Strategist | Former CEO, Canada Energy Regulator | Former Deputy Minister | Diplomat | Public Speaker | Leadership Coach
The federal public service is broken. This headline brings up so many emotions for me. I loved my time in the public service. I am passionate about public policy and know it to be a cornerstone of our democracy. If our public service is broken -- and I believe it is, and not just at the federal level -- we need to fix it. This article by Konrad Yakabuski provides the history of the relationship between elected officials and the public service and how both roles have evolved. As a former Deputy Minister and senior official, I know that the government of the day plays a huge role in the impact and efficiency of the public service. And yet, what is missing for me here is some self-reflection by senior public servants on our role in this downward slide. The article speaks about management and process and cumbersome reporting, but what about public service leadership? Do we value leadership? Are we rewarding and fostering the right competencies? How do we develop leaders who are willing to provide fearless advice and loyal implementation, even in challenging times? There are many outstanding human beings at all levels of the public service who work hard every day to demonstrate leadership, uphold values and ethics and speak truth to power. With all of its complexity and scrutiny, being a public service leader is a hard job on a good day. But if we value a strong public service -- and I believe passionately that we must -- then we must first admit we have a problem and commit to fixing it.
I would add risk taking and accepting shortfalls or failures as part of learning and improving the delivery of services to people as well as the operations of government.
You're asking the right questions, Gitane. My federal public service career started shortly before the Al Mashat Affair, that many see as the beginning of the blurring of roles and accountabilities between elected officials, unelected staffers and public servants. As, or more, damaging over my career in my opinion was the devaluing of technical and operational knowledge in favour of policy and general management skills. Starting with cutbacks in the mid-90s it was thought that we could hire professional advice from consultants rather than have them on staff. The attrition reached the point where we don't any people on staff with even enough knowledge to write the RFP for the professional services needed. That's the problem at the root of the ArriveCan app scandal. Some of this evolution can be blamed on budget controls (professionals cost more than general managers) or on legislation that requires watchers watching the watchers watching the watchers, but much cones from a change in what senior public servants valued and the career incentives put in place.
You make a very important point, Gitane De Silva, ICD.D a good deal of my experience in the public service sector (3 levels of gov't in Canada, mostly municipal) included witnessing the evaporation of fearlessness. Some of the worst examples include what I'd call #managementbyfacebook and a general unwillingness of some elected officials to participate in political decision making. Instead putting decisions that should be made on the political level down to the administrative level. This insulates elected officials and makes the job of the public servant less secure - eroding fearlessness and preventing push back when it would otherwise be a healthy part of the process.
An important discussion at any time, and surely more so today. Seeing the forest through the trees is always a challenge. I always come back to a credo that was drilled into many of us back in the 1980s and thereafter as well. It is still worth checking against this guideline: “Fearless Advice; Loyal Implementation” Living up to it is hard; failing to maintain the balance ensures failure.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts Gitane !
Well said!!
Assistant Deputy Minister, Alberta Region
5moHmm. My experience has been somewhat different. I agree there are many many things to improve on and this article highlights lots of them. I don’t accept though the premise that the service is fundamentally broken. I’ve been trained and mentored and seen incredible things accomplished by the public service (at all levels). I’d love to talk more with you about this and your experiences. I feel it is incumbent on those of us in this space to acknowledge the problems and work to address and improve experiences for employees within and for clients who interface with the public service.