Rising 'C' Levels - Community Collaboration: The New Imperative

The growing complexity of public problems and new forms of governance mean that strategic alliances, joint working relationships, partnerships and various forms of collaboration are prevalent on the public policy agenda. Public Sector employees and managers are increasingly required to operate in environments where collaboration and partnership building are central to the design and delivery of services.

These developments suggest a changing role for public sector employees and highlight the importance of a particular set of competencies for effectively managing in this environment. Much of the discourse around collaborative arrangements focuses upon the institutional or partner level while relatively little attention has been paid to the competencies required by individual actors involved in developing and maintaining this arrangements.

We explore the implications of these issues for public sector leaders and professionals. Building on our experiences in working with public sector managers, we draw on existing literature to outline various skills and approaches that prove useful in the development of effective collaborations, partnerships and alliances. We explore a number of areas in which these approaches might be applied. Further research is required to increase our understanding of the impact of these arrangements.

The presentation will focus on:

• The importance of collaboration and partnership building
• Appropriate skills and competencies
• Implications

About the speakers

Dr Neil Paulson, UQ Business School

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Neil Paulsen is a Senior Lecturer a the UQ Business School. He has over twenty years industry experience as a successful senior manager and consultant in public, private and community sector organisations. His research focuses broadly on various aspects of organisational change. He presents at national and international conferences and has published in international journals and books. Recent research partners and clients include Laing O'Rourke, Rio Tinto, BHPBilliton, CSIRO, Queensland Law Society, Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry and Queensland Health. Neil has received a number of teaching awards including the 2006 ANZAM Management Educator of the Year Award.

Mr Greg Latemore, Latemore and Associates Pty Ltd

Greg Latemore is Director of his own consulting practice and an industry fellow at UQ Business School. He also lectures at QUT. He has held consulting positions with AIM and PwC prior to starting his own business. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (1979) and the inaugural Master of Management (1988) both from UQ. He specialises in leadership development, strategy and coaching. His recent clients include: IP Australia, Xstrata Zinc, New Zealand Telecom, Public Trust Office, Energex and the Department of Premier & Cabinet. He is a life member of AusAPT and a chartered member of both IMCA and AHRI.

Community Engagement & Collaboration; Why Bother?

The words community engagement, partnerships, and collaboration are regularly bandied about in government. These words are seen as potentially providing ways to deal with the very complex problems confronting governments and communities. However, moving from using the words in documents and policies to providing practical solutions to problems on the ground is not simple. And capturing the evidence of the contribution of these approaches is even less simple.

This paper outlines a framework established by the Department of Planning and Community Development to build community engagement, collaboration and partnerships with the community and recognizes that these terms are often interchangeable in practice. The paper outlines the principles and strategies established to support capacity building and leadership in community engagement, collaboration and partnerships. The paper also outlines the way in which organizational performance systems were used to support community engagement and collaboration and the culture change approach taken by the organization. The application of this approach to the development of a cross-government community engagement network of practitioners is also outlined.

This paper provides both the evidence captured through a structured evaluation framework and stories of good practice where significant outcomes were delivered in relation to highly complex and often difficult situations and answer the question - why bother?

About the speaker

Ms Amanda Martin, Department of Planning & Community Development

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Amanda Martin has extensive experience in government, having worked as a senior manager in state and local government with agencies including Queensland Health, Queensland Treasury, the Office of the Public Service Commissioner, Education Queensland and the Department of Planning and Community Development. She also has experience as a consultant working to government and has delivered research and training programs on leadership, community engagement, and policy writing.

Her experience encompasses:

• Public sector leadership development programs and frameworks
• Major organizational and culture change
• Establishment of community engagement policy and strategies
• Delivering community projects and planning

Amanda has written and presented on the above areas and has a passion for translating practical issues into policy thinking and also for translating policy thinking into practice.

