Quote of the week
“You can’t buy your way to greatness.”
Editor’s Corner
The changes that the public sector is going through are well known, and to many long suffering public servants seem to be driven by endless exercises to find ways to save money and to streamline efficiencies.
The question that some are asking is: how long-lasting are these changes? Federal public servants still remember staff reductions to meet targets that ended up, over the long-term, becoming more public sector growth.
The Boston Consulting Group has examined how some companies go through transformation, and call for a ‘Chapter Two’ that follows the first chapter of cost cutting and efficiencies.
Among other things, Chapter Two calls for organizations to “make a conscious decision to go beyond efficiency.” What really matters is creating a new vision that focuses on innovation.
Leaders need to demonstrate commitment and a willingness to go beyond how things are being done now (and their core assumptions) to look for new ways of doing business. This can happen if they can purposely separate the new ways of doing things from the old.
Leaders need to think beyond the short-term to the long-term, and understand that transformation will involve discipline, adaption and a clear sense of direction.
The Blueprint 2020 exercise is setting the stage for this transformation, and is providing a roadmap for our leaders. You can learn more about how this transformation might unfold at the CGE Leadership Summit being held next week (check out www.cgeleadershipsummit.ca for details).
