26 / Canadian Government Executive // SPRING 2024 PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT nity for success. By doing so, they can create a culture that nurtures positive accountability, giving employees both the desire and the confidence to step up. As employees take ownership of their actions and responsibility for outcomes, greater productivity and success result. In the end, companies thrive across every metric...”6 2.The OPMCA illustrates how confusing TBS policies and directives can be. No doubt these are meant to be understandable and easily accessible to managers in Government, but in practice they are anything but. Here is an example. Question 3.1.2 of the OPMCA referred to above comes from Version 1.4 of the OPMCA which is apparently the most recent version. But perhaps it is not the most recent version, since the question references both the MRRS and the PAA, and yet the policy on the MRRS on the TBS website appears with the following headline (Figure 3): Note that although the policy on MRRS was rescinded in 2016 (presumably along with the PAA), the TBS website does not state what these were replaced by, and the OPMS tool still references both these rescinded items. Apparently, the MRRS and PAA have been superseded by the Policy on Results (PoR) and the Departmental Results Framework / Program Inventory / Performance Information Profile (DRF/PRI/PIP). Hopefully, this alphabet soup does not confuse public sector managers as much as it confuses me. Worse yet, a search of the Canada.ca website using the terms DRF, PRI or PIP yields hundreds of search results, not one of which provides specific guidance on the contents or format of these deliverables. Samples of the DRF and PIP developed by departments for specific projects are provided, but neither the Policy nor the Directive on Results include detailed guidance on the DRF or PIP against which to assess the quality of these samples. Guidance and samples for the format and contents of all documents specified in TBS Directives and Policies should be provided and kept up-to-date. In addition, all Treasury Board Policies should include a version history and, if rescinded, a clear reference to what replaces them and why. Finally, TBS needs to be more aware of the impact which the policies and directives they issue have on departments. First, complex policies and directives that require multiple iterations and significant time and resource commitments by middle and upper management without adding demonstrable value to the day-to-day responsibilities of these managers will be actively avoided. Second, policies and directives that are not actively enforced perpetuate the notion that there are no real consequences to non-compliance – just ignore TBS and eventually they will go away. Call to Action Better to focus on a small number of initiatives and do them well than to undertake a large number of initiatives that are underresourced, and then fail at many of them. My call to action is to the middle managers in the federal government. If senior management will not make the difficult decisions to prioritize and focus, stand up and demand that they do so. Also, apply this same approach to your personal work plan and that of the team you manage. If you are asked to participate in something new/unapproved which will pull away resources from your agreed-upon priorities, just say no and encourage your team to do the same. Just because someone asks you to work on something does not require you to agree – focus ruthlessly on your priorities and complete them as quickly as possible with the highest possible quality. Make it clear that if you take on something new, you either require net new resources or one of your approved priorities will need to be dropped. It will make your job more rewarding and less frustrating, and will deliver far better results. References 1. Six ways to help the pubic service, Kevin Lynch and Jim Mitchell, Ottawa Citizen, December 14, 2023 2. https://csbweb01.uncw.edu/people/ivancevichd/classes/MSA%20 516/Extra%20Readings%20on%20 Topics/IS%20Governance/IT%20 Value/Val%20IT.pdf 3. https://www.pmi.org/learning/ library/project-portfolio-management-limited-resources-6948 4. https://www.canada.ca/en/ treasury-board-secretariat/ services/information-technology-project-management/ project-management/organizational-project-management-capacity-assessment-tool.html 5. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/10.1111/puar.13633?af=R 6. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ forbeshumanresourcescounc il/2023/10/18/5-steps-to-inspirepositive-accountability-in-theworkplace/?sh=57490aeadfce Figure 3
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDI0Mzg=