Canadian Government Executive - Volume 25 - Issue 02

Millennial Outlook April/May 2019// Canadian Government Executive / 25 full-time job with a single employer. This model is obsolete. • Most self-employed workers have no ac- cess to unemployment benefits in half the G20 countries. • 37 per cent risk not receiving health ben- efits. Threading futures What is the working reality on the ground, especially for new public servants? We need to tap what is on the mind of next- generation leaders to anticipate the future of public service. Their views may also in- form the thematic focus of Canadian Gov- ernment Executive going forward. The 2020 class of first-year candidates in the Master of Public Policy, Administra- tion and Law program at York University’s School of Public Policy and Administration is the sample. These part-time graduate students are young professionals and mid- career managers who take courses on cam- pus or downtown, weeknights and week- ends. They have busy lifestyles, balancing studies with work and family. Public Management is the first course in the two-year MPPAL program. The final as- signment is to select, research, and write an original article on a favourite theme or topic of interest. The purpose is to consoli- date new learning, advance thought lead- ership, and practice creative writing. At the conclusion of the Fall 2018 term, 52 students drafted short articles. Authors were asked to choose up to three key words each, resulting in 122 topic categorizations. Eleven articles survived voluntary, post- course rounds of review and editing and were submitted for CGE publication. The thematic threads and topical issues are summarized in the accompanying table: • People issues are front of mind in half the articles, pointing to the primacy of the HR function; • Traditional planning, service, and fi- nance priorities do not resonate with the authors; • The granularity of topics under inter- related people, leading, and organiz- ing themes correlates with the need for greater public service capacity to tackle complex policy management issues; and • The robust sample size affords opportu- nity over time to discern trends in pub- lic service careers and to track issues in public management. How does the student profile correlate with these results? The sample of part-time students is 70 per cent female and is more mature and experienced on average than typical master’s students. Their articles may offer value-added insights intriguing to CGE’s readership. In homage to Survivor, good people who are good leaders make good policy for good governance – an honourable legacy to which Millennials can aspire. J ohn W ilkins is Associate: Public Management at York University. He was a career public servant and diplomat. (jwilkins@schulich.yorku.ca ) THEMES ARTICLES per cent (n = 52) TOPICS KEY WORDS per cent (n = 122) GOVERNANCE: 75 per cent (39) 66 per cent (81) People 50 per cent (26) Public service/workplace culture/values/ethics (17) Staff recruitment/retention/development (9) Millennials/generational change (8) Other – diversity, gender equity, mental health, productivity, work alternatives (17) 42 per cent (51) Policy 11 per cent (6) Research/evidence (4) Opioid/overdose crisis (3) Healthcare & border security (4) Other – autism, cannabis, justice, zoning (4) 12 per cent (15) Technology 10 per cent (5) Advanced/artificial intelligence (3) Big data/analytics (2) Information management/recordkeeping (2) Other – e-voting, social media (2) 7 per cent (9) Service 2 per cent (1) Public-private partnerships (2) Other – alternative service delivery, citizen focus, infrastructure (3) 4 per cent (5) Finance 2 per cent (1) Budgeting (1) 1 per cent (1) MANAGEMENT: 25per cent (13) 34per cent (41) Leading 10 per cent (5) Leadership (6) Motivation/recognition (2) Mentorship & trust (2) 8 per cent (10) Organizing 6 per cent (3) Collaboration/horizontal management (7) Teamwork (2) Integration/engagement (2) 9 per cent (11) Controlling 6 per cent (3) Transparency (3) Accountability (2) Quality/results (2) 6 per cent (7) Planning 3 per cent (2) Innovation/transformation (6) Strategic context/goals/priorities (5) Reform/change management (2) 11 per cent (13) Source: GS/PPAL 6000 A & B 3.00 Public Management, 2018-2019 Fall, York University