The 2023 New Zealand election is highlighting some of the wicked challenges facing the public sector. To address these the public sector needs to adapt and become more innovative. But how does it do it? This article explores the issue of social innovation and the use of ‘Systems Approaches’.
The 2023 New Zealand election highlighted some of the wicked challenges facing the public sector. The Labour party identified issues like the economic chaos that COVID left behind. The National Party highlighted issues of crime and the need to bolster frontline services like Police, nurses, doctors and midwives. ACT highlighted issues like the truancy in schools that occurred in 2022 and other complex challenges facing the education sector. The Greens identify significant global climate change, environmental and social issues. While Te Pāti Māori identify the deep rooted and long standing social inequalities faced by Māori. At the leaders debate, hosted by Jack Tame, a question about the causes of crime led to answers ranging from individual criminal behaviour through to entrenched poverty.
These are complex issues. But Aotearoa New Zealand is not the only country in the world facing complex challenges. The OECD describes the link between these current issues and larger macro-trends highlighting “the rise of globalisation, burgeoning technology, volume of information and the evolving environmental crisis”. The world is now highly interconnected and interdependent. The resulting complexity of global challenges has widened the gap between the social problems that governments like New Zealand's face and the public sector's capacity or capability to do so. One thing that sets these complex issues apart from many complicated 20th century challenges is unpredictability.
What is different about complex issues?
Complexity is not a new concept. Issues of complexity have been understood and explored historically by many different societies in many different ways. Even in the modern world the idea of wicked problems emerged as far back as the 1970’s.
In 2007 Snowdon and Boone helped to popularise understandings of complexity in organisational practice by explaining the difference between complicated and complex issues. They describe how in Complicated issues can be very difficult to solve but they are still knowable and predictable so have at least one right answer. Complex issues are different in many ways, including that they are unpredictable and so have no right answer. They can also have very unclear boundaries.
My work experience with complexity and innovation started in my 20’s after starting a personal training business in London, UK; then a clinical exercise physiology business in Melbourne, Australia. I didn’t know about the topics of complexity or innovation as disciplines. I just had some big interesting challenges that I came across and so had to learn and adapt my services, business model and general approach to survive and grow, so I was innovating but without realising it. It can be easier sometimes for small organisations and new organisations to be adaptable and innovative as they don’t have entrenched ideas or ways of working.
Snowdon and Boone identify how many management and leadership approaches established in organisations, which includes the public sector, were developed in the 20th century to deal with complicated issues. They are still used in many public sector teams, organisations and across government and this is what contributes to the gap. Similarly, the OECD (2017) highlights how public policy makers have traditionally addressed social problems through discrete interventions layered on top of one the other, but considered separately based on “cause and effect” relationships. However, each of these interventions may shift consequences from one part of the system to another, or simply address symptoms while ignoring causes.
That said, Innovation does occur in the New Zealand public sector. In the last decade I’ve seen lots of examples at all different organisational levels including project - program level, organisational level and industry - sector level.
On a personal level, I’ve enjoyed being involved with innovative projects and programs. I also know of at least one of the old DHBs that ran an innovation lab to keep evolving design and operation in operating theatres. At another level up, I’ve worked in a health services provider that have won awards for innovation and am aware of a number of community health organisations that proved to be hugely innovative in their responses to the Covid pandemic. Even at governmental department level there is innovation happening.
Up at sector level, I'm familiar with the Justice sector's innovation program (High Impact Innovation Program) which has been running for a number of years. I’ve also been part of a steering group promoting innovation for Safety.
One common thread I have experienced at these different levels is Systems approaches to leadership, governance and management methods, practices and processes. Traditional leadership and management approaches do not work for managing and solving the inter-related issues like the many that New Zealand public sector organisations and departments have to grapple with, like the ageing population, poverty and especially for indigenous Maori and other minority ethnic populations, the widening gap between rich and poor in general, and the increasing pressures on health services and the justice system.
Recognition of a complexity gap in the public sector has led to growing interest in systems approaches. The complexity gap is the disconnect between the complexity of problems that the social sector faces and their organisational capacity and capability to solve them.
Systems approaches and ways of working
Systems approaches are a set of methods, processes and practices that affect change in real world systems that are inherently complex in nature. These approaches include systems thinking, systems engineering, systems innovation and design thinking have interlinked philosophical foundations and share, in some cases, methodologies. Systems approaches have developed over 80 years or more, but they are far from established in the public sector (OECD 2017).
Innovation comes from changes in how social-systems are structured and operate. This requires an understanding of the nuanced relationships between the different parts, and the gaps between what can be seen. It also means reflecting on how best to use this knowledge to take action (i.e. design and design thinking) by devising proposals to be tested and implemented as system interventions.
Systems thinking provides practical methods and tools to; show hidden dynamics of overwhelming social systems; explore the ways in which the relationships between system components affect its functioning; and choose which interventions can lead to better results. Here are some practical options that I have found useful over the last decade.
Understanding context. Snowden's Cynefin framework is a practical tool to identify whether a situation or organisational context is complex, complicated or simple, to help leaders. Similarly, Yin provides a practical table to identify the context of a research problem, to decide the most suitable study approach. (refer Yin: Case Study Research and Applications fig 1.2: table of relevant situations for different research methods).
Practical project frameworks suited to complex situations and systems include the double and triple diamonds (Design Thinking); the Case Study method (Refer Yin 2014: Case Study Research and Applications); the Developmental Work Research Expansive Learning Cycle (Engstrom CHAT); and, Agile project management.
Systems processes and tools. System diagramming is a method from cybernetics that has grown in popularity and the Open University offers a free course on it. Critical Systems Heuristics provides a question set tool for exploring system features. Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) also offers tools like an 8-question framework (Mwanza) and an Activity Systems diagramming framework (Engstrom). The Ideo website offers lots of different design thinking tools.
Summary
In summary, this article has highlighted the complex nature of issues faced in the NZ public sector and internationally. But has identified that innovation does exist and highlights the further potential for Systems oriented ways of working including systems thinking and design thinking. I’ve also provided some practical example methodologies, tools and frameworks.
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