Thoughts on the disruptive web

I spoke to a group of civil servants this week as part of their development program's lunchtime speaker series; the talk covered a lot of ground and I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of my key messages from the discussion.

The web is disruptive

The internet has disrupted, is disrupting, or will disrupt every business model currently in use today. To think it hasn't, isn't or won't disrupt the public sector is naive at best. Understanding the impacts of these changes is critical to understanding the role of the public service because context is key and the context is now constantly changing.

GCPEDIA is a microcosm of a larger problem

GCPEDIA is still the only open communications tool that holds that could help us mitigate our geographic, ministerial and hierarchical information challenges and yet we have tremendous difficulty integrating it into the fabric of our business. The fact that as an organization we have such difficulty understanding how to best lever a technology (wikis) that is (conceptually) almost 20 years old concerns me (see: Debunking the Myths of Working More Openly).

But this is likely just a symptom of a larger problem. The cognitive dissonance we create by expecting new recruits to use desktop computers, blackberries, and slow, heavily blocked internet connections when they have spent their time at university learning how to collaborate over iPhones, MacBooks, and uninhibited internet is even more unsettling. Surely there is a rising productivity cost associated with maintaining the status quo that could be minimized by moving to bring your own device (BYOD) environments.

The culture is falling behind

The web gives us a window into the best in class work cultures and sets global expectations around what a work place could offer; in other words, like it or not, this is the workplace culture your office is competing with.

I understand that government offices can't compete with Google in terms of technology but that doesn't mean that we can't build a culture that places greater emphasis on key motivators such as autonomy, mastery, and purpose (see: Motivation and Incentives in the Public Service). Ultimately I think these these qualities not only effect how motivated we are but also our ability to deliver the fearless advice that has historically been our hallmark. Autonomy is closely linked to impartiality, mastery determines quality, and purpose sharpens our focus. The lack of cultural emphasis on these elements has likely contributed to what I view as the skewing of the balance between fearless advice and loyal implementation (See: On Fearless Advice and Loyal Implementation and On Risk, Fearless Advice and Loyal Implementation).

The fix is in new ways of thinking

The solution to our technological and cultural challenges - I think - is to encourage more public servants to be tricksters; encourage them to explore and integrate ideas that typically "don't have a place in the bureaucracy"; encourage them to take the risks, reap the rewards, and most importantly, accept the responsibility (See: Innovation is Tricky, Literally and Finding Innovation)

These are not easy things to do, but they are the things we must do.



Originally published by Nick Charney at cpsrenewal.ca subscribe/connect

So I'm back at work now ...

So I'm back at work officially after a 6 week hiatus to deal with the implosion of my parental unit, it’s not pretty, there are sweeping implications, I'm exhausted, frustrated, and trying really hard not to let bleed into my interactions with my kids, my wife, and my day job now that I'm back in the office. But I'm seeing a counsellor through the Employee Assistance Program and otherwise trying to take care of myself.


DM Committee on Social Media and Policy

While I was out of commission there was a Deputy Minister level Committee struck on Social Media and Policy Development which according to the Privy Council Office website “Considers the linkages between social media and policy-making, including new models for policy development, public engagement and the role of the public servant in the social media sphere.” They have a GCPEDIA page that you may wish to check out and/or leave your comments as well as an English and French Twitter feed that you may wish to follow. I don’t have any further details but assume they will emerge via any of the links I have provided above.

The formation of a committee at this level could signal the arrival of the early majority to the social media and policy-making discussion. It provides a certain amount of legitimacy and will hopefully provide an opportunity for early adopters to add their accumulated knowledge to the mix in a more systematic and official way. I for one dropped a link on the GCPEDIA page to a deck I put together articulating typical organizational policy responses to the diffusion of emerging communications technologies.


Interesting article in the Ottawa Citizen provokes a Book Club

A discussion on Twitter about an article entitled “Thirty years of business-like “reforms” have backfired on the public service: expert” (worth reading BTW) in the citizen last week prompted a discussion about starting a book club that you may or may not be interested in. Here’s an internal link to the discussion on GCConnex that fleshes it out more fully.

See you around the digital water cooler.

Originally published by Nick Charney at cpsrenewal.ca subscribe/connect

Update: One Month Later

Pic is unrelated, but awesome.

I won't lie, the last 4 weeks have been gruelling, and the situation is no where near resolved.
Luckily, I've got a broad network I can lean on for support, access to the Employee Assistance Program (which I would recommend to anyone in crisis), and a loving wife, who has done more to support me day-to-day than I thought was possible in a lifetime.

Originally published by Nick Charney at cpsrenewal.ca subscribe/connect