IPANZ E-Update - 20 July 2021
Kia ora koutou
The IPANZ conference programme is now published. Have a look at it.
This will be a memorable and powerful conference. You will see that we start the day with a challenging focus on Mȧori-Crown relations, the Ivan Kwok Memorial Lecture celebrating the very best of public service, and one of our international speakers talking about significantly shifting how the public sector operates. These themes thread right through the conference with many speakers taking up the issues and much more.
Shenagh Gleisner, Executive Director
LATEST NEWS
Social Inequalities Amplified by COVID-19
We should not assume that the data from NZ matches that from the UK. But the thinking in this article is certainly interesting. It raised some questions for us.
- Some of the impacts of COVID-19 amplified existing equalities in the UK and some went against the grain of trends on inequality. What is the situation here?
- Practical action on “intersectionality” is needed as some impacts are multiplicative, not additive. This article emphasises taking lived experience and frontline voices very seriously, to obtain a real picture of this complexity.
- It introduces the idea of a social multiplier – identifying policies or actions that have the most impact across multiple kinds of inequality, in a dynamic way.
As always, IPANZ is interested in work that is currently in place in Aotearoa/New Zealand to untangle and create meaningful policies here. This article is written by a speaker at our conference, Geoff Mulgan.
Real Value of Middle Managers
IPANZ is aware of the value of middle managers, and indeed what a hard job these roles can be.
This is an interesting article with a number of case studies which illustrate the different roles middle managers have to play. Some of the points made include:
- Division between leadership and management is anachronistic. Every leader is also a follower; as a middle manager you are a proactive leader to direct reports and also have upward influencing skills.
- Middle managers are especially important for psychological safety and encouraging critical thinking skills.
- Agencies wishing to support middle managers would do well by ensuring coaching for them, and spaces for safe conversations and support.
Some really nice examples in here of the balancing that middle managers continuously do.
Working From Home The New Norm?
IPANZ is concerned for the wellbeing for people working in the public service. We would be worried about any assumption that working from home suits everyone with their diverse lives and circumstances.
We noted the opening line in this article “we’ve proven we can work from home, we must never go back to the way it was” which the author says he has heard a good deal in the last year. He goes on to say that “working from home has not been everyone’s utopia”
Working from home can be a symbol of flexibility but it is not true flexibility. For many it is far from ideal. Have a look at the four requirements for successful working from home in this article and see if you agree. We will be pursuing more on this subject.
Co-Design Symposium - 'Ways of Being, Knowing, and Doing'
This was an inspiring event. We ran this online symposium along with our partners the Southern Initiative, the Tuakana Teina Evaluation Collective, Ngā Aho Māori design practitioners and Allen and Clarke. And what a collective it was - deep experience of both authentic co-design processes and tikanga māori combined with superb participative technology. IPANZ cannot offer our members these outstanding insights without working with partners such as these. Thank you e hoa ma, nga mihi mahana, nga mihi aroha, ki a koutou katoa.
You can view the programme here, it will give you a glimpse of what was covered, the speakers and the flow of the korero. We will spend time together now working out if there are ways to extend the experience and the learning more widely.
I want you to know why IPANZ chose to work on this subject. There are four main reasons.
- Co-design is an overused and abused term. We have heard the term “co-design” being used frequently, with practice variable and not always authentic.
- Culturally grounded practices. There is a tension between dominant euro-centric models and Te Tiriti models. We wanted to run a co-design session that centred on culturally grounded, indigenous based practices.
- A rethink of the “way we do things”. If we as a public service do not go about some of our work in a different way, we will fail in some vital areas of our mahi.
- Genuine co-design is a challenge for public servants. We knew that this “way of being, knowing and doing” is not business-as-usual in the public service context. But it is possible; this event proved that for sure! IPANZ wants to inform, inspire and support public servants.
Please tell us how we can continue to support you.
Find out more about H2R here
UPCOMING EVENTS
IPANZ AGM with Guest Speaker Professor Arthur Grimes
WELLINGTON, Tuesday 27 July, 5.15-7.45pm
Join us for our Annual General Meeting followed by a presentation by Professor Arthur Grimes, from the School of Government, Wellington School of Business and Government, and inaugural holder of the Chair of Wellbeing and Public Policy. Professor Grimes will share his thoughts on the extent to which the Wellbeing Budget has lived up to its promise this far. Professor Grimes’s research expertise is well known. He will bring us fascinating insights from the achievements in other jurisdictions as well as Aotearoa/New Zealand.
There will be refreshments and the opportunity to network with our speaker, the IPANZ Board and your sector colleagues.
Auckland New Professionals - Data in Diversity
AUCKLAND, Friday 30 July, 9.00-10.00am
The Auckland New Professionals invite you to join them to hear about the importance of measuring diversity in large organisations, and listen to the journeys of diversity champions in Auckland.
Speakers include Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan, Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities, Mei Chen and Thomas Pippos.
Register here
Hokai Rangi - Partnership and Engagement with Maori
WELLINGTON, Tuesday 17 August, 12.00-1.00pm
This government has made clear, its intentions for improved Māori-Crown relationships across the Public Service. Hōkai Rangi is driving the Department of Corrections to build genuine partnerships with Māori, in order to deliver greatly improved outcomes across New Zealand.
Join us to learn more about Hōkai Rangi and how you can apply it’s principles to similar transformational change for partnering and engaging with Māori in your organisation.
Read more here
WHAT WE'RE READING.... (WELL WATCHING)
IPANZ supports the Women in Public Service (WIPS) Summits by contributing to the Summit steering groups. The bulk of all this wonderful work is done by the Government Women’s Network (GWN) with the support of their event organiser Auaha. Congratulations again to GWN for a great conference in Auckland – and mark your calendars for the first-ever Southern Summit in Christchurch on 28 October 2021.
In preparing for this conference, we thought about the inspiring women who had gone before us – and the impressive woman all over the world today, who are changing the world with their words and actions.
We wanted to share these stories and collaborated to create a video on the day called “Moments in Time”. We direct you to two of the video stories featured in this compilation - one about Dame Whina Cooper and one about the young woman Amanda Gorman speaking at Joe Biden’s inauguration. Do share these with young women’s groups, schools and with your women’s networks and enjoy them yourselves.
Find out more about The Johnson Group here
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