Canadian Government Executive - Volume 22

March 2016 //

Canadian Government Executive /

Strategy

ing how his approach had been applied

to public organizations in Ontario, the

USA and elsewhere in the world. The

Privy Council Office appointed a Deputy

Secretary for Results and Delivery in

early January.

This concerted effort invites several

questions: What is unique about this par-

ticular approach to improving policy and

program delivery? How will these meth-

ods, imported by an Ontario brains trust,

fit with Ottawa’s public service culture?

What might be the prospects for success

and larger implications for the Public

Service of Canada?

First, we must acknowledge that there

are many approaches to redesigning and

implementing new policy and service

delivery models such as league tables,

Gateway Reviews, program reviews,

LEAN, transparency and open govern-

ment initiatives. These are only the lat-

est to join a stream of reform movements

with their acronyms which have regular-

ly emerged over the decades. Even with

cabinet implementation and delivery

units there is considerable variation in

their size and mandate, and how deeply

they are involved in upstream and down-

stream design and problem-solving.

Many elements of deliverology should

be familiar to Canadian government ex-

ecutives. It begins with the sponsorship

of the Prime Minister to drive change in

the public service and the government’s

delivery system for specific initiatives. It

identifies delivery chains and potential

bottlenecks. There is a strong perfor-

mance focus in not only implementing

new policies and programs, but also

securing and using real-time data and

analytic techniques to set stretch targets,

monitor progress, and problem-solve. It

carries the conviction of holistic private

sector transformation strategies (think

of Taylor or Deming). Its branding in-

cludes not only particular monitoring

and problem-solving techniques but also

the larger process of change. What made

the PMDU approach different was that

it was an integrated system designed for

a government context, with short-term

repertoires and tactics for building mo-

mentum and dealing with stakeholders,

including the Prime Minister, and calling

for perseverance and focus over the lon-

ger term.

Deliverology works better under cer-

tain conditions:

• when policy goals and strategic objec-

tives are clear;

• when a strong theory of action exists

showing how inputs and instruments

are connected to client experience and

desired outcomes;

• when the authorities and instruments

essential for success are controlled by

one government;

• when good and pertinent data is avail-

able to inform monitoring of progress,

outputs and outcomes; and

• when an initiative remains a top prior-

ity of the Prime Minister and the gov-

ernment.

An express purpose of Barber’s delivery

model is to test for and, if necessary, flesh

out goals, objectives, and a theory of ac-

tion. It identifies strategies for identifying

pertinent data and offers smart reper-

toires for engaging the Prime Minister.

There are legitimate questions about

how such capabilities, led by outsiders,

might fit with Ottawa’s public service

culture and complicated systems. First,

experience shows that cabinet imple-

mentation and delivery units must be fo-

cused and avoid overlap with other cen-

tral agencies such as PCO and TBS. They

must be insulated from normal ‘transac-

tions’ and ‘fire-fighting’ (even if they cre-

ate some of their own), not involved in

priority-setting and budget-making, and

ensure other central actors become allies.

Second, the UK government has regu-

larly relied on amassing expertise from

inside and outside government at the

centre in support of major reform ini-

tiatives (e.g. the Rayner Scrutinies, the

Next Steps initiatives), whereas Ottawa

has relied heavily on its own public ser-

vice talent for exercises such as the June

1993 restructuring, 1994 program review,

and subsequent initiatives. The introduc-

tion of Ottawa’s new delivery capability

comes at the behest of advisors and lead-

Many elements

of deliverology

should be familiar

to Canadian

government

executives. It

begins with the

sponsorship of the

Prime Minister to

drive change in the

public service and

the government’s

delivery system. It

identifies delivery

chains and poten-

tial bottlenecks.