What’s your number one frustration with your role?

Ask a public servant, they’ll invariably tell you “bureaucracy”. Everything needs countless layers of sign-off. There’s infinite paperwork. There are so many hoops to jump through. Inevitably, any momentum for change is swallowed up by process friction.

Bureaucracy isn’t all bad. It’s there to improve transparency, accountability, and to make sure the right things get done. But it shouldn’t stop you from being an agent of change. You joined the public service to have an impact on society, not fill out forms.

To help you “smash the bureaucracy”, we collected insights from experienced public servants on how they drive change in their organisations.

“Know the key decision-making levels and processes. If your government has set decision-making based on funding amounts, know those ladders so that you can pitch the decision at the right level. If each decision level has a particular process, familiarize yourself with all the ins and outs of that process. Then start determining who all the players are that you need to bring alongside to support the process and determine what additional process steps there may be to make that happen. Some folks suggest that bureaucracy is a side-effect of trying to have a transparent and known process. Use that transparency to your advantage. Be planful in achieving your objective and be humble along the way because there is always more to learn and more to consider.”

— Anonymous Civil Servant Manager, Canada

“I think the root of policy work is building relationships to collect and distribute information.

You need to build relationships with the people you regulate, to understand how the industry works.

You also need to build relationships within the bureaucracy, to understand the hierarchy and how the bureaucracy works.

To get buy-in for any policy decision, you need to:

  • research the problem, including how other jurisdictions may have addressed it,

  • talk to external and internal people to collect information and feedback,

  • analyse all the data you've collected,

  • develop recommendations based on an analysis of the facts,

  • present recommendations to the bureaucracy for its decision,

  • communicate policy decisions to industry, through the appropriate forum(s), e.g. email, bulletins, guidelines, webinars, face-to-face training sessions.”

— Anonymous Civil Servant, Australia

“It's all about establishing and managing relationships with people. If you're on your game in terms of contemporary organisational practices and approaches, then it's all about advancing suggestions for change in a positive and respectful manner. Above all, be honest, be open and demonstrate trust and respect.”

— Murray Clarke, Consultant, Canada

“Here is my advice on how to make bureaucracy works for us: public sector managers, key policymakers, public servants need to engage with both formal and informal control systems and approaches, together with technical and social integration mechanisms, as well as management accounting (MA) and human resources management (HRM) control approaches. This advice is the result of my personal experience and PhD research.”

— Rudy M. Harahap, PhD., Chief of Regional Office, Indonesia

“To implement innovation - remove jargon; To implement new ways of work - don't ask - do it. It is better to be sorry for trying, rather than waiting for months for approval and lose the momentum.”

— Anonymous Civil Servant, Ukraine

“Work with the staff in the offices of senior executives to get buy-in early for a collaborative approach. Engage early and often, up and down the hierarchy to get buy-in for the plan. Recognize sometimes that bureaucracy is valuable. Senior execs may come across as a barrier to getting work done, but they also have experience and perspectives of the political desires of the government of the day, so tap into that to better understand where your work fits.”

— Anonymous Civil Servant, Canada

“To solve developmental challenges, innovative and out-of-the-box thinking is required. Innovations by their very nature are high risk, and no one wants to take risks especially if risks will lead to challenges. In the private sector, taking risks could lead to job losses, while in the public sector, taking risks can lead to jail time. Encourage individuals to take risks; create an environment which rewards taking calculated risks and thinking out of the box, while forgiving failures.”

— Anonymous Civil Servant, USA

Want to share your own advice in dealing with bureaucracy with the Apolitical community? Use this form to let us know!

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