Public sector must seek 'inner anthropologist'

Anthropologists taking over the public sector in Denmark is something New Zealand managers can learn from, social innovation champion Justine Munro says.

Centre for Social Innovation chief executive Ms Munro said a seminars day for public sector managers and chief executives on developing policy from a client perspective hit at a real government sector issue. "Most public sector employees – when you start talking to them about an issue – they'll first start thinking about the processes they use, not the person and the problem."

Christian Bason, head of Danish thinktank MindLab, was in Wellington to talk about how to redesign policy development processes to take into account the people they were trying to help – taxpayers.

"This is totally transformational thinking in the public sector. It seems so damn obvious," Ms Munro said. "A lot of people are just talking about it but not doing it and proving it is working."

MindLab was an innovation centre set up to help public sector organisations in Denmark improve service delivery through understanding what people needed.

User-centred design had only become commonplace in the private sector in the past decade, and was very new to the public sector.

Ms Munro said the Danish example of improving turnaround time for work injury cases was an example of the practical improvements that could be replicated in New Zealand.

Mr Bason said anthropology had become "hip" in the Government service in Denmark.

"Instead of studying tribes in South America they are using anthropology to study taxpayers."

Civil servants needed to find their "inner anthropologist" to break out of the habitual silos in government operations.

One hurdle necessary to over come was a fear and distrust of other organisations and a misunderstanding that involving the end user more was actually giving up power. Parts of Europe, such as Scandinavia and Britain, were shifting towards a more user-focused approach to public policy, he said.

Innovation consultant Rumi Shivaz said department heads were positive and receptive to Mr Bason's workshops, but there was a way to go before the shift seen in Denmark could happen in New Zealand.

"It's hard in any organisation, even the private sector."

Mr Shivaz said part of MindLab's success lay in its staff, mainly from the private sector and innovative backgrounds that contrasted with the typical public sector environment.

"A lot of these innovation things [in the public sector] get started, but they are then driven by bureaucrats and they kill the purpose.

"It needs people at the heart to say `We'll do it and we'll do it differently'."

However, he said the message had reached the right people, with Mr Bason's first session full of operational managers – exactly the right band of executives who could make change happen.

"That was an achievement. These people have the money, they have the authority. The other thing you need is the heart and the courage," Mr Shivaz said.

- © Fairfax NZ News