Jane Eckford has a lot of lessons for anyone who cares about #publicservicetransformation

Jane Eckford has a lot of lessons for anyone who cares about public service transformation. Join the conversation on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_publicservicetransformation-activity-7442118657654149120-HXwA?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACuq-oBecVFDW6PCf3lkoG-peMeuLBeoho

Jane Eckford has a lot of lessons for anyone who cares about #publicservicetransformation.

Jane has spent most of her career in the space between citizens and institutions. Local government, contact centres, customer insight, digital government, Liverpool Direct, and influencing BT’s customer contact propositions across public/private sector partnerships and central government.

What struck me was that her story isn’t really about technology or programmes; it’s about purpose.

1) growing up with a strong sense of public obligation. The post-war idea that the state exists to serve people, that if you have the opportunity to do something useful you should use it. That sense of purpose shaped how she approached her career.

2) how much of her work came from simply listening. When she started working with frontline staff in Renfrewshire, they told her about everyday problems with services. Queues created by organisational boundaries. People being sent from one counter to another for related issues. Problems that were ‘institutional’ rather than caused by citizens.

That listening led to the creation of one of the early council contact centres in Scotland. What it revealed was simple but important: people don’t wake up in the morning thinking ‘I must contact the council today’. They usually come to government as a last resort, once family or community solutions have failed. So…

3) the real work of public service *is* relational.

Get that relationship right and people trust institutions to make sensible decisions — for them , for their place, for their community. Get it wrong, and the system becomes disrespectful of the public and trust erodes.

4) how change actually happens. Jane operated in the space between the formal system and the people it serves. Insight from frontline staff and citizens. Small groups of people who tell the same story and push things forward.

In other words, change often starts informally before it becomes official.

5) digital government. Jane’s view is that digital is just infrastructure. ‘Digital should be like oxygen’ — something that’s just there, valued, enables better communication and cooperation. The risk is that technology is used to reinforce old power structures rather than improve the relationship between citizens and the state.
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Towards the end of the conversation, Jane offered some advice for people trying to improve public services today:
– First, know your own story and why you are doing the work. That sense of purpose will carry you through the difficult moments.
– Second, understand how organisations actually behave. What people are measured on. The incentives they face. Change fails when transformation teams are expected to change everything while the rest of the organisation carries on as before.
– Finally, remember your humanity. Whatever role you are in, you’re still part of the community you serve. That might be the simplest and most important lesson from the conversation.

What strikes you?

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