Marine Destrez’s Post

Are public policy and public administration separate fields? During my Master's degree, I started to become aware of a difference in these two fields and practices. I had always considered myself a "policy" person, but I realized I cared less about the 'vision' and more about the 'mechanics'. As I studied, I started to sense that these two fields were indeed distinct and brought different things to the conversation. Here is how I distinguish between the two: Public Policy is about the "what" - What should we do? Public Administration is about the "how" - Now that we know what we want to do, how do we go about doing it? Here's an example: The policy person sees a problem in a regulated industry. They conduct a scan of other jurisdictions and note that jurisdictions with oversight systems aren't seeing the same problem. Their advice is to put in place a system of oversight, inspections, and monitoring. The public administration person takes their cue from the policy person. Instead of thinking about "what" should be done about the problem, they riff on the initial instruction and think about designating inspectors, the frequency of inspections, and what should be included in an application to operate a facility in the regulated industry. So many of the tools used in these fields are shared, and the line between them is so thin that I sometimes wonder whether it's worth distinguishing. But as I studied my Master's, I found I was much more interested in how things get done than what gets done. Policy was about what should get done. Public administration, I found, was about governance, implementation, and authorities. I'm curious to hear what folks think. Does the above resonate? Do you distinguish between these fields? Is it even worth it to try?

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🚨🚨🚨 New Localis (think tank) project alert 🚨🚨🚨 🤔🤔We want to ask what a clean slate approach to local governance might look like in our new study "Present Tense: renewing and modernising local governance". There's been a lot of recent history here, and local public finances will be to the top of Sue Gray's sh!tlist of immediate problems for the incoming government to deal with. However, if the dominant themes for financial failure to date are those of poor leadership, culture and governance and a lack of understanding or practice of oversight, do the governance tools in the wheelhouse still fit the needs of today’s world? This year we mark four decades from Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government taking powers through the Rates Act 1984 to limit the budges of councils and he rate-capping rebellion of ‘Red Ted’ Knight’s Lambeth and Derek Hatton’s Militant run Liverpool City Council. If we consider the many changes to the role and corporate running of local government that has undergone successive radical transformations, a political economy that has also moved on dramatically, and a technologically driven age of AI wonder far removed from the eight-bit ZX Spectrum era forty years on, there is a prima facie case for necessary reform and renewal. 🤔For example, does the very ‘golden triangle’ model remain valid given the changes to local government corporate structure? 🤔And fundamentally, how in the current economic and political context of local public finances might we need to change to better guarantee that strong corporate governance and effective scrutiny supports a culture of transparency and openness? 🤔What will be needed in reforming and modernising governance that will help deliver financial sustainability over the lifetime of the next parliament in the medium-term? We hope to involve the widest set of stakeholders from local government, industry and interested parties to help us imagine what a new and better system Do please get in touch to find out more about how you can contribute to this research programme. And many thanks Grant Thornton UK LLP Guy Clifton Paul Dossett & Simon Christian for supporting this exercise 👏👏👏👏 https://lnkd.in/gPQ_Wr8M

Barrett and Greene Inc. hit the nail on the head again with their recent report. We love to toss those words around #bestpractices when giving direction or advice. I appreciate the interpretation provided by Rich and Katherine around how they define best practices. In order to know what is best for an organization you must take the time to understand them and their challenges. Just because it is a best practice for one organization does not mean it will work the exact same way for another. 💡 Before we go on, it seems worthwhile for us to provide our own definition of "best practice." Others may disagree, but it's the way the words sound to us -- and we suspect to many others. We believe that the ubiquitous phrase should be used to describe management policies that can be applied pretty much universally. Best practices, we'd argue, should be something like plug and play models that others can pick up and use with a reasonable assurance of success. 💡 But that's often not the way the words are used. For example, the latest glittery idea that seems appealing (but has only been proven as worthwhile in a smattering of places) can often be dubbed as best. We see this all over the place. People writing reports for any number of significant organizations will take the study of a handful of cities or states and list approaches they’ve uncovered as “best.” Not to seem cynical, but we've noticed that often the words "best practice" are used in consulting firms to sell their own approaches. Neena Kovuru, PHR,PMP, CBP,Green Belt,SHRM-CP,TMCP,ODCP Lu Busalacchi Kimberly B.

