue

These tools are very popular at the moment, and rightly so, since they are very powerful. However, the insular focus on these two approaches leads to a risk of creating a narrow culture, monopolising the policymaking space.

Applied indiscriminately, EBPM risks becoming a one-model-fits-all, accounting only for hard facts and leaving “soft intelligence” behind with the risk of cutting corners on very complex issues.

Big data models, on the other hand, are based on fixed assumptions that policymakers are not always aware of and results are often taken at face value. However, I argue that these are not the only tools in the policymaker tool box.

A third option is available, and I believe this to be the single most important tool a policymaker could have: surround yourself with diverse colleagues that won’t “think alike”.

Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go on that front. A 2019 report from the Institute for the Government reports that proponents of diversity and inclusion have made some progress in the UK Civil Service when it comes to non-managerial positions, but there has been a stagnant progression for diversity at higher grades, particularly senior civil servants.

Encouraging behaviours and thinking that sit outside “the norm” could bring long term benefits to any group, and I think the Civil Service should be no exception to this

Unfortunately, diversity and inclusion among senior management is exactly what organisations need to produce the divergent thinking that can produce an innovative approach in policymaking. While I am probably lucky, since my directorate in Defra is one of the most diverse, much can still be done to increase diversity and inclusion across the UK Civil Service.

No one has all the answers

The benefits of having a heterogeneous team have been long studied in the private sector. For example, a study conducted in 2011 points out how teams made of individuals that “don’t think alike” will experience an increase in efficiency and quality of the work produced; and more satisfied employees.

Clearly, diversity in the workplace can bring a number of challenges and misunderstandings at first. However, these challenges can be overcome by open-mind management, respect for diversity and open and inclusive communication in the workplace.

Encouraging behaviours and thinking that sit outside “the norm” could bring long term benefits to any group, and I think the Civil Service should be no exception to this. The axiom “great minds think alike” could actually be the death’s knell of any organisation, and increase the risk of failure in policymaking.

In fact, young policymakers who recently joined the Civil Service like me, could easily be tempted to just absorb the new culture, without necessary questioning method and practice, just because “we always did it that way”.

Therefore, creativity and diversity can counterbalance the risk that policymakers replicate their own culture, which can lead to a uniformity of viewpoints. This, in turn, can lead to a failure to forecast or foresee problems in policymaking.

So, if they asked me again what secret weapon we could use to make effective policies, and to better forecast problems in policymaking, my answer would be: make sure that you are surrounded by colleagues that do not think like you in an inclusive and diverse environment. In the end, the only way to make sure we can deliver the best policy for the taxpayer, is to make sure we do not all have the same view and the same answers. — Francesco Giacomini

(Picture credit: Unsplash)

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