Public service & public administration reform
Our main areas of expertise include:
Public management & accountability
- Reviewing the institutional framework of government, including its roles, functions and structures;
- Strengthening the centre of government, including working with political leaders, senior officials, policy makers and public service management bodies;
- Designing policies, strategies, programmes and projects to support public sector modernisation;
- Ensuring that public sector modernisation activities are relevant, practical and sustainable;
- Strengthening the institutional arrangements for accountability to legislatures and public.
Human resource management
- Supporting strategic workforce planning;
- Strengthening organisations' capability to manage and develop their people;
- Establishing effective human resource management systems and procedures to ensure recruitment, progressions, retention and exit;
- Designing appropriate performance appraisal procedures fo staff which provide clear linkages between their work and the achievement of the organisation's objectives, as well as periodically assessing their individual contribution, and identifying training and development needs;
- Developing appropriate rewards and incentives structures, including pay, grading and job design, to attract, retain and motivate staff.
Performance management
- Analysing, designing and implementing results-based management frameworks and systems;
- Ensuring policy processes and central decision-making machinery enable the government's high-level strategic aims to be formulated, articulated and disseminated;
- Establishing strategic planning systems that translate policy intentions into specific, measurable objectives and tasks, with associated performance indicators and explicit linkages to the national budget process;
- Designing performance agreements for the heads of ministries and other public bodies, which ensure that top management are fully committed to and accountable for the delivery of the planned results;
- Arrangements for ensuring regular reporting and adequate parliamentary and public scrutiny of the delivery of public services and the outcomes of policy initiatives.
Change management
Implementing effective and sustainable public service reform requires the application of proven change management approaches, which address these seven key factors:
- Leadership and vision – ensuring that change is 'owned' and actively led at the highest level;
- Stakeholder management and communications – identifying and engaging the key stakeholders in the reform process;
- Organisation design – ensuring that formal organisational roles, relationships and processes support the change objectives;
- Skills analysis – ensuring the organisation has the technical/professional and managerial competencies it needs;
- Culture – assessing whether organisational norms, values, beliefs, incentives and behaviours are well-aligned with the aims of the reform;
- Performance – identifying how improved outcomes will be measured, and translating these parameters into team and individual performance indicators;
- Integrated planning – bringing all of the above into project work plans, milestones, targets and timelines; developing risk management plans and programme management procedures.
Capacity building and training
- Applying a comprehensive approach to assessing capcity gaps at institutional, organisational and individual level and developing appropriate solutions;
- Carrying out skills audits, training needs analysis and training evaluations;
- Designing training programmes to ensure that organisations develop the capabilities they need in their workforce;
- Designing and delivering effective workshops and other training interventions in support of reform projects.