The uncomfortable truths around transformation in government – and how to address them
Government transformation is a key priority but long-standing challenges persist. During a roundtable supported by Rainmaker, held at Global Government Forum’s Innovation 2026 conference, senior civil servants discussed the importance of aligning incentives and what good leadership looks like
The UK government is focused on driving what prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has called a plan to “rewire the state”.
This ambition is focused on creating a government that can “move fast and fix things”, according to chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones, and helping to transform the legacy state into the new digital state of the future.
However, many transformations have floundered in the past due to persistent problems – and change in government can only succeed if these challenges are understood and addressed.
A roundtable, part of the Innovation 2026 conference and supported by knowledge partner Rainmaker, brought together senior officials in government to discuss how to make change happen.
The session focused on the key challenges and strategies that can determine success. Throughout the conversation, participants emphasised the importance of understanding and aligning incentives across all levels, from leaders to frontline staff, and the importance of relationships and organisational culture in change.
There are often different incentives across an organisation, one participant said, and not enough is done to understand them. This is one of the uncomfortable truths about transformation.
“Leaders have got a completely different set [of incentives] to the people who are on the ground delivering and multiple people between that, whose jobs might be affected by any transformation or change… If we really had a list of everyone’s incentives, we might be able to move things more quickly and smoothly.”
Another added: “If you get the incentives right, then it will be on their objectives and performance management – and the system corrects itself. At the moment, it’s just completely misaligned.”
Read more: Leadership ranked as the most critical factor for government innovation
Setting out the ‘why’
Another attendee added that people working in government don’t simply change because they are told to, they change because they want to. “And why do they want to? Because they have an alignment between what they want to be doing and what you’re showing them is the future.”
Therefore, it is important for leaders to be able to set out the ‘why’ of transformation.
This requires situational leadership, one attendee said. “When transformation really works, it’s like you’re swimming with the river – everything’s just moving in the right direction – [but] sometimes it feels like you’re swimming against the river.
“The thing that’s always been in place when I’ve been swimming with the river is good situational leadership. The real capability that drives transformation is leaders who quietly reflect, listen and work out the situation. Whether you can divert the river a bit – that’s the real capability.”
Continuing the metaphor, another participant said that part of the job of a leader is to make the way for the river. “You’re shovelling the stones that are stopping the river from flowing. If you are serving the public sector as a leader, that’s exactly where we need to be.”
There was also discussion at the roundtable about the incentives of middle managers in the civil service, and how to translate the priorities of political leaders into action in government.
“What we see from ministers – I listen to Darren Jones, I listen to Wes Streeting, and they’re quite clear about what is needed. There might be some ambiguity, but if you look at the intent, they’re quite clear, and they’re direct, and that then gets diluted, managed by committee, recycled.
“And the point is the incentives: we’re not driving the right incentives that drive the right agendas. We get a diverse set of agendas, rather than a ‘one government’ unified agenda or even [unified] within departments.”
Indeed, management was a big part of discussion of uncomfortable truths. One attendee talked about the need to identify change enablers – and not just change makers – in government.
Read GGF report: Rewiring the state: Unlocking government transformation
From change enablers to changemakers
“One of the big myths is that we have a hierarchy from the permanent secretary – but our director generals are managing directors.
“So what we found is actually [who you think would be] the changemakers aren’t necessarily changemakers – they’re change enablers. Find the enablers, not the makers, and those enablers will help you do the change to help you get to the next stage.”
One attendee said the job of leaders is to protect their staff from different demands and distractions in the system, and to focus on a mindset of continuous improvement.
The session concluded with a call for more strategic, collaborative and empathetic leadership to overcome these challenges and achieve transformative change.
“Not everything needs to be a project,” one participant said, to approval from the room. “The day job is continuous improvement so being a leader means, for me, you’ve got to stop all of the boulders that come in. You can’t stop every single one, but you’ve got to stop as many as you can. From a leadership point of view, a leader has to take all the flack and none of the praise.”
‘The uncomfortable truths around transformation – and how to address them’ roundtable, supported by knowledge partner Rainmaker, was held at Global Government Forum’s Innovation 2026 conference on 24 March.
About Richard Johnstone