Audience Questions

Survival of the Fittest - More Reliance on More Relevant Information

An Informed Evolution: Evidence Based Management and Public Administration

Evidence Based Management (EBMgt) seeks to improve public management by informing it with tested, proven, supported, reasoned, or demonstrated principles, facts or analysis, in short, evidence. This entry defines EBMgt, its role in Public Administration and in this context, the inseparability from Evidence Based Policy Analysis. The brief but impressive history of management research and Evidence Based Practice establishes a record of success. The case for the adoption of EBMgt practice centres on the merits of EBMgt, including promises of accountability, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency. While the limitations and barriers, such as:

• perennial debates about the qualitative and quantitative methodologies;
• perceptions EBMgt will threaten a manager's autonomy and power and increase accountability perhaps in unwanted ways; and
• dependence on training to access and understand evidence, are formidable challenges to address. It is recognised that no amount of evidence can take into account political, policy and organizational context, hence the need to bring judgment and experience to bear on evidence. For this reason there is a semantic move towards evidence informed, rather than evidence based practice.

This entry establishes the current state of EBMgt in the South Australian Government and assesses its strengths and weaknesses through the use of findings from a recent cross-government survey of organisational performance and performance barriers conducted by the Public Sector Performance Commission of South Australia.

Recommendations for improving the integration and adoption of EBMgt practice and PSPC's action plan for South Australia, centre on improving:

• the quality and skill of managers through improved talent identification, recruitment, and training practices;
• access to relevant data that encourages informed decision making, while not overloading systems into reporting fatigue; and
• the development of 'communities of practice' that encourage and promote evidence informed decision making in government.

About the speaker

Mr Adam Durst, The Public Sector Performance Commission

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Adam Durst is a Senior Project Catalyst at the Public Sector Performance Commission in South Australia. He recently completed a Masters of Science in Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon. He is published on the topic of Evidence Based Management in Public Administration and has taught "Program Evaluation". His professional work centres on researching, benchmarking and implementation of policies and projects to improve the performance of South Australia's State Government. Adam is managing and assisting in major SA government projects in areas such as: Performance Measurement and Management, Human Capital Management & Development, and Facilitating Innovation.

Operation Sunlight

Operation Sunlight is the vision of the Australian Government, led by the Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Mr Lindsay Tanner, for raising the bar on budgetary transparency and Government decision making. Operation Sunlight represents a significant package of reforms and a long-term investment in greater accountability for the current as well as future Governments. Ms Hawari Badri will provide an update on progress to date for this package of reforms and outline upcoming challenges in bringing the Operation Sunlight agenda to full term.

About the speaker

Hawari Badri, Assistant Secretary Budget Framework Branch, Department of Finance and Registration Audio Papers Presentation Ms Badri currently holds the position of Assistant Secretary, Budget Framework Branch in the Department of Finance & Deregulation. The Branch provides advice on the refinement and simplification of financial management policies and practices and has the primary role in implementing the government's 'Operation Sunlight' reforms. Operation Sunlight is a package of reforms and a long-term investment focused on providing greater accountability and budget transparency to parliament and the public. Ms Badri has been with the Department for ten years and has recently come back from Jakarta as the Department’s Senior Adviser to the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. Her role there was to establish a permanent office in the Ministry to enable the Department to deliver its long term bilateral engagement goals with its Indonesian counterparts and to develop a technical assistance program focused on budgeting and financial framework matters. Prior to this Ms Badri worked in a number of areas in the Department ranging from managing and monitoring the Government’s cash needs to analysing and coordinating the Government’s budget process.

Audience Questions

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Warming to Global Trends - Public Sector Management & Reform in the South Pacific: Can International Experiences Inform?

