Five things you loved reading in 2022
Five things you loved reading in 2022
ANZSOG publishes a wide range of news content on our website each year. Part of this is to promote all the work that we are doing across our education, research, thought leadership and other activities – but it’s also to give our audience exposure to some new ideas or approaches to public administration.
Below are five news articles that got high numbers of webpage visits and social media engagement in 2022. They include summaries of our research projects, short interviews with some of the global leaders that form our network of educators, and some helpful advice on managing complaints.
We hope there’s something in there that piques your interest.
How public services can meet employees’ preference for flexible work
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that flexible work was both possible and popular for public servants. The challenge now for agencies is to optimise the potential of flexible working to improve employee well-being and productivity, while maintaining collaboration, knowledge-sharing and organisational culture.
An ANZSOG-funded report, Flexible working in the Australian Capital Territory Public Service, undertaken by the University of NSW’s Public Service Research Group, has examined the impact of flexible working on productivity, wellbeing and effectiveness, and identifies four key factors that can lead to more effective flexible working: including a teams and outcomes-focused approach and improved support for managers. Read more about the research
Solving public sector problems with design thinking
Design Thinking may have begun as a set of tools for innovation in the private sector, but it has even greater potential as a ‘social technology’ to help governments create and implement better solutions, says Professor Jeanne M. Liedtka.
Its principles of focusing on the people who use government services, bringing stakeholders and other collaborators together in a structured process to innovate, and focusing on experimentation and small-scale testing of ideas before adopting them more broadly, can lead to more effective services at lowered cost. Read more about the potential of design thinking to help the public sector
Jacquelin McGowan Jones’s journey
Jacqueline McGowan Jones’s current ‘dream job’ as Western Australia’s Children and Young People’s Commissioner gives her the chance to act as a voice on behalf of young people and push for long-term reforms to protect the most vulnerable. After leaving school in Year 10, she has worked in a range of jobs in government, the private sector, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), all aimed at serving the community, and polished her skills with an ANZSOG Executive Master of Public Administration. As head of a statutory authority, she can now give frank and fearless advice to governments and advocate to ensure all children get the support they need to lead healthy, happy lives. Jacqueline says that she’s never had a career plan but has taken opportunities as they arose and never said ‘I can’t do that’. Read more about Jacqueline McGowan Jones’s journey
How authentic leaders can bring a sense to meaning to public service work
The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath has shifted the role of leadership in the public sector by creating an emphasis on more collaborative and people-centric approaches. Harvard Kennedy School’s Dr Dana Born, an ANZSOG course presenter explains why ‘authentic leaders’ who can make their leadership style and extension of their personality and inspire others will thrive in this environment. She says that curiosity, self-reflection and making clear definitions of success are the traits of the best leaders. Read more about the importance of authentic leadership
Ten tips for public sector complaints handling
If you deliver services, you’re going to get complaints. Good organisations take them seriously and use them as free advice on how to improve. This article, by Fiona Brown, gives ten tips for effective complaint handling and highlights the important role that complaints professionals now play for public sector organisations as an essential connection point between consumer, organisation, industry and community. Ensuring frontline and complaints teams are trained and prepared for effective complaints management, and the emotional dimension of the job is fully appreciated, will allow organisations to present a customer experience that is fair, empathic, responsive, and timely. Read more about how to handle complaints effectively