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Practical Innovation in Government: How Front-Line Leaders Are Transforming Public-Sector Organizations
This book is a comprehensive guide to an exciting new approach that managers at any level can use to transform their corners of government.
Whether people want more government or less, everyone wants an efficient government. Traditional thinking is that this requires a government to be run more like a business. But a government is not a business, and this approach merely replaces old problems with new ones.
In their six-year, five-country study of seventy-seven government organizations—ranging from small departments to entire states—Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder found that the predominant private-sector approaches to improvement don’t work well in the public sector, while practices that are rare in the private sector prove highly effective. The highest performers they studied had attained levels of efficiency that rivaled the best private-sector companies.
Rather than management making the improvements, as is the norm in the private sector, these high-performers focused on front-line-driven improvement, where most of the change activity was led by supervisors and low-level managers who unleashed the creativity and ideas of their employees to improve their operations bit by bit every day.
You’ll discover how Denver’s Department of Excise and Licenses reduced wait times from an hour and forty minutes to just seven minutes; how the Washington State Patrol garage tripled its productivity and became a national benchmark; how a K–8 school in New Brunswick, Canada, boosted the percentage of students reading at the appropriate age level from 22 percent to 78 percent; and much more.
Whether people want more government or less, everyone wants an efficient government. Traditional thinking is that this requires a government to be run more like a business. But a government is not a business, and this approach merely replaces old problems with new ones.
In their six-year, five-country study of seventy-seven government organizations—ranging from small departments to entire states—Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder found that the predominant private-sector approaches to improvement don’t work well in the public sector, while practices that are rare in the private sector prove highly effective. The highest performers they studied had attained levels of efficiency that rivaled the best private-sector companies.
Rather than management making the improvements, as is the norm in the private sector, these high-performers focused on front-line-driven improvement, where most of the change activity was led by supervisors and low-level managers who unleashed the creativity and ideas of their employees to improve their operations bit by bit every day.
You’ll discover how Denver’s Department of Excise and Licenses reduced wait times from an hour and forty minutes to just seven minutes; how the Washington State Patrol garage tripled its productivity and became a national benchmark; how a K–8 school in New Brunswick, Canada, boosted the percentage of students reading at the appropriate age level from 22 percent to 78 percent; and much more.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published July 19, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 6, 2022
When Alan Robinson puts his name on a book, you know there's value, and although I'm not directly involved with government improvement, I knew there would be lessons to learn. And as a volunteer for Maine's Continuous Improvement Lean Collaborative, government and education are key areas we support.
In my opinion, Dr Robinson is the leading authority on driving a continuous improvement culture from the front line and as the leading authority I was curious to find out how front line government workers could make a difference.
The book starts off explaining why the front line improvements are critical in government. Many of the reasons are similar to the private sector, but in many cases red tape surrounds the government worker. This is where leadership comes in. He goes through cases where leaders have been able to provide support to the front line worker. How these leaders act determine whether the government will sustain a culture of continuous improvement.
He then goes into the process of collecting and implementing ideas from a wide geographical standpoint. He provides some examples of how this has been done well as part of a case study.
He concludes by providing several case studies for review. Including a think tank in Denmark, roads in the UK, and recreational marijuana in Colorado.
Once he's provided these cases, he gives some ideas on where to start.
Whether you're in government or not, this book will provide you new insights and appreciation for the front line workers in your state, local, and national government.
In my opinion, Dr Robinson is the leading authority on driving a continuous improvement culture from the front line and as the leading authority I was curious to find out how front line government workers could make a difference.
The book starts off explaining why the front line improvements are critical in government. Many of the reasons are similar to the private sector, but in many cases red tape surrounds the government worker. This is where leadership comes in. He goes through cases where leaders have been able to provide support to the front line worker. How these leaders act determine whether the government will sustain a culture of continuous improvement.
He then goes into the process of collecting and implementing ideas from a wide geographical standpoint. He provides some examples of how this has been done well as part of a case study.
He concludes by providing several case studies for review. Including a think tank in Denmark, roads in the UK, and recreational marijuana in Colorado.
Once he's provided these cases, he gives some ideas on where to start.
Whether you're in government or not, this book will provide you new insights and appreciation for the front line workers in your state, local, and national government.
April 17, 2023
Read this book for a workplace Innovation discussion. Working in state government, this book provided many concepts, ideas, and examples that can be adapted to a variety of projects. Also got to hear the speaker present, and he was great!
September 9, 2023
This book is excellent and a must read for Digital Trailblazers working in the public sector.
February 6, 2024
SOV read this book and organized clunky book groups. Much of the book was annoying (why shouldn’t the public sector be innovative?) But a lot is interesting. Lots of great public sector examples of innovation. Some of this can be used anywhere. Good to review the book and get inspiration for things to change in our workplaces. Some of the book group participants found this page-turning. I’m not as enthused. Author was a good speaker invited by the state.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews