Public Sector executives provide leadership across the Agency or department, ensuring that internal governance, planning, policies and systems enhance Agency capability and capacity. Their key challenges include leading strategic initiatives and identifying and resolving significant, complex and sensitive issues related to service delivery.
These challenges are exacerbated by a constantly evolving environment where change seems like the only constant, including Machinery of Government, the need to do more with the same, the expectation of providing seamless service delivery to customers, the need to accelerate digitisation, or the increasing requirement to sustain public trust.
A critical success factor for Public Sector executives to stand up to these challenges is to clarify how their teams create and deliver value for their customers. In other words, their Operating Model.
According to Accenture Strategy Research, more than 80% of executives agree that advanced operating models enable executing strategic objectives. Yet only 22% say their organisation’s operating model is helping them put strategic initiatives into action.
In this post, we’ll describe 5 reasons Public Sector executives can benefit from an Operating Model to help them achieve their objectives.
5 reasons why Public Sector executives benefit from an Operating Model approach
It helps to determine whether change is required
In some cases, such as a new strategy and Machinery of Government, it’s obvious that change needs to happen. In other instances, it may be less clear. Typical symptoms that suggest change is required include:
Low people engagement scores from the PMES survey
Failure to execute strategic ambitions
Frustrated customers and stakeholders
Poor relationships between individuals and teams
Cultural challenges
An inability to prioritise work
The first step to identify whether change is required is to document the current Operating Model. Public Sector executives can blueprint how they deliver value to their customers by working through our BE HOLISTIC Framework™.
“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare (Japanese proverb),” so documenting the current Operating Model provides the opportunity to look under the bonnet to understand what the teams do, how they do it, identify areas of concern more easily, such as duplication, fragmentation of systems, and areas of high cost.
For example, the Operating Model approach helped to uncover that over 170 bespoke IT systems are being separately managed and maintained across the APS to deliver corporate services. In addition, there are over 200 bespoke business processes across government agencies with little coordination (Independent Review of the Australian Public Service).
This clarity provides a common understanding of the business and current challenges to act as the foundation for any change in the future.
It provides a mechanism for simulating and communicating the impacts of change
If change is required, a consolidated, holistic view of all business activity, incorporating customer, process, people and systems, and their interdependencies, enables Public Sector executives to make informed decisions regarding how changes should be made. They can confidently decide what the business will and will not do in the future because they can visualise and model the impact of their decisions. They can pivot from relatively low-value activities and invest in the critical capabilities that provide value for customers, such as technical or social and emotional skills.
They can then identify what initiatives are required to reach their end state and clearly articulate their vision to teams and wider stakeholder groups.
According to the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service, 81% of executives believe that purpose-driven companies will deliver higher services for their clients. While strategy engages 10% of the organisation, operating models engage the remaining 90%. The McKinsey Centre for Government Transformation Survey also identified that government transformations were 31% more likely to succeed if senior management communicated openly and across the organisation about progress and success.
It provides an anchor point for all decision making, aligning leaders and teams
An Operating Model can help Public Sector executives identify what initiatives align with the strategy and, importantly, can also help drop all existing and any new initiatives which don’t. They can point to the Operating Model to explain why an initiative doesn’t align, which in turn improves acceptance from the person who requested it. Therefore, an Operating Model makes it easier to prioritise what work should be done rather than trying to juggle everything at once and dropping the ball.
It improves and sustains future performance
The granularity of an Operating Model serves as a powerful tool when understanding, managing and communicating the change impacts of transformation programs. Mapping the differences between the Current and Future Operating Model help employees see what is changing visually and engagingly.
An Operating Model can act as the anchor for the transformation program to provide rationale and context behind decisions. Since an Operating Model connects strategy with operations, employees can see exactly what is changing and why i.e. how it relates to the strategy. According to the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service, employees who feel connected to their company’s mission and find meaning and purpose at work are 2.2x as likely to be satisfied at work. Employees are more likely to adopt the changes being made to help Public Sector executives sustain improvements in their teams’ performance.
It provides an unambiguous articulation of what the team does
According to the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service, the APS and its people aspire to a unified service. Still, significant cultural and structural barriers constrain effective collaboration outside of crises. An Operating Model helps to enable a higher purpose-driven organisation, increasing teams' willingness to partner across functions. Whether it’s a new or existing function, an Operating Model approach clarifies what a team is accountable for, helping to support effective decision-making, empower employees and deepen the culture of collaboration across institutional boundaries. This allows Public Sector executives to break down silos inside and outside of their organisation.
In summary, there are many benefits for Public Sector executives to use an Operating Model approach. The ones included in this list will help them successfully lead and execute their strategic initiatives, sustain high performance, and manage key stakeholders, including the Minister and other government agencies. Without a firm understanding of their teams’ Operating Model, the likelihood of success is diminished.
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