7 Lessons from Policy Evaluation 📌 Lesson 1 The policies we create may outlive us. Think of how our policies will impact our children, grandchildren & generations to come. 📌 Lesson 2 What is policy? “A public policy is an 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙩 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 to have the government act broadly & over time in relation to 𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚 & usually through public agencies & officials, that 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨 a real or perceived social issue & aims to 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚 a 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙 state of affairs.” Thus, policy often affects a broad population (not just 1 individual). There is usually also an issue being addressed. And a desired state of affairs to be created. 📌 Lesson 3 “A wise policy maker consequently expects that policies will achieve only part of what is expected & at the same time will produce 𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨, both desirable & undesirable.” Therefore, consider evaluating & pressure testing policy to check for unintended consequences. A policy that may work in one demographic & geographical location may have different outcomes elsewhere. 📌Lesson 4 Build in policy evaluation at the start of the policy cycle (not just at the end). 📌Lesson 5 Be mindful of the internal & external drivers of policy. 🔹Some Internal drivers include: Party political platforms & changes Ministerial government changes Policy coordinator Budget surpluses or cuts Opinion polls Evaluation studies/audits Sunset clauses 🔹Some External drivers include: International issues Changes in technology Demographic shifts Economic forces Legal shifts Media attention 📌Lesson 6 A Logic Model is a helpful thinking tool in policy evaluation that describes how change will occur in a given context. It displays the rationale behind policy/programs, cause-effect relationships & is refined over time when new evidence is available. 📌 Lesson 7 Sunset clauses In public policy, a sunset provision or sunset clause is a measure within a statute, regulation or other law that provides for the law to cease to be effective after a specified date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend it. Do the policies you create or evaluate have time limits on them? Without a time limit, certain legislation/ policies may still continue way past their relevance: For example: The Locomotive Act 1865 became known as the Red Flag Act, thanks to its extraordinary stipulation that any self-propelled road vehicle had to be preceded by a person walking at least 60 yards ahead, carrying a red flag. (Presumably to warn horse-drawn carriages). 🚩🐴 This Policy Evaluation workshop was facilitated by the inimitable Professor Rick Cummings & was one of the best workshops I’ve ever attended. We left the workshop determined to build a better future for Thea, Prof’s granddaughter. #policy #legacy #policyevaluation #policyveterinarian

Are you hesitating about social value accreditation? Perhaps you're wondering if it applies to your organisation, or whether you'll meet the grade? Why not give us a call or try our pre-audit service. Pre-audit gives you a quick appraisal of your chances of success, together with a recommended action plan. https://lnkd.in/e5dcGDnB

It causes big problems when a government project goes wrong and/or costs more than planned. People stop trusting the government, taxpayers get upset and want more honesty. Workers feel sad and unsure, services for the public get worse or at least don't improve, and businesses lose money. Investors might not want to help in the future, local areas don't grow well, and trust in the government goes down, affecting big national goals. The problem impacts politics, making decisions take longer, stopping new ideas, and making it hard for things to get better in that area. Businesses rely on consumer confidence which can be dashed, or they might be suppliers themselves..just read the news.. Basically, when a government project fails, it has a huge ripple effect for everyone. So how do you get these things right? Is it leadership, planning, technology, money, governance? All of them? If so, in which order? We explore these ideas in our Transformation Trailblazers newsletter. Please subscribe and share your own insights.

It causes big problems when a government project goes wrong and/or costs more than planned. People stop trusting the government, taxpayers get upset and want more honesty. Workers feel sad and unsure, services for the public get worse or at least don't improve, and businesses lose money. Investors might not want to help in the future, local areas don't grow well, and trust in the government goes down, affecting big national goals. The problem impacts politics, making decisions take longer, stopping new ideas, and making it hard for things to get better in that area. Businesses rely on consumer confidence which can be dashed, or they might be suppliers themselves..just read the news.. Basically, when a government project fails, it has a huge ripple effect for everyone. So how do you get these things right? Is it leadership, planning, technology, money, governance? All of them? If so, in which order? We explore these ideas in our Transformation Trailblazers newsletter. Please subscribe and share your own insights.

Happy to share my paper “Reconceptualizing accountability in NGO-corporate partnerships: an institutional logics perspective” published at Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal. https://lnkd.in/eFM7Sd4S

#InTheCoalitionSeries In order to advance #systemschange, practices like True Cost Accounting need to take a multidimensional approach to scale. We're excited to support the True Cost Accounting Dialogue Series and Summit: Scaling Implementation, an initiative to mainstream True Cost Accounting by 2030. Over the next few months, the TCA Accelerator is holding a series of workshops and webinars to explore barriers and opportunities to scaling up, scaling wide, and scaling deep True Cost Accounting. This strategic roadmap will help governments, business leaders, researchers, civil society, philanthropy, and individuals who share the goal of mainstreaming TCA to select and prioritise their contributions and achieve greater collective impact. Read more here 👉 https://bit.ly/3C3I8jC #FoodSystem #Implementation #Accounting #TCA #business