Challenging perceptions in the public sector

Local government / 01 March 2010

It’s likely that in the last month, you’ve made use of public sector services at least once. While one in five of us are employed in public sector jobs, the rest of us will interact with public services throughout our lives. ILM’s research into the attitudes and opinions of public sector managers reveals what’s really going on, reports Helen Mayson

We’re all affected by public sector services, so the fact that the public sector budget showed a deficit of £11.5bn in December 2009 should be a sobering thought. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) believes that it will take at least five years to eliminate the deficit in public sector budgets, and it’s clear that there’s no easy fix for the situation the UK’s public services find themselves in.

Whatever the solution, it’s going to take plenty of time. So what is the prospect of sweeping cuts in budgets doing to the attitudes of our public sector managers?

Richard McCarthy, director general of the Department of Communities and Local Government, believes that the public sector has already shown incredible resilience in tough times.

They’ve certainly not avoided the financial constraints experienced in the private sector, according to Leading Change in the Public Sector, the latest research report from the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM). It found that 69% of respondents had already experienced cuts and 89% predicted that further reductions in budgets are on the way.

 

The public sector has to learn from the retail sector about self service and self involvement by citizens, with some support from the public sector

John Foster, CEO, Islington Council

“The research dispels many of the myths about the public sector and its managers, including the belief that it has remained untouched by the economic downturn,” says Penny de Valk, chief executive of ILM. “The fallout from the recession has already affected budgets and resourcing levels and will continue to do so, potentially at the expense of crucial public services and staff wellbeing.”

Perhaps surprisingly, satisfaction with their jobs isn’t currently a problem. Almost three quarters of managers (70%) were either satisfied or very satisfied in their current roles, with just 2% claiming high levels of dissatisfaction with their jobs. Hardly a reflection of a disgruntled workforce under pressure.

But despite the largely positive attitude, certain aspects of life as a leader in the public sector were seen as frustrating. The research found that high workloads, bureaucratic attitudes and a difficulty motivating staff are currently proving problematic for many managers, while budget and resourcing constraints also ranked as major challenges at the moment.

Battered budgets

Nobody is denying that more cuts are on the cards, but exactly how and where they will fall is up for debate. Labour’s proposed repair job involves freezing total public spending in real terms until April 2011, while if the Conservatives come into power at the general election, they plan to reduce borrowing at an even faster rate, which could imply an even greater squeeze on spending.

The survey results showed a certain ambivalence to which party wins the power struggle in May. Although 77% of managers believed that there will be a change in government at the general election, almost half (49%) were neutral about the outcome.

David Pardey, head of research at ILM, thinks this reflects a realism among managers that whichever party comes into power, they’re going to have to make significant changes. “They know that politicians are prisoners of the financial environment we’re in. They’re limited in what they can do – they’ve got to cut budgets and they’ve got to raise taxes.”

Whatever changes the incoming government proposes, they need to involve a fairly radical culture shift across all layers of public sector organisations. Mike More, CEO of Westminster Council, thinks that organisations need to learn to prioritise if they’re going to improve customer service in the future. “If we still believe in supporting those in greatest need, we can only do this by being much smarter.”

The research reflected an enthusiasm for change and some optimism in the face of cuts. Over half (51%) of managers thought the next 12-18 months would bring opportunities for innovation and the development of creative solutions, for example changing business processes and expanding online services.

John Foster, CEO of Islington Council, predicts local government will increasingly rely on social networks and online delivery to deal with increased demand for services. “We have to encourage the mushrooming of social networks, which will be capable of taking on service in a way we haven’t contemplated before,” he says.

The report also found a surprising support for targets with a view that they provide teams with direction (69%) and drive high quality results (51%). Managers also said they helped enable effective performance management, a real issue for many working in the public sector.

But this affinity for targets comes with an important caveat. While managers don’t object to targets per se, problems can occur when they don’t reflect individual situations and are used to micro-manage public sector organisations. Pardey says: “They need a clear steer from government in terms of the core policy outcomes they are looking for, but they need to be given the freedom to set their own goals to enable them to achieve this.”

Think again

Instead of doing more of the same, just with less resources, public sector managers need to rethink how services are delivered. This could include a shift to a less council-dependent, more self-service culture. Foster says: “The public sector has to learn from the retail sector about self service and self involvement by citizens, with some support from the public sector.”  

An initiative along these lines is already being trialled by Barnet council in London. The Conservative council unveiled its budget airline-inspired easyCouncil experiment in 2009 in an attempt to save £25m a year. So far the move to a self-service model, with some services delivered by organisations outside the council, has been partially thwarted by High Court decisions and local residents.

In Lambeth, the Labour council is proposing a co-operative model, dubbed the ‘John Lewis’ council,with residents helping to provide services such as clearing derelict sites or running community facilities in order to save money.

Steve Reed, Lambeth Council leader, says: “We are all looking at a reduction of 20% in funding from central government due to the recession. So we can cut services, ration them or do what Barnet is doing, which is charge extra – which I think is unfair. We‘re trying out an alternative.”

Innovation nation

Despite the clear appetite for this type of innovation, the notoriously risk- averse public sector needs to embrace a culture shift if changes are ever going to get off the ground. More believes that there needs to be an awareness that allowing people this freedom means the possibility of mistakes. “Innovation can get messy. We have to accept the possibility of failure, and that it might end up on the front pages of the papers,” he says.

This level of change isn’t going to be easy. “The pace of change in the public sector has never been as fast as in the private sector, partly because the culture does not encourage risk,” says Pardey.

“You’re dealing with people’s life chances or people’s lives. People were disheartened when Woolworths went bust – they’d be even more so if their local secondary school or hospital went bust. Socially, we can’t allow things like that to happen, and that’s the difference between the public and private sector and these people know it.”

While policy makers may shy away from making bold statements about radical overhaul until the votes are cast, it’s clear that there is a committed, competent and enthusiastic core of managers within the public sector who are ready to embrace this change.

“The challenge now is to make more managers into leaders,” says McCarthy. De Valk agrees. “Now, more than ever, we need to develop public sector managers and support them to drive innovation, productivity and performance, so that vital day to day services do not suffer.”

Read the full Leading Change in the Public Sector report or take a look at the key facts