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It's Time for Government 2.0

From CNN/Fortune. For those of you not familiar with Government 2.0, a book on it came out in 2004--read it, and get a clue as to how our government would be better served AND better-serving!

"Government 2.0 is a citizen-centric philosophy and strategy that believes the best results are usually driven by partnerships between citizens and government, at all levels. It is focused entirely on achieving goals through increased efficiency, better management, information transparency, and citizen engagement and most often leverages newer technologies to achieve the desired outcomes. Government 2.0 is bringing business approaches, business technologies, to government."

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"...in today's fast-paced world the pace of government change, the pace of government execution is often too slow. We see this every day as regulators struggle to adapt laws passed for yesterday's problems to today's challenges. Change management practices that were once sufficient are no longer keeping up.

To change we must overhaul how goals are set, how employees are trained, and how employees are measured against their goals. Results delivered, not seniority, must become the yardstick against which employees are measured. Here are four things that are crucial:

1) Focus on success at the local level.

There are more than 80,000 local governments in the United States. Very few of these cities, probably less than 0.1% of them, are yet able to point to any positive change as a result of government 2.0 initiatives. In the majority of cases the changes are occurring in large cities like Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, not in the small and mid-sized towns/cities where the majority of our citizens live. In many cases education, the cost of technology and the lack of awareness are the problems holding back change.

2) Force competitive solutions for non-core services.

Clearly our military, our diplomats, and other core services are all sacrosanct. However, non-core services like communications (PR/Marketing), IT, and training services (as a few examples) should be considered as possibly best delivered by the private sector. The key word, of course, is "might". When results are not being delivered by contractors, government needs to retain the flexibility to look for alternative solutions, something missing in today's contractor-government relationships.

3) Engage citizens in creating value and saving money.

True results are being delivered in the private and public sector when customers/citizens are engaged in the process. Platforms like BubbleIdeas, UserVoice, IdeaScale, and others, are being used to give citizens a voice in the daily execution of government. Ideation platforms need to be more broadly explored and deployed to work with citizens.

4) Become agile, delivering on 100 day plans.

While politicians often make promises for their first 100 days in office we rarely see clearly defined goals combined with execution plans and measurable outcomes publicly displayed. Rhetoric, not results, is often the only outcome.

Government entities should select an easy to define project to complete every 100 days. The projects goals, plans, and metrics for success should be published and updated weekly. The ability to achieve results should then be rewarded. Failures should be accepted and used as opportunities to learn and improve. Teams and individuals that consistently succeed should be rewarded. Those that consistently fail should be replaced."

Posted by Cute at 7:10 PM

Labels: economy, politics