USA Exchange Conclusion

The LGMA Exchange was a personal 'game-changer'.  Exploring the inner local government corridors in the US for three weeks and encountering new techniques, trends and ways of thinking  first hand provided me with a deep understanding around my topic  - ‘Innovation in local government’.  Things I’d studied, read or been told started to take shape.

Google glasses.
We will see the world differently

I caught a glimpse of how fast the world really is changing; how the Recession (or GFC as we call it in Australia) really did hit the USA; how the Recession is or can be a catalyst for innovation, and how innovation really is an important topic and discussion point in governments around the world. 



Recession drives more Americans to
poverty

           The Exchange opened my eyes to the world so much more than I was expecting; to the troubles, hardships and opportunities in America; to the excitement and innovations in America; and to America’s contradictions - equality vs.inequality, open vs.closed government and extremely advanced practices vs. embarrassingly backward practices. 

To try and summarise my profound experience I've divided my conclusion into 3 parts:

1. Adversity - a driving force for Innovation (can we learn, copy, replicate some ideas that have developed in response to the enormity of the USA Recession)
2. Shifts in Thinking – what USA cities (our equivalent to councils) are currently thinking and doing
3. Barriers to innovation in local government - can we reduce some barriers by taking just a few ideas from the big guns – the Google, Facebook, Apple, Yahoo’s of the world.

1.       Adversity

America was hit very hard as we know by the Recession, but did we really know how hard or for how long? We know some cities went bankrupt but many more were so very close and in fact some are still teetering on the edge. Difficult tactics to hold off bankruptcy included closing the City (council) for 1 day a week, totally shutting or radically reducing library hours, retrenching 20% of the workforce (including police), stopping the watering of gardens and parks, fighting to remove overly generous pensions, reducing many services and sadly, with no choice, watching neighbourhoods slide backwards.

Hard times however can create an environment or a driving force for innovation.  As the USA emerges from its recession, encouraging and innovative local government trends and shifts in thinking emerge with it. Cities, big business, universities, residents and other agencies are pulling together in new and creative ways to assist cities revitalise neighbourhoods. Just one example is San Jose which has created a ‘Talent Bridge’ of partnerships with professionals in the private sector (and smack in the middle of Silicon Valley, I can tell you there are some beauties), non-profits, and universities to work probono with city employees to assist City  leaders advance key strategic goals.

New city models are being developed and shifts in thinking are producing creative new initiatives for the nation to collaborate in bold ways with each other not just state by state.

Shifts in Thinking

As the economic downturn hit most cities in America they started looking for inspiring ideas to tackle the country's toughest challenges together and break out of old thinking.  To embrace a culture of innovation they have started looking for bigger and bolder approaches than previously and ones that have the potential to transform their cities and lives of citizens. Some of these include: creating more positive and productive interactions for and with residents; creating powerful new networks and partnerships; rethinking how to use underutilized assets; embedding innovation into city cultures as an everyday thing instead of a sometimes thing and finding ways to develop technology requirements faster using university student help, Code for America or hack-a-thons.  Barriers and silly bureaucratic rules that hinder the ability to reinvigorate neighbourhoods sensibly and quickly have been reassessed.   

Cities are the new ‘connectors’ and are tapping into broader networks to pool resources and get ideas to create better futures with partners. New creative spaces to explore ideas with citizens (residents) are being developed (either physical spaces like ‘innovation labs’ or via technology platforms like ImproveSF)  The shift is about connecting people not only with their council but with each other. For example providing unemployed people opportunities through micro-volunteering to work on government projects or creating community labs bringing low-income residents, uni students, entrepreneurs and financial partners together to develop and implement projects together.

New protocols, reducing red tape, bold and insightful competitions, incentives and digital tools for two-way communication and sharing is taking place to connect with people and of course we can’t ignore the thinking around creative social media spaces that continue to evolve (especially crowd sourcing)

Another approach currently being explored globally in the public sector is “Design Thinking”.  This is an approach taken from the private sector designers toolkit that aims to understand the citizen (or user) better; put the citizen at the centre of a whole system; create more positive and productive interactions with citizens who usually don't engage.  Basically to co-create ‘with’ the citizen not ‘for’ the citizen (Tom Kelly IDEO).  The ‘newness’ here comes from how all our current approaches interact and whether design thinking will fit with the various public sector methodologies.

