What would radical change look like?

Like many of you, I spend a lot of time talking about public sector transformation, but what would radical change really look like? What would count as “Government 2.0”? Technology can certainly help governments become more efficient and it can make it much easier for citizens to access public services, but, while both those types of change are very important and can involve dramatic changes, neither is truly transformational. Renewing my car tax online is wonderful, but it is simply a much quicker and easier way of doing what I used to do by visiting my local post office.

I would see three potential key aspects of transformation. The first is collaboration and involves dramatic changes in the organisations involved in public services. It involves moving away from command and control and enabling public servants to work better across teams and across organisations. It also involves enabling a much broader range of organisations to be involved in value creation including private sector bodies, public-private partnerships, NGOs and community organisations. Signs of change here would be a more dynamic, flexible, innovative public sector with more personalised services.

The second aspect is transparency. Opening up public sector process so that people can get involve will change the nature of our relationship with public sector institutions and with our representatives. When we know who elected politicians and public servants are meeting (and why), the old closed world of Them can give way to a world of Us. More information and more understanding will mean that more people will be able to get involved and more will want to get involved. I think this will change many of the decisions that get made, but it will also change the nature of the relationship.

The final aspect has to be empowerment. Government 2.0 needs to give a lot more power to citizens both individually and in groups. Some of that will involve referenda and direct democracy (my Swiss colleague Peter Gruetter is pushing me hard on that agenda), but it will also involve things like participatory budget-making and service-user-held budgets. Citizens need to be encouraged and enabled to do more for themselves. When we get away from the idea of the citizen waiting passively for public services and for government proposals, then government will truly have been transformed.