On the Role of Think Tanks In Canada

by Nick Charney

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A few weeks ago The Agenda with Steve Paikin (TVO) pulled together an episode on the role of Think Tanks in Canada. In short, if you are in the policy space in Canada you should set aside an hour and watch the two videos below. The first is a discussion among representatives from three leading Canadian Think Tanks and the second is an honest assessment of that conversation by a panel of academics, journalists and former think tankers. Combined the videos provide an important perspective on Canada's evolving policy landscape, how the role of Think Tanks is evolving and why understanding their origins, history and goals are incredibly important.

tl;dr -> if you care about the future of policy work, watch these:





Additionally, you may be interested in reading (also from TVO):

• What Does Twitter Tell Us About the Ideology of Canadian Think Tanks?
• Do Think Tanks Make Us Stupid?

Cheers

On Prescriptions for the Public Service

by Kent Aitken

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I'd like to propose a new litmus test for how we consider changes. I hinted at it last week (see: Influence, Organizations, and Team Players), when I said that there could be a divide between the advice I'd give the public service writ large and the advice I'd give an individual that I care about.

But that divide has been on my mind for a while, in the context of this blog as well as the general advice public servants have been getting from many sources:

• public sector leaders
• the Destination 2020 report on the future of the Canadian Public Service
• the Flat, Flexible, and Forward-Thinking report from Public Policy Forum on the leadership skills needed today
• the Public Service of Canada's Key Leadership Competencies (currently under revision, and it seems as though they'll largely align to Destination 2020)

Consider, for example, this graphic from Destination 2020:

Source

Which lays out the "work from anywhere at anytime" and "more flexible" public service envisioned for 2020.

From the external Public Policy Forum (albeit with much input from public servants), we hear that public service leaders must be persuasive entrepreneurs:

"...leaders need to be able to break down complex ideas and convince others of the best course of action, especially when unpopular policies are being proposed."

Shrewd diplomats:

"...leaders need to work with elected officials and their own teams to ensure that accountability measures do not undermine innovation, productivity, or talent management. They must respect the pressures facing government, but also focus on building a high-performing public service."

And fearless advisors:

"[Leaders need to do] the right thing, regardless of the consequences..."

And generally speaking, I'd agree with all of this advice. But I have to admit that the rubric changes when I shift from thinking the public service should do X, Y, and Z to imagining giving advice to a close friend, a sibling, or a child who has just joined the public service.

Would I tell them to push for flexible work arrangements or leeway to collaborate with stakeholders and colleagues? To push back on senior leaders, whether political or public servant, to do the right thing? Or, to be a team player, to bide their time, to not rock the boat?

I suspect we'd all find instances of advice that we'd offer to crowds, but not to close relations. Which is not to say that we're hypocrites or liars. Rather, that culture is a lumbering beast to turn; and that we're not done yet.

Introducing the Wellington Spring Network

by Nick Charney

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What follows is a guest post by Janine McGruddy a public servant from New Zealand who recently started a network for civil servants called Wellington Spring.

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Hello Canadian public servants! Greetings from the New Zealand public service, where we are discovering we have more in common with you than we thought (and we already thought fondly of you as the Kiwis of the Northern Hemisphere). It all started during one of those “corridor conversations” (already sounding familiar?) when a few of us decided it was time to stop talking and start taking action to get the public service we want, and feel the New Zealand public deserves. It seemed like a good idea to see what other public services around the world were doing (as we realised we were probably not alone in the issues we were facing) and safe to say our searching led us quickly to the virtual doorstep of the Canadian Public Service (or in particular the CPSR and GovLife websites). In fact Canada was pretty much the only place we could find public service activity on this.

We cannot thank you enough for leading the way on this – although we knew what we wanted to do it was pretty daunting, as we knew this was virgin territory for the New Zealand Public Service, and were not sure how we would be received. On approaching CSPR and GovLife about their experiences we had immediate warm and wonderful responses, offers of help and the assurance that taking the leap for them had been more positive than negative.

And so with that heart warming knowledge the Wellington Spring Network (WSN) was born in October this year as an informal network of progressive professional New Zealand public servants wanting to share innovative thinking and work collaboratively to find solutions to problems. We want to help the public service in New Zealand to break down silos and build stewardship from the grassroots. We were fortunate enough to be allowed to repost excellent material from both CSPR and GovLife to demonstrate the positive, but honest, style we wanted to achieve with our website.

We not only want to give voice to the concerns of the NZ public service, but perhaps more importantly, work to find possible solutions to them. As we create solutions we aim to share them with the leadership of the public service to ensure we are heard at the highest level. It is only early days for us but again the feedback has been for the most part very positive. We look forward to posting more of our own material on our website as we get responses from the New Zealand public service. We have even started a “Ministry of the Month” competition to try and find the pockets of excellence already in existence. As we continue to grow we know we do so with the comradeship of our fellow public servants in Canada, and that really does make a difference, so Kia kaha from the WSN.