Quote of the week
“We are changing the business of government horizontally and department by department.”
— Wayne Wouters
Editor’s Corner
The Clerk of the Privy Council spoke at the APEX Symposium yesterday. While the substance and themes of the speech were taken from his Twentieth Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada, he did elaborate on one critical element of that document.
In the last paragraphs of the report, the Clerk says the government needs a “common vision of the future (that) will give us a clear sense of purpose, guide our decision-making, and orient our collective action.” This call for change is consistent with his ongoing reminders to members of the public service that they must be able to respond better to new realities.
At APEX he elaborated on how he intends to get to that vision. He is going to launch Blueprint 2020, an exercise that will engage public servants across the system to figure out what a “revitalized and world-class” public service should look like down the road.
He has, of course, given us many hints as to what he thinks it should look like, which he repeated yesterday: the work environment should support openness and collaboration; there should be a whole of government approach on policy and service delivery; it should be a modern workplace that uses technology effectively; it should include a capable and confident high-performing workforce that supports diversity.
All based on its core and immutable values.
The consultation process undertaken by the Blueprint 2020 will, he assured us, will be both vertical and horizontal in nature and use web 2.0 technologies to engage public servants. The challenge, he admitted, will be how to follow through on what comes out of the grand experiment.
Blueprint 2020 will be launched for Public Service Week, June 9 – 15, probably the Friday before.
