Almost every country in the sample had agile government agencies. Australia, Canada and New Zealand had the highest number of agencies in the top-performing group, with 27%, 27% and 26% respectively. Germany was next, with 13%, followed by the US, with 7%.
"The pressure on governments and their agencies to deliver more with less and to do it quickly are intense," said Terry Luettinger, who heads AT Kearney's North American government practice. "We wanted to find out what makes government organisations agile, what gives them speed, flexibility and responsiveness and how these characteristics can be developed. Agencies need to understand what stands in the way of change in order to remove these barriers."
Respondent opinions varied by country and also by policy sector on the best ways for government agencies to become agile. US respondents ranked e-government, the use of technology in delivering services, as the most important aspect of agility, followed by organisational change and leadership. Respondents in Canada, however, ranked customer service first among the most important aspects of agility, then organisational change, followed by e-government.
Other study findings include:
- All agencies, central or local, large or small, across the range of government activity, have the ability to become more effective and flexible.
- The best way to improve performance is through a series of outcome-focused change projects involving small numbers of employees, vs large programs.
- Agencies focused more on achieving political objectives than on meeting the needs of customers will become increasingly ill equipped to deliver real change.
- Agencies can increase the effectiveness of change programs by providing customers incentives to change with them - for example, encouraging the use of lower-cost channels such as the Internet when seeking services - rather than resorting to rules and penalties.
Six major aspects of agility for government agencies were identified by AT Kearney: organisational change; leadership; culture and values; customer service; e-government; and performance management. Taken together, agencies that focus on these areas will be better equipped to develop agility in their operations.
Organisational change
Respondents said the biggest challenge faced in implementing organisational change is in freeing resources from existing activities to devote to new initiatives. Organisational rigidity and silo structures and thinking tend to inhibit cooperation and communication throughout agencies, making it harder to find the necessary resources. In fact, study participants express less concern about having the required skills available in house than about their ability to deploy them. Other hurdles to change initiatives include lack of strategic clarity and perceived lack of commitment to change from senior leaders.
Demographics also influences how government agencies adapt. Three-fourths of public sector employees in the US, for example, will be eligible for retirement by 2010, with nearly half expected to leave their posts. In Canada, nearly 70% of government employees will retire over the next seven years. Germany is the only country in the study whose federal government has more civil servants in their 20s than their 50s.
Leadership
Leaders in agile organisations are able to influence the nature of change. They consider the health of the whole organisation-their people, the environment in which their employees work and the values they share. These leaders provide the guidance that keeps everyone focused on fulfilling the organisation's fundamental purpose.
Yet while leadership ranks among the most important aspects of agility, it is also one of the biggest obstacles. Many respondents said the biggest impediments to agility were a lack of a clear strategy and little or no commitment to change from the senior levels of the organisation.
Culture and values
AT Kearney's findings reveal that 90% of the most agile agencies also rank among the top performers in organisational culture and values. These agencies work to build the case for change, align leadership and the organisation around key objectives and obtain buy-in from staff members. Ultimately, the goal is to foster a culture in which people feel connected to the strategy.
Agile organisations also create an environment focused on capturing and sharing knowledge and applying what they have learned to achieve an overall vision. In fact, twice as many agile agencies (versus average agencies) say they would invest in acquiring or improving their research innovation and skills.
Customer service
As an agency becomes agile, it also becomes adept at managing customer relationships. For example, an agency might adopt more efficient, cost-effective channels (such as the Internet or automated phone systems) to deliver services and offer customers incentives to use these channels.
However, relatively few governments have been successful in emulating corporate programs in which companies shift customers from high-cost to low-cost channels. One reason is that the majority of government agencies surveyed focus more on trying to change customer behaviour through rules and penalties rather than through incentives.
E-government
One of the keys to agility is using technology to drive transformation. Electronic communication can replace burdensome paper transactions, but e-government means more than providing online services. It also means using technology to redefine the way agencies conduct business. For example, standardising IT systems to improve interoperability was ranked as the most important technology-related initiative by 23% of respondents. Enhancing management information systems came in second with 16%, followed by eliminating paper processes with 3%. Participants ranked building better Web sites the least important technology-related initiative.
One example of an agency combining e-government and organisational change to improve customer service is the US Social Security Administration. The agency currently tracks its performance measures and compares them regularly against its performance goals. Anticipating the "baby boom" retirement wave, the Agency is taking steps to provide more information and services through e-government initiatives, as well as redeploying staff personnel to direct service positions. The results are the ability to correct problems and provide good service to the public.
Performance management
An agile agency focuses simultaneously on two areas: operating effectively and efficiently, and achieving specific societal outcomes. An agile organisation also monitors how it deploys new initiatives, allowing leadership to understand where more resources might be needed to ensure the success of change programs. In particular, an agile organisation measures its progress from within, using leading indicators based on goals for future performance-even when the future looms close and the pressure to respond to new challenges and deliver outcomes increases.
Conclusions
There is no one answer to making government agencies more agile, the AT Kearney study concluded.
"Agencies need to understand what aspects of agility make the biggest difference for their organisations and then excel at them," Luettinger said. "Our research found the most agile agencies attach high value to customer service, organisational change capabilities and leadership as drivers of speed, flexibility and responsiveness."
While the path to organisational agility will vary, Luettinger added, the benefits of pursuing agility are clear: improved productivity, increased employee and customer satisfaction and a higher quality of service for citizens.
Quelle: IT Web, 08.12.2003