Training for Public Sector Reform in Papua New Guinea

About the speaker

Mr Anaeli M. Nnko, Acting Director - Papua New Guinea Institute of Public Administration Audio Papers Presentation Mr. Anaeli M. Nnko is the Acting Director (CEO) of the PNG Institute of Public Administration (PNGIPA) since November 2008. Prior to that he was the Deputy Director with responsibilities for training. His main focus since early this year has been to provide the strategic leadership that is required to rejuvenate PNGIPA into a credible School of Government that provides training outcomes which are relevant to the needs of the PNG environment. Before taking on management responsibilities Mr. Nnko was a Senior Training Consultant in Financial Management and Management Accounting. One of his recent responsibilities was to oversee the implementation of the Training component of the Financial Management Improvement Program (FMIP) under the PNG Department of Finance. The training program which ran for five years, was funded by Aus AID and was a great success capable of being replicated in other training areas. Having worked in PNG for 18 years, Mr. Nnko has gained a lot of experience and appreciation of the challenges facing the PNG public service in developing its work force to achieve improved service delivery. Mr. Nnko holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Sheffield, UK; Bachelor Of Commerce from the University Of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Certified Management Accountant (CMA), USA; and CPA (PNG).

Making Public Sector Reform Work in the South Pacific

While much effort and considerable resources have been poured into public sector management reform over many years in many countries of the South Pacific, the results have often been disappointing. Success in this field is, however, crucial for the future of citizens of these countries and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. This is because the public sector currently plays such an important role in the provision of goods and services needed and consumed by the citizens of these countries. This paper identifies the reasons for the disappointments in public sector management reform. These include the unwise export of ‘best practices’ from rich countries, the absence of sustained political support, inappropriate capacity, the challenge of motivation and the question of size. The paper also sets out key requirements for a successful public sector management reform. Such a reform, it is argued, should focus on service delivery and must enjoy the sustained support of countries’ political leadership. Examples are drawn from countries of the Pacific to illustrate the paper’s general arguments and observations, and range from the successes in Samoa to failed projects in Vanuatu. A major conclusion of the paper is that more attention should be paid by aid agencies and policy-makers to what does work and what can be replicated rather than importing unworkable and often unpopular policies from rich countries.

About the speaker

Professor Mark Turner, University of Canberra Audio Papers Presentation Mark Turner is Professor of Development Policy and Management at the University of Canberra. He was formerly Senior Fellow in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University and, for seven years, was Principal Lecturer at the Administrative College of Papua New Guinea. Mark teaches and researches in the areas of public sector management and politics in developing countries with special emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region. He has undertaken numerous consultancy assignments for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, AusAID and other government and non-government organisations. His most recent work includes designing a capacity building program in Cambodia, leading the design team for an Australia-Indonesia leadership program, reviewing current developing and post-conflict country experiences with decentralisation, and advisory work with the Royal Institute of Management in Bhutan. Mark has undertaken consultancy and research in many Asia-Pacific countries including Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and China. He has published on a wide variety of topic relating to public sector management and development including the books Governance Administration and Development (1997 Palgrave Macmillan), Central-Local Relations in Asia-Pacific (1999 Palgrave Macmillan), Decentralisation in Indonesia (2003 Asia Pacific Press), Trends and Challenges in Public Administration Reform in Asia and the Pacific (2005 United Nations Development Programme), and Challenging Global Inequality (2007 Palgrave Macmillan).

Audience Questions

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Sustainable Practice - Adaptable Organisations

The Impact of Place Based Initiatives on Departmental Operating Models

There is an increasing and well recognised imperative for governments to become more responsive to local needs, contributing to the resurgence of place based approaches to service delivery. These initiatives seek to empower place based participants to be part of the solution, tackle a number of the multiple and interconnected causes of disadvantage, and actively engage in partnerships with governments at all levels. There is an emerging evidence base to support the validity of such approaches, accompanied by a developing body of knowledge and best practices which provide a ‘how to’ for all involved in place based service delivery.

The problem for departments is determining how these initiatives should be linked operationally to the core business of government, and whether they in fact need to be linked. The characteristics of a department responsible for core services such as education and employment assistance, housing and childcare support are vastly different from one which needs to understand and respond to the granularity of community based needs. The challenge for departments is to manage these two distinct organisational models, within a single operating framework.

It is within this context that this paper seeks to:

• Identify the challenges that place based service delivery approaches pose to the traditional operating model of government departments
• Identify the organisational characteristics that government departments need to support place based service delivery approaches.

The paper will achieve this by providing an assessment of the Victorian Government Neighbourhood Renewal programme established to tackle placed based disadvantage.

