‘Serve your country – you will never regret it’ – Noreen Hecmanczuk
Release Date: 05/04/2023
Confident decision-making for better outcomes in government
Leading Questions
Civil servants in government make many decisions every day. From policy officials working to develop responsive services that meet users’ needs, to frontline officials who have to make choices on what tax cases to prioritise, the work of government requires the skills to make effective decisions. This Global Government Forum webinar looked at how governments can build systems that help drive better decision-making – and how civil servants can develop the skills to make – and implement – confident decisions. This webinar brought together public servants from around the world to discuss...
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What is Everythingism, and how does it affect the way that governments work?
Leading Questions
In this conversation, the executive editor of Global Government Forum Richard Johnstone chats to Joe Hill, the policy director of the think-tank Re:state about his recent essay, Everythingism. There’s a link to Joe’s essay at the bottom of these notes, but Everythingism is what Joe Hill describes as the belief in government that “every proposal, project or policy is a means for promoting every national objective, all at the same time”. In this episode, Richard and Joe dig into exactly what Everythingism means, how it manifests in policymaking, and the impact that it can have in...
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Understanding the fraud risk in the public sector – and how to tackle it
Leading Questions
The threat that public sector organisations face from fraud is growing. In an era when technological advancements are rapidly transforming the landscape, public sector organisations face unprecedented challenges in combating fraud. According to a survey of public servants undertaken by SAS, all public sector agencies surveyed are currently experiencing some form of fraud and expect to see an increase in at least one type of fraud over the next 5 years. Fraud is also having an impact on public finances. In the UK, chancellor Rachel Reeves has set out a crackdown on fraud in the welfare system,...
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How to deploy artificial intelligence in government: a step-by-step guide
Leading Questions
The race is on, both within and among governments, to develop and implement artificial intelligence (AI) tools for greater productivity better public services. But the race cannot be run, let alone won, without systems changes and cultural reinvigoration among department workforces. Deploying AI technology at scale will mean changing delivery systems, long-term staff training and fluid yet secure and ethical data sharing within organisations. This webinar, supported by GGF’s knowledge partners SAS, discussed how to make AI work for government. Speakers discussed ways to develop use...
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UK data leaders on delivering the government missions
Leading Questions
In the UK, the government is focused on harnessing the potential of digital and data to unlock better, more responsive and effective services. In a recent conversation hosted by Global Government Forum, government data experts discussed the role, opportunities and challenges of using data and AI to deliver on its five missions. Those five missions include: kickstarting economic growth, making Britain a clean energy superpower, making streets safer, breaking down barriers to opportunity, and finally, building an NHS fit for the future. In this podcast, you will hear from government...
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Building trust in AI to help government deploy it
Leading Questions
Governments around the world are focused on how to make the most of artificial intelligence in the way they work – and the government of Canada, which in March launched the first AI strategy for the federal public service, is no different. In this episode, three public servants from across the Canadian government spoke about the challenges that come with deploying AI to create more efficient public services and unlocking economic growth. Specifically, they discussed the challenge of garnering trust – both of Canadian citizens and the public servants they work with – on AI projects. This...
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The Top 10 Risks Governments Everywhere Face – and How to Address Them
Leading Questions
In this special podcast with our knowledge partner EY, former UK civil servant Siobhan Benita speaks to Catherine Friday, EY’s Global and Asia Pacific Government and Infrastructure Industry Leader, about the urgency of governments getting to grips with risk in the age of permacrisis. From external factors, such as finance and people, to external issues like geopolitics and climate change, EY has identified the top 10 risks that will impact governments throughout 2025. In this conversation, Catherine discusses these challenges and unpacks the steps governments must take to meet them. The top...
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What the UK government’s procurement reforms mean
Leading Questions
The UK government has set out a new National Procurement Policy Statement that will focus on ensuring that public procurement can support the government’s five national missions of boosting economic growth, building green energy, tackling crime, breaking down barriers to opportunity and build an NHS fit for the future. The podcast, based on a Global Government Forum webinar held on 4 March, sets out what the new rules, in the policy statement and the Procurement Act 2023, will mean for what public authorities will want to buy, and how they will do it. Listen to this podcast to discuss the...
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Innovation in government: opening up policymaking to people-powered insight
Leading Questions
Governments need to better join-up policy development with operational delivery to ensure they can meet the growing challenges they face – but such collaboration can be difficult to implement in practice. In this podcast, experts from the UK, Estonia and Brazil share best practice on harnessing people-powered insight in policymaking, examining how governments are working to understand citizens’ lived experiences and to turn their ideas into public services that really work. Co-creation isn’t always easy. It often requires the building of trust between a range of stakeholders with...
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How Government Works: How Labour is changing the way Whitehall works to focus on mission delivery
Leading Questions
Following the UK general election, Labour has formed a government with a large majority – and with a focus on delivering five national missions. These are: kickstarting economic growth, making Britain a clean energy superpower; take back our streets by halving serious violent crime; breaking down barriers to opportunity; and building an NHS fit for the future. Focusing on delivering these long-term missions requires, according to prime minister Keir Starmer, requires a different approach to government. It requires departments to work together outside traditional silos, as well as...
info_outlineIn the first of our Leading Questions podcasts to feature an American federal government leader, Noreen Hecmanczuk reflects on a long and diverse career which has seen her serve in the White House twice.
She took her first job in Washington D.C in the early 1990s – inspired by her WW2 veteran uncle – and hasn’t looked back.
The senior adviser on strategic engagements and communications to the US federal CIO, Noreen is right at the heart of government. But having worked at nine agencies and for six administrations – and in a range of roles from strategic communications to stakeholder engagement, HR to technology – she has a very well-rounded perspective on government operations.
From volunteering to take notes at meetings of foods standards executives in the midst of a deadly E coli outbreak to a particularly sobering moment whilst at the Department of Labor, Noreen has always shown a dedication to understanding her colleagues’ needs and how she might help meet them.
And she has kept two quotes front of mind: Teddy Roosevelt’s “Do what you can with what you have, where you are”, and her boss Clare Martorana’s motto that “people support what they helped create”.
Also covering improving citizens’ interactions with government through technology, why leaders shouldn’t confuse their role with that of a subject matter expert, the particulars of the American system and much more besides, this is an episode brimming with insight from a public servant whose work always comes back to one thing: resolutely serving the American people as best she can.