Last week, I was a motivational speaker for a group of public service professionals. It was the DPI, association for public service information professionals gala evening event.
The audience comprised of information management/ information technology professionals within the governement of canada. This group is going through and will continue to go through a lot of change.
Shared services canada has launched an initiative to consolidate data centers, improve software and end user devices and go to one email. Given the pace of change in society coupled with inefficiencies of working in goverment, I think this move is remarkable and necessary to stay relevant today.
Work in public service involves inevitable inefficiencies of a fair democratic society as you work to shape the future of government service.
It takes imagination and risk to be the lynch pin between policy and practice. Shared Services Canada is pushing forward and encouraging public servants to think outside the box where bureaucracy does not equal routine but it equates to innovation. Public servants make a difference slowly where every interaction serves as an opportunity to be a part of the solution or the problem.
For most people working in public service money is not their motivation, creating value is.
As the closing motivational speaker for the public service employees, my motivational speech was about using humor to stay adaptable.
Because of inefficiencies of some systems and procedures this audience will need their sense of humor to stay flexible, to grin and bear it. Some days they will need their sense of humor just to keep from killing people.
As the needs of our taxpayers are so diverse and constantly evolving, it is harder to create a system that properly engages everyone. The answer is to be innovative and flexible, to be a part of the solution not the problem.
I remember recently going through loops and hurdles to get paid for a us government military contract after months of forms and numbers and calls I ended up right back where I stated no further ahead.
After many failed attempts I thought, How does anybody get anything done? This seems so inefficient! Yet there was opportunity in the interaction to recognize the inefficiencies and attempt to tweak the payment process.
I really enjoyed speaking for the DPI. The other motivational speakers for the public service employees was Rick Mercer, Peter Mansbridge, David Suzuki and Steve Wozniak. Every motivational speech was tied to the theme of innovation.
