Canadian Government Executive - Volume 24 - Issue 03

May/June 2018 // Canadian Government Executive / 45 Readings Brief T he ways governments engage with citizens have gotten a lot more complex. The skills they need to be successful in that endevour are also changing. There’s some interesting research into this with some useful insights. Look at the changing de- mographics of the country with diversity growing, as well the emergence of older cohorts in the population. Add to this the arrival at full tilt of various digital plat- forms that both enhance and confuse en- gagement, often increasing its speed, but also adding much noise in the system. Engagement covers the full spectrum, from policy formulation and citizen feed- back, to service delivery and response. In all instances, change has been happening, channels have been added, and more data is bouncing around. The challenge for pub- lic servants is to harness these new chan- nels but avoid the pitfalls that they create. The Organization for Economic Coop- eration and Development (OECD) recently published a useful paper, Skills for the a High Performing Civil Service based on a 2016 member survey. The study points out, “While service delivery, communication, consultation and engagement have long been part of the government toolkit, three trends are changing the skills required: increasingly complex service delivery landscapes; technological change which results in new channels and tools for en- gagement; and the expectation to incorpo- rate more meaningful input and participa- tion at a greater number of stages of the policy/service design process.” Citizen engagement is not just one se- quential step in the process of policy de- velopment or service design and delivery. It is a continuous process as policies are being designed, tested and re-evaluated. On the service side, it is life beyond the satisfaction survey with a continuous flow of feedback through multiple channels. It also means that public servants need to help citizen navigate complex service de- livery systems. They become, in essence, pathfinders for citizens. At the same time, citizens become real participants not only in using government services but also in creating them. They also, through social media that govern- ments do not control, now can create in- formation that will recast how services are accessed. Where does this take us when looking at the public service skills challenges for citizen engagement in the future? Govern- ment still needs the policy and delivery skills that it has honed. However, layered onto them are new challenges that gov- ernment executives need to think about and assess their preparedness and capac- ity. Here are a few: Social Media Skills: Are your key staff in both policy and delivery knowledge- able and capable to handle the social me- dia elements of their work? Do they have a policy framework for its use? Is there a strategy for using social media in such areas as policy crowdsourcing and service feedback? Is there training and updating, or is your organization relying upon the very unreliable notion that “the young ones will figure it out”? As Maria Gintova of Ryerson University notes in a recent re- search paper, “Part of the problem is that there is no understanding of what the ef- fective use of social media by government looks like.” 1 Co-Creation Competence: In terms of citizen engagement, the notion of co- creation – the structured engagement of those involved in the policy field either as partners or service receivers, throughout the cycle of the activity – has moved onto centre stage. Does your organization have a strategy on co-creation? Does it guide staff to act collaboratively with citizens and stakeholders? Are staff trained and equipped to engage on a longer-term basis with citizens? Can you ensure continuity in the fact of staff turnover? Engagement is Tough Work and, at Times, Not Pretty: There is a dark side to citizen engagement. It takes a lot out of staff who face negativity, a barrage of com- plaints, potential social media attacks and, ultimately, the inability to make everyone happy. The research on the effects of these on front-line leaders goes back a long way. Think of Michael Lipsky’s 1980 classic. 2 Is your organization aware of the impact of citizen engagement on its employees? Does it train them for this? Does it have support systems in place? Convener Skills: A study on communi- ty engagement done by the Government of New Brunswick a decade ago made the important point that government of- ficials, as they engage the public, are less in control and more in a facilitative role. It noted, “Seeking advice and encourag- ing collaboration require very different discussions than the traditional public consultation model. Instead, government officials must be prepared to convene, fa- cilitate, enable and partner with various groups and interests within a community to find consensus regarding societal goals and the accompanying public policies and programs.” 3 Do staff in your organization have the convener skills they need to do this? Do you have the data analysis capac- ity available to understand how individu- als interact with different agencies that should be working together for that per- son? Engagement is work. It always has been. As it changes, get your people ready. Referrences: 1. Maria Gintova, Understanding government use of social media in Canada: opportunities and bar- riers Paper presented at the 2017 Canadian Political Science Associ- ation Annual Conference, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario 2. Lipsky, Michael, 1980. Street-level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services, New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 3. It’s More Than Talk; Listen, Learn and Act; A New Model for Public Engagement, The Final Report of the Public Engagement Initiative April 2008 A ndrew G raham is an Adjunct Professor at School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University. Maria Gintova of Ryerson University notes in a recent research paper, “Part of the problem is that there is no understanding of what the effective use of social media by government looks like.”