Why government internal practices must change

This article is written by Denise Grant, Public Servant and Legal Assistant at the Ministry of the Attorney General.

The views of this author are their own and do not represent the views of Ministry of the Attorney General.

• The problem: Practices are outdated, processes no longer serve teams and public servants have heavier workloads than ever before, with constant competing priorities. Change is required. But what causes resistance to change is whether the change will work and if leaders and employees are willing to make the mental switch from what was once normal and put in the work.
• Why it matters: Internal change in government can be complex. From coming up with a new approach and fitting that into various policies, networks, and frameworks, through to advocacy factors, it can leave any initiative overwhelmed and implementation can be halted before it gets off the ground.
• The solution: One of the primary factors that hinders internal government change is its propensity to a risk-averse culture of safety, certainty, and predictability. We all need to change this - hopefully, my story serves as a starter...

Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff, once said: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before”. Do governments need a major shock to the systemic structure in order to transition into lasting change? I believe Mr Emanuel had some insight that people tend to resist change unless it is thrust upon them.

Some colleagues look at me strangely and others ask questions. Why would you do that? You are not required to be in the office more than three days a week.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the global demand to dismantle systemic racism have been the most recent crises bringing matters that previously seemed insignificant to becoming urgent. The pandemic forced the transformation of how we worked from paper-based to electronic, from attending in the office to working remotely and in-person interactions were exchanged for 100% online communication.

Prior to the pandemic, I recall having conversations with management and colleagues concerning flexible working hours. That was unheard of because we always needed people in the office, management said. The pandemic orchestrated the change. No person had any control and change was accomplished.

Investopedia stated: “Path dependency is a phenomenon whereby history matters; what has occurred in the past persists because of resistance to change.”

Is history repeating itself in internal government? “The past persists because of resistance to change.” This reasoning certainly provides an explanation as to why internal government practices remain stagnated in some areas. The lack of progress concerning unresolved issues with systemic oppression has spanned well over 20 years and still not enough growth has taken place to minimise that chapter.

Why is government resisting change? Will it take another major crisis before other major changes take effect?

Changes in my own working practices

Imagine if more colleagues decided to take some risks in the public service risk-averse culture. Employees who find the courage to come into the office five days a week rather than the new pandemic-required three days weekly. What if employees always arrived on time and never had to report being late and finished their daily work during work hours, removing the need to claim overtime and ultimately, saving taxpayers’ money and reducing the strain on the organisation’s resources while cutting operational costs?

For the past few months, after working overtime I no longer claim compensation for it. I attend the office five days per week rather than the modified required three days weekly. When I arrive late, I report to management and accumulate the time until it is around a couple of hours. Then I work the two hours on my own time remotely and get a lot of work completed without interruptions. I have discovered that these practices are in the category of “taking a risk in a risk-averse culture”. If I can do it, so can you.

Some colleagues look at me strangely and others ask questions. Why would you do that? You are not required to be in the office more than three days a week. My response is, I am grateful to have a job. The Covid-19 pandemic helped me to realise how privileged I am to have a clean and safe workplace with benefits. I realised how much I took for granted prior to the pandemic, and I did not always do the right thing when no one was looking. This is my way of giving back and saying thank you to the public service.

For those who don’t see any opportunity to take risks, I hope these examples help to demonstrate you have more options than you realise.

The future is waiting for you, how will you respond?

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