About the speaker

Ms Colette Rogers, Deloitte

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Colette is a Director in Deloitte's Government Services Group. Colette has provided consulting services to a range of Australian and Victorian State Government departments, including the Department of Defence, the Australian Taxation Office, the Victorian Department of Human Services and the Department of Primary Industries.

Colette has conducted reviews of departmental operating models, governance frameworks and organisation structures. For example, on behalf of a large Federal government department Colette managed an operating model erview that involved analysis of capabilities against administrations in international jurisdictions, organisational structure analysis and design, and the evaluation of resource models.

Colette has designed government frameworks in complex network environments involving multi-organisational and multi-sectoral relationships. She contributed to the design of the governance framework for the national E-Health Strategy addressing governance at the federal, state/territory and local levels. She has also played a lead role in evaluating governance models for collaborative service networks in healthcare and education.

Colette has published on the effect of service delivery models in achieving desired outcomes for both government and its service providers.

Flexible Organisations Working in New Ways

The presentation focuses on my thoughts about organisations being flexible and able to work in new ways. In addressing the topic I am presenting a 6 stage process based on a case study which incorporates:

• A process and a “Seven S Model” to identify the key issues.
• Metcalf’s Law which is a theory on how to develop synergy in an organisation.
• The “Sigmoid Curve” theory which assists in understanding the stage of development an organisation is at.
• How important it is to understand the Unwritten Ground Rules in relation to organisational culture.
• The relatively new concept of Future Scenario Planning as an alternative to the more traditional methods of corporate and business planning.
• The use of a “Competing Values Framework” approach to identify and plot the current organisational culture and where it needs to be positioned in order for it to be flexible to move toward a preferred or to a number of future possible scenarios for an organisation.

The organisation I have chosen to use as a case study is the Endeavour Foundation. Endeavour is the largest organisation of its type in Australia, with a Head Office based in Brisbane, and it provides services to over 3,000 people with an intellectual disability and has over 200 service locations around Queensland. It had a staff of 700 full-time positions plus 1,100 part-time and casual employees some of which were rostered on a 24/7 basis.

The presentation is a record of activities that were undertaken during my time as CEO from 2004 to 2008. These activities are evidenced in reports to the Endeavour Statewide Management Team in October 2008 and to the Endeavour Foundation Board Meeting in December 2008

About the speaker

Mr Kelvin Spiller, The Executive Connection

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Kelvin who is Brisbane based, has over 35 years experience in executive management in lobbying government, business and service organisations, managing conflicting community, environmental and economic interests, coaching and mentoring CEO's/owners and partners of businesses, and in the financial turnaround of organizations. Twenty years was at the level of CEO for 4 organizations, with responsibility for up to 1800 staff and annual budgets up to $250 (m). Kelvin has been on 30 government, industry and community advisory boards and committees in 12 different industry sectors and been chair of a number of them. Currently he holds the following positions:

• Chairman - Queensland Local Government Grants Commission
• Chairman - The Executive Connection (TEC) 35 Brisbane.
• Industry Fellow - University of Queensland, Business School

Some of his experience as CEO has been with Local Government Authorities in master planning new community locations, overseeing population growth, development, road and water infrastructure. As CEO he was accountable for merging two Victorian local government authorities into the new City of Darebin prior to his appointment in 1998 as CEO Maroochy Council on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
From 2004 to 2009 as CEO of the Endeavour Foundation ,one of the largest disability organizations (1800 staff in over 200 locations around Queensland ) in Australia, following a decade of spiraling finances, he lead a team which brought about a complete financial turnaround, rebuilding of relationships, instigating and overseeing the installation of numerous corporate systems and the development of future direction strategies.

He has been a key member of teams establishing two technology business incubators and another general purpose business incubator for around 60 start up businesses in Vic & Qld. He is a Fellow of the AICD and AIM, a Member of the World Futures Studies Federation, CEDA, ALGMA and the International City Managers Association. Kelvin's qualifications include Business Management, Master of Management, Company Directors Diploma, and a Certificate of Management Studies from Templeton College, Oxford University UK.

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