IPANZ End of Year Event
On Thursday 10 December 2020 IPANZ held its Annual End of Year Event. Our panelists Colin James, Tracy Watkins and Atawhai Tibble were tasked with looking ahead to 2021 and sharing their radical ideas for improving Public Sector performance.
Here are a selection of ideas from panelists and audience members:
- Establish groups of junior/middle ranking staff aged say, 25-35 to brainstorm ideas and identify issues relevant to their age-group and require these to be considered by senior management
- Reinforce the relational aspect of actions and engagements, to compliment the transactional elements of departmental/agency work
- Facilitate deeper public engagement in policy development
- Promote and value exposure to a range of views and ideas, including those of local government and not-for-profits
- Emphasise expertise in making senior appointments; agencies are not alike and deep knowledge of that agency's business is essential
- Improve communication, in particular by ensuring those that have the knowledge and expertise can be heard unfiltered (eg. Ashley Bloomfield)
- The COVID-19 pandemic response demonstrated how departmental silos can be broken down and a whole-of-government response can be rolled out quickly time - we should be considering applying this approach to other issues
- Always bare in mind that a public servant's responsibility is not to ensure a Minister's electoral future, but rather is to put forward ideas and proposals that advance the public good