Canadian Government Executive - Volume 27 - Issue 04

Using the ICCS’s new learning platform, the Maturity Model doesn’t simply tell you what great service looks like, it shows you how to assess the effectiveness of a specific service from the perspective of the citizens using it, as well as how to go about improving it. 8 / Canadian Government Executive // July/August 2021 GOVERNMENT SERVICES T he COVID-19 pandemic has provided countless opportuni- ties to observe just how much public trust and confidence in government institutions mat- ters. They are the primary currency, in Can- ada at any rate, that legitimize government actions particularly in times of crisis. With trust and confidence, governments can work together with the people and communities they serve to enact extraordinary measures during extraordinary times. So where does that trust, and confidence come from? In part, from the experiences, people have when accessing government services. Positive or negative, these experi- ences form peoples’ impressions about the effectiveness of public institutions and the level of confidence they have in them. In a nutshell, service matters. Not just in the moment of that specific interaction, but over time. Interaction by interaction, service by service the credibility of government institu- tions is bolstered or eroded. The belief that service matters is the north star that’s guided thework of the Joint Councils representing all levels of Canadian Govern- ment for more than two decades. Comprised of the Public Sector Service Delivery Council and the Public Sector Chief Information Of- ficer Council, Joint Councils bring together service and technology leaders from federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal govern- ments to collaborate on initiatives to improve public sector service delivery across Canada. One such initiative has produced the Cit- izen-Centric Services The Maturity Model. The Model and supporting tools were com- missioned by Joint Councils and developed in partnership by Service BC and Service Canada with the support of the Institute for Citizen Centred Service (ICCS) and input from public sector service delivery profes- sionals from across the country. Using the ICCS’s new learning platform, the Maturity Model doesn’t simply tell you what great service looks like, it shows you how to as- sess the effectiveness of a specific service from the perspective of the citizens using it, as well as how to go about improving it. Guidance on using the model is broken down into three steps: building a picture of the people who use a specific service to un- derstand how they experience it; mapping the effectiveness of that service by assessing it against attributes like accessibility, efficien- cy, and responsiveness; identifying where tangible improvements could be made and determining if it changes to skills, policies or technology that are required to unlock those opportunities. If service matters because trust and con- fidence in government institutions matters, then improving services for citizens should be a preoccupation of every public sec- tor service delivery organization across the country. While this is the kind of work that can require expertise and resources not all organizations have the luxury of retaining, the Citizen-Centric Services Maturity Model can be accessed for free through the Institute for Citizen-Centred Service. SERVICE MATTERS A NEW TOOL FOR IMPROVING SERVICES