Public services are still mostly managed as if they were Victorian machines with org charts attached. Join the conversation on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_public-services-are-still-mostly-managed-share-7463129069073838080-cU_F?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAADUV_eUBZSxZvFpx70OV050F6K5HM2MhTMo
Public services are still mostly managed as if they were Victorian machines with org charts attached. Parts of some services are like that. But we do all know that the overall reality is messy, relational, adaptive and political. The organisation on paper and the organisation in reality are often entirely different species.
That gap is where most transformation efforts go to die.
I talked about that on the Consulting Leaders podcast this week. We got into systems thinking, complexity, public sector incentives, why standardisation so often collides with frontline reality, and why so much institutional energy goes into maintaining coherence instead of solving problems.
One thing I enjoyed was the slightly awkward meta-conversation about podcasts themselves. Consulting podcasts are fascinating artefacts. Half intellectual exchange. Half slow-motion mating ritual between consultants trying to prove they’re thoughtful enough to be trusted with work. Occasionally, though, something useful escapes!
One of the themes we explored was this quote I’ve returned to often since Andrew Yang used it in his Presidential bid: ‘I try not to blame people for responding to the incentives of their situation.’ Public sector dysfunction isn’t stupidity or bad intent. It’s structurally produced. If your institutional role is to reduce risk, avoid headlines and maintain legibility, then naturally you standardise and centralise. Unfortunately, that often cuts directly across what actually helps people on the frontline.
Anyway. If you enjoy discussions about systems, public services, consulting, cybernetics, organisational reality, procurement absurdity and the strange economics of transformation work, here you go.
Thanks to John Degnan and Guillaume Jouvencel for the opportunity! And they made me this lovely AI infographic attached 🙂
Podcast link in comments.
Please find the links below:
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-transform-public-sector-organisations-through/id1714675768?i=1000766598157
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/2yQFitiYY5R9B4O3LVFqit
YouTube:
chosen path 