Module 11 Citizen Engagement and the Political-

Bureaucratic Divide

PRESENTER

Citizen Engagement

Client and User Satisfaction

Ensuring that clients are satisfied with a product is nothing new.

In the private sector client satisfaction is often what makes or breaks a product or a company.

However, in the public sector the relationship between services and users is rather different.

Client vs Citizen

Client

External

Direct Service

Provision/Benefit

(User)

Internal

Citizen

Indirect General

Benefit

(Stakeholder)

How public and private services differ

Private Sector Government

Characteristics of

services

Private

(excludable and rival)

Public

(non-excludable and non

rival)

Measurement

Often financially

quantifiable,

straightforward and

generally immediate

Often not financially

quantifiable, delayed in

time, not straightforward

Reasons for seeking

feedback

Embedded in the market

system

Dependent on policy and

culture

Diffusion Very Common Relatively uncommon

Why measuring user

satisfaction? Process and product improvement: regular

measurements lead to better services and better work processes.

Increased legitimacy: in an age of neoliberal policies governments have often cut services and/or increased costs to the public. Poor service delivery will erode legitimacy.

Implement citizen-centered approaches: we cannot claim a CCA if we do not measure satisfaction.

Insight #6;

Building trust in public institutions and engaging stakeholders to enhance programs are

priorities

Building confidence and trust in

government (80%) and engaging

stakeholders (82%) to enhance

programs/services are key priorities

Very strong agreement that there is a lot of

importance on this globally over the next 2

years (Globally >75% rank it as most

important)

UAE specifically delineates “Citizen

Engagement” as more important that

the more general “Stakeholder

Engagement”

• CAN and AUS both placed highest overall

importance on building trust and confidence in

public institutions over stakeholder engagement

• Engagement with the private sector is the

most common form of external engagement for

senior staff (50%), but engagement with social

enterprises is also significant (35%)

• Open Government is deemed important by

75% of participants

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Implications for Public Sector Leaders:

• What factors have caused a loss of trust in recent years

• Are there particular stakeholders that should be consulted

• How is “Open Government” defined and what are the barriers

Stakeholder engagement

Executives have built an ethical public

service, but they are concerned about

low trust towards their institutions

Insight #8;

Performance Management Frameworks are generally in place but not effective

Participants from all four countries place

importance of focusing programs on measuring

outcomes rather than outputs (76% overall rating)

Measuring outcomes vs. outputs requires a

robust and effective performance management

framework

Most respondents find their organizations risk

management framework to be effective

43% of respondents commonly use program risk

management frameworks to guide decision

making

More than 72% of respondents commonly use

PMFs for the purpose of taking action and

making decisions

BUT Only 34% of respondents find their

PMFs effective

Only 40% of organizations “often” manage

performance, accountability and risk for third

party suppliers

50% of respondents believe accountability is well

understood across their organization; 15%

believe it is not well understood

Over 50% believe that their oversight and

accountability agencies are effective at

monitoring performance

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Implications for Public Sector Leaders:

• Are Public Sector organizations relying on their oversight and

accountability agencies for performance monitoring instead of

building it in design and delivery

• Is it time for Centres of Excellence to drive increased use and

effectiveness of performance management to drive better

program results that are focused on outcomes instead of outputs

Utilization of performance management frameworks

If measuring outcomes is truly a goal,

organizations must increase their

internal performance monitoring

Citizen-Centered Approaches

In government the strongest drive towards user satisfaction measurement comes from CCAs.

CCAs imply: Empowering citizens to give input in the type and

modality of services they receive

Embracing a government approach based on accountability and continued improvement

Needs a continuous flow of information about these outputs and outcomes

Needs a whole-of-government culture of engagement

Is based on a set of policies that frame and enable it

Measuring user satisfaction:

Meets the need for external public

accountability

Sets defined targets for service

improvement by management

Enshrines internal accountability for staff

Strengthens the legitimacy of public sector

agencies

Measuring Innovation

Part of the connection between innovation

and public engagement needs to happen

through Citizen-Centered approaches.

Innovative policies and approaches

Can take inspiration from the gaps presented

in these analyses

Will be measured in these analyses

The Citizens First surveys

In 1998, the Canadian government launched the first of its Citizens First surveys.

Over 3,000 service experiences were polled

Five drivers were found to explain over 70% of satisfaction: Timeliness

Knowledge and competence

Courtesy (extra smile, extra mile)

Fairness, and

Outcome

Some of the expectations

The survey gave the Canadian government an

unprecedented view of what users of its services

expected. Among these were:

Service expectation Percentage of

Canadians

Being served in less than 8 minutes 54%

Being served in less than 14 minutes 89%

Phone answered within 1 minute 68%

Phone answered within 2 minutes 85%

Ontario Health Care System

Financially Sustainable

System Integration

Health Outcomes

Client Centered

• Manage at 2% growth

• Capture efficiencies to reinvest in

patient care

• Regional Alignment across providers

• Seamless transitions

• Shared Accountability

• More days at home rather than hospital

• Reduced readmissions and ED visits

• Timely referrals to home care specialists

• People are satisfied with their experience

and engaged in their care planning

• Everyone has regular and timely access

to primary care

Measure to improve

The basic purpose of service satisfaction levels among users of government services is to ultimately improve those services.

The CMT relies on an importance/satisfaction matrix.

Often when clients are asked what is important they will answer all.

To make things manageable, the TMC asks respondents to rank the top 3 service priorities.

Satisfaction/Importance Matrix

Satisfaction (Performance)

Importance Low High

High

Attributes that need

attention – areas

where priorities should

be focused

Current organization

strengths

Low Low Priority

Unnecessary

strengths –

possible overkill

From Measurement to Improvement

The Political-

Bureaucratic Divide

Leadership ETHICS … a fundamental public service values tenet is

“fearless advice and loyal implementation”

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1. Political staff clearly understand their

role and that of the public service.

62% Disagree (up from 46% in 2009)

77% Agree

Why is Political Acuity Important?

Underpins ALL of our work

Supports the essence of the democratic process

Can improve the quality and success of our work

Will help to open our minds to the possible and allows for greater creativity

“Probably one of the biggest challenges in a public service career”

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Work of the Political Executive Constituency work Cabinet and caucus meetings Media relations Interest groups Meetings with Deputy and senior staff Getting re-elected is job 1

Work of the Bureaucratic Executive Administration of government policies

Implementation of legislation and regulations

Management of public funds

…While being professional, non-partisan, career-oriented

Control through hierarchical organizational

“permanent custodians of the permanent problems” (i.e., long term)

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Political Acuity: understanding the differing roles of the elected officials and the administration (and how that relationship works)

Ultimate decisions made by ELECTED officials

Administration must maintain professional integrity and long term strategic directions for the public good

Support politicians in making informed decisions through: Speaking Truth to Power

Giving superb advice (apolitical, evidence-based, sound analysis)

Balancing political and administrative priorities

Consideration of long term items into the political agenda

Building relationships and trust

Public servants have political rights Public service no place for personal views Bureaucrats are normally anonymous

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The Special Obligations of the Public Service

To deal with people as citizens To respect the rights of citizens To treat all citizens equally To professionally implement and administer public

policy To serve the political executive in developing public

policy To uphold the law To serve and promote the best interests and

traditions of the public service To serve and promote the public interest

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