An agile, efficient and responsive federal public service that delivers value for money is essential to the well-being of Canadians and supports sound governance of the country. The Blueprint 2020 process is historic because it engages employees across departments, agencies, networks and communities of practice – in all regions, at all levels and within all functions. Never before have we consulted public servants so broadly, both in-person and online.

The power of this initiative is compelling. Public servants are coming forward with their ideas in a candid, honest, and unscripted way. They’re expressing their views through Blueprint 2020, and are embracing a role as agents of change.

Blueprint 2020 has resonated with public servants at all levels and in all regions of the country. Our federal youth and manager communities have made this initiative their own, helping others to engage and organizing promotional events. Deputy heads are also engaging directly and reaching out in person, through town halls and other means to actively encourage new ideas. They are putting in play the means to ensure that employees’ ideas are heard and evaluated.

In addition to our internal processes, we’ve also reached out externally to academics and stakeholders in a targeted way, including through the Institute of Public Administration of Canada and a national university student paper competition for Master’s students. All Canadians are encouraged to contribute their ideas through the Clerk’s website, www.clerk.gc.ca.

What’s different?
This exercise is one of the largest engagement exercises ever carried out. The scale is unprecedented in the government of Canada and we are witnessing unparalleled levels of participation. What truly distinguishes Blueprint 2020 is that it’s a two-way dialogue and it is employee-driven.

Blueprint 2020 is the first whole-of-government engagement exercise to take place within the social media age. Through this exercise, the public service is expanding its use of social media and collaborative tools, in essence living the vision. By increasing their use, we are bringing down silos and changing the perception that only a few should use those tools. More and more public servants are contributing to online discussion, tweeting, blogging and testing the virtual engagement platform and tools at their disposal. Through both online and in-person engagement events, collaboration and dialogue are becoming part of the living culture.

What We’ve Heard: Blueprint 2020 Summary Interim Progress Report is an important milestone. It was an occasion to acknowledge the exceptional work done by public servants, organizations and communities in engaging on Blueprint 2020.

What we’ve heard so far shows that public servants are clearly committed to continuous improvement and are offering up constructive feedback in droves. Recurring suggestions indicate that to achieve the vision, there should be a particular focus on innovative practices and networking, processes and empowerment, technology, people management, and the fundamentals of public service. Through continuing engagement, our discussions over the coming months will focus on prioritizing and solidifying actions.

In the spring, from all the input we’ve gathered, we will develop a government-wide blueprint for action to help define our shared future. Each department and agency will be asked to do the same. Moving forward, we need to ensure follow-through on our engagement process and the many excellent and innovative ideas that have been contributed.

Next steps
Building the public service of tomorrow requires a culture change and therefore must take place from the ground up by empowering our employees. It will also require a new approach to managing our most important asset – our people. Everyone has a role to play. Changes, both large and small, can have a real impact. Many of the ideas being generated through Blueprint 2020 will be implemented over the short-term while others will take more time as we consider how to best serve Canadians in a responsive, effective and efficient manner.

We’ve embarked on an exciting journey and it’s important that we continue our dialogue on the vision for a world-class public service. There is a collective appetite to create a culture of ongoing renewal and to ensure that engagement becomes business as usual, even after the blueprint for action is developed in the spring.

We’re looking forward to the conversations and new ideas that will be generated. We urge everyone, if you haven’t done so already, to get involved – you will be heard!

SIDEBAR
Guiding Principles of the Blueprint 2020 Vision
The Blueprint 2020 vision is one of a world-class public service equipped to serve Canada and Canadians now and into the future. Public servants have shown strong support for the vision’s four guiding principles:

• An open and networked environment that engages citizens and partners for the public good; together with…
• A whole-of-government approach that enhances service delivery and value for money; enabled by…
• A modern workplace that makes smart use of new technologies to improve networking, access to data and customer service; and…
• A capable, confident and high-performing workforce that embraces new ways of working and mobilizing the diversity of talent to serve the country’s evolving needs.

 

Snapshot of Blueprint 2020 social media and collaborative tools use since June launch (as of November 22):

  • The Blueprint 2020 vision document has been consulted more than 126,000 times on the Clerk’s webpage;
  • On internal, Government of Canada social media forums:
    • The main Blueprint 2020 pages have been visited more than 66,000 times on GCpedia; 
    • The Blueprint 2020 group on GCconnex now has over 3,000 members, and has received over 2,400 posts.
  • In departments and across government, more than 50 other Blueprint related groups on GCconnex have been created. 
  • Over 13,900 tweets have included the #GC2020 hashtag.

 

Be part of the Blueprint 2020 process!
You can provide your input through a feedback form available on the Clerk’s website or send your comments by email to this address: Blueprint2020@clerk.gc.ca. Canadians are encouraged to contribute their ideas through the Clerk’s website. A template Word feedback form is also available for your convenience. Public servants can also access the Blueprint 2020 spaces on GCpedia and GCconnex. To register on these sites you must have a valid Government of Canada email address.