Empowering civil servants to deliver missions in government: GGF’s Leading Questions podcast with Dr Dan Honig
Missions are having a moment in government. The new UK administration has pledged to focus its efforts on five key missions, with work underway to restructure government operations to prioritise these objectives.
These goals are: kickstarting economic growth; making Britain a clean energy superpower; taking back our streets by halving serious violent crime; breaking down barriers to opportunity; and building an NHS fit for the future.
In a new book, Mission Driven Bureaucrats: Empowering People To Help Government Do Better, Dr Dan Honig, professor of public policy at University College London and Georgetown University, explores the topic of how to make mission-driven change happen in government.
Honig argues that many public sector organisations are too focused on compliance – what he describes as an attempt to keep those who might want to do ill from doing it.
Such an approach wears down public servants, leaving those who are driven to make a difference frustrated by the obstacles and compliance rules they face.
Instead, in this interview with Global Government Forum’s Leading Questions podcast, Honig explains how government should empower public servants through allowing autonomy, cultivating competence and creating connection to peers and purpose.
“It does not require sophisticated new technology or fancy new language to improve the public service,” Honig says. “All it requires is the willingness to unleash the talents of the brilliant public servants there already are.”
If you have questions about how to make mission-driven change happen in government, please contact [email protected], and we will ask Dan for his tips.
About Richard Johnstone
Richard Johnstone is the executive editor of Global Government Forum, where he helps to produce editorial analysis and insight for the title’s audience of public servants around the world. Before joining GGF, he spent nearly five years at UK-based title Civil Service World, latterly as acting editor, and has worked in public policy journalism throughout his career.
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