A new Australian Government ‘start-up’ called DesignGOV is currently asking questions in this space - What does design offer that we don’t already have in the public sector? How does design fit with what we already do or with other ‘new’ trends and techniques? In the public servant’s tool-set, when and how should design be used?   There is a lot of interest in design thinking and what it can offer governments from the UK, Denmark, America to Australia. 

Reducing cultural barriers to innovation

Lastly, what are some of the possible ways local government back home can continue to reduce impediments to innovation and create innovative spaces – whether physical or not? 

Internally we know what some of the barriers to innovation in local government are, therefore some of the areas that I feel we could review are included below.  For CULTURE we know we need to stop doing what we've always done and bring in, where practical, a more optimistic YES culture.  LEADER’S could be more thoughtful and intentional about how to make Innovation a regular, even day-to-day practice, not a ‘sometimes’ exception. (A JDI program at Warringah Council is a good example of this) We could build more innovation teams or forums, reenergise some of our spaces and design a mix of facilities/meeting spaces and reward the unusual instead of the status quo. POLITICS,  get our councillors on board to encourage an internal culture of innovation and help sustain ideas to implementation.  Stick up for staff if there is media scrutiny and allow some failure, as long as we learn from it. Can we ask the community to also step up in more creative ways to create with us?  This may help staff reduce the fear of failing the community and the backlash that sometimes comes with that?  If the community is designing with us and we were to fail, we fail together but the community recognises we tried our hardest.  With  STRUCTURE & PROCESSES lets employ the most up to date thinking and approaches to deal with the increasingly complex issues facing local government.  This could be where 'Design Thinking' comes in?

My other angle (having spent time in Silicon Valley where the big guns are playing) is what can we actually take away from these players, ie the Google, Facebook and Apples of the world.  What can we bring into our own context?  Can we model something a little ‘fresh’?  Take on just a few of the best ideas and create our own model for an improved local government?  To commence this discussion I will put a ‘Best of the Best’ table together. I’m talking with people at Google, Facebook, Apple and Yahoo who are happy to contribute ideas to assist civic society.  To follow some of their practices I therefore need to produce this table quickly, prototype it, go to the users and ask questions, experiment but also allow it to fail if it goes that way.  (stay tuned for the table in the next blog for you to contribute ideas) 

Final thought - Why is it that while most businesses and governments are reducing staff to stay afloat - Google, Facebook etc are doing the opposite - expanding at rapid rates? Apart from the obvious, being the product, is it because of the way they work works???

Creative office and kitchen spaces help.
The kitchen can in fact be where the most creative ideas are born

So in summary:

• We must contribute to the global discussion on Innovation
•  Be constantly resourceful and innovative.  It’s vitally important to keep abreast of what’s happening overseas and to share and add value
• When councils are under enormous pressure, interesting and innovative opportunities can emerge – let’s not ignore these.  What ideas that are working in other places can we take on, but always with the view to shaping it to the particular environment of our place / council
•  Councils as ‘Connectors’.  Let’s share our great ideas more with other councils and residents, allow ideas to flow more freely.  Even create some unusual labs for residents who don't normally contribute to become interested and engaged
•  Build an optimistic foundation for culture to thrive – recognise that when people (often leaders) say ‘no that won’t work’ it could be just habit talking – be more conscious and change the habit of initially saying NO to YES
• Build a tolerance for failure in government, this allows for innovation.  When new ideas appear, let them be trialled instead of the first reaction of 'no' it might not work for 1 specific reason.  GIVE IT A GO 
•  For those keen on Innovation in the public sector, let’s explore ‘Design Thinking’ and support our new Australian Government start-up ‘DesignGov’ to see where this approach can take us
•  Take some of the creative practices from the big guns (including work spaces) and implement to suit our environment. Stretch just that little bit more than we do in local government to support creativity and innovation