List of access keys Homepage Site Map Search ContactUs Skip to main content

Innovation lessons from the public sector

I often work with government departments to support their efforts to be more innovative. When I tell people they often laugh and say something like, “Government trying to be innovative? That’s a joke.”

In fact, I have seen more unique initiatives in the public sector recently than in the private sector. In my own research, outside the traditional manufacturers that invest in R&D, few companies actually invest in building their capacity to innovate.

This is particularly true of the service sector. The business sector has yet to embrace the concepts of innovation in terms of defining strategies to direct their innovation efforts and to invest in people, processes and skills to build their capacity to innovate.

There are always two directions for innovation in the service sector:

Tangible innovations: the business of the business
Manufacturers invest in R&D to create new products, processes and technologies. The service sectors need to invest in equivalent capacity to create insights for new service offerings. Several public utilities now have commercialisation managers who look for internal solutions that could be marketable outside the organisation. These are often sold to the private sector. By default we put the onus of new service concepts on marketing people who are not necessarily trained for this job.
Intangible innovations: the business of working together effectively
The second area for innovation is internal processes, structures and strategies for people to work together effectively to deliver the products and services of the business. This is how people solve problems, make decisions, deal with change, communicate, and collaborate. It is measured by productivity.

Here are examples that would be useful tactics for any large business:

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has created a strategy to focus on improvements to the management of people. One tactic involves the use of ‘invention sessions’. Managers who have a problem with some aspect of managing staff can ask for a team to brainstorm possible solutions. Ideas are shared to capture best practice (and further an innovative culture).