How to empower civil servants to deliver government missions, with Dr Dan Honig
Release Date: 09/24/2024
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...
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How Government Works: Operations, activity and processes in policy development and delivery – in Whitehall and beyond
Leading Questions
In this third instalment of Global Government Forum’s How Government Works podcast series – which provides a guide to the UK’s corridors of power – we examine the scope of operations, activities and processes that are involved in the delivery of new policy initiatives. This episode explores the policymaking processes: what gets prioritised for legislation and how it is scrutinised and passed, and how does it move to delivery both in the public and private sectors. This is the third in a series of podcasts from Global Government Forum setting out how...
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How Government Works: governance, regulation and culture in Whitehall and Westminster
Leading Questions
In this second instalment of Global Government Forum’s How Government Works podcast series – which provides a guide to the UK’s corridors of power – we examine governance, regulation and culture of Whitehall and Westminster. Organisational cultures are key to how any operation functions, and this episode looks at everything from the civil service and ministerial codes, to ethics advisors and independent standards committees, and onto parliamentary scrutiny of the government. This is the second in a series of podcasts from Global Government Forum setting out how...
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How Government Works: demystifying the structures and responsibilities in Whitehall, Westminster and beyond
Leading Questions
Understanding how Whitehall and Westminster work can be a daunting challenge. Even those who have been interacting professionally with government for many years can find some of the practices, procedures, conventions and relationships complicated to navigate. This first podcast in Global Government Forum’s How Government Works series provides easy-to-digest information on who does what, and how, in government. Listen to this episode to get a simple summary of everything from constitutional frameworks to the organisational structures and interactions, and onto operational procedures, people...
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BONUS EPISODE: How the US federal government is getting ready for President Trump
Leading Questions
The US presidential election is the most consequential taking place in the ‘year of democracy’. This special episode of Global Government Forum’s Leading Questions podcast, taken from a webinar held on 19 November, looks at what public servants will be doing to prepare for the incoming presidential team led by President Donald Trump. In this podcast, webinar chair Siobhan Benita discusses the work that civil servants will be undertaking for the government transition with , non-attorney partner and director of government and public affairs, Shaw Bransford & Roth, and Richard...
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How the Government of Canada is making progress on digital transformation
Leading Questions
On this episode of Leading Questions LIVE, Siobhan Benita speaks to , chief information officer for Canada. They discuss Dominic’s broad mandate, which includes service delivery, security and privacy, as well as his current priorities such as improving digital services, enhancing cybersecurity, and modernising legacy systems. Dominic touches upon Canada’s past technological failures and controversies, and stresses the role of collaboration, both within government and with provincial governments and the private sector, to bring public services into a new era of human-centred service...
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Leading Questions Live: How to make government work in the age of permacrisis
Leading Questions
In this episode of Leading Question, recorded with a live online audience, a panel of Global Government Forum experts delve into the findings of its research into the key characteristics needed for a modern public service. The Making Government Work report identifies five key pillars of a modern civil service, which are: · Strong leadership with mutual respect and alignment between ministers and senior officials · Building a highly skilled, inclusive and thriving public sector workforce. ...
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US presidential election: what the party platforms say – and what you need to know
Leading Questions
In this special edition of Global Government Forum’s Leading Questions podcast, which is based on a GGF webinar held in September, we look at the key issues in the upcoming United States presidential election. Join Siobhan Benita as she discuss the key issues of the campaign with Dr Thomas Gift, the associate professor of political science and director of the Centre on US Politics (CUSP) at UCL, and Kevin R. Kosar, a resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Listen to this podcast to find out: The key issues shaping the campaign. The policy priorities being set out by the...
info_outlineIn a new episode of Leading Questions, Richard Johnstone, the executive editor of Global Government Forum, interviews Dr Dan Honig, professor of public policy at University College London and Georgetown University, about his new book, Mission Driven Bureaucrats.
Subtitled Empowering People To Help Government Do Better, Honig’s book explores how civil servants can be empowered to drive better government performance.
Honig argues that many public sector organisations are too focused on compliance – what he describes as an attempt to keep those who might want to do ill from doing it.
Such an approach wears down public servants, leaving those who are driven to make a difference frustrated by the obstacles and compliance rules they face.
This highly topical interview comes as the new UK government aims to focus on five key missions. Honig provides insight on how to realise progress on what he calls these grand missions, as well as using missions as a means to clearly state public service purposes – be that fighting fires, providing care or being the best internal auditor.
Honig says that empowering civil servants is vital to achieving all these missions, giving civil servants both autonomy and support as a team to deliver.
Listen in full to hear about how to make mission delivery happen in government – from strategies to drive change like implementing ‘green tape rules’ to the role of leadership.
And if you have questions about how to make mission-driven change happen in government, please contact [email protected] – and we will ask Dan for his tips on adopting a mission approach in government.
Mentioned in this conversation:
Find out more about Dan’s book: Mission Driven Bureaucrats: Empowering People To Help Government Do Better
Making Government Work: Exclusive Global Government Forum research reveals five pillars of a modern civil service
History has been made, paving the way for major public service reform in South Africa