The winners definitely weren’t chosen out of a hat. Members of the 2008 advisory committee were challenged to review 77 submissions before narrowing them down to 14 finalists and, ultimately, nine winners. All were worthy, all were inspiring and all were clear proof of a sea change in how today’s public sector thinks and works. Here are some perspectives on what they learned in the process:
Paul Macmillan
Moving from followers to leaders
Canadians, apparently, are a demanding bunch. “There’s no question we expect our governments to offer more than other governments around world,” says Paul Macmillan. “For them to deliver what we expect, we must be willing to encourage outside-the-box thinking, trying things in new and better ways. So we feel it’s important to recognize organizations that are doing just that, and in doing so provide inspiration to others to follow a similar path.”
But unconventional thinking doesn’t always come easy to the public sector, which has long found itself under intense public scrutiny.
“This transparency has historically encouraged somewhat of a risk averse culture within government agencies,” says Paul Macmillan. “So it’s good to shed light on organizations that are moving past some of the traditional reasons why governments tend to follow instead of lead.”
Consciously rewarding excellence is an important driver of ongoing change. But it doesn’t come without risk.
“We have to recognize that governments won’t get it right every time they try to make a change,” says Macmillan. “The organizations we worked with were all willing to face the prospect of some setbacks. But they decided to manage the risk anyway, and avoided being paralyzed in the process.”
“We believe that doing nothing often represents a greater risk relative to the achievement of an organization’s mandate,” Macmillan continues. “Among other things, we’re rewarding leadership that moves the organization away from the status quo. It’s a long journey to shift from a conservative to a less risk averse culture. This is part of what we were trying to do here.”
Gabriel Sékaly
Changing the way Canadians view public service
According to Gabriel Sékaly, recognizing achievement in the public sector gives participants – and Canadians at large – an opportunity to put performance in its proper perspective.
“The things that go right in the public service rarely seem to get any headlines,” he says. “The reality, however, is there’s so much good work being done in governments across Canada, at the municipal, provincial and federal levels as well as in the broader public sector. I was blown away by the breadth and scope of these projects. The things these organizations and people are doing are just incredible.”
Sékaly says IPAC’s work to date in over 25 countries has highlighted just how advanced Canada’s public sector has become.
“They’re looking to Canada for this expertise, so it’s critical to highlight the excellence for Canadians as well, and showcase it so we can tell the full story.”
What stood out for him in assessing this year’s submissions was their direct impact on Canadians, and the wholesale transformation at all levels of the organizations in question.
“These aren’t just one-off projects, and it isn’t just the person at the top who’s coming up with a vision,” he says. “Many of them have driven truly immense changes throughout their organizations. They’re rewriting how public service both works and is perceived – and directly and positively affecting Canadians in the process.”
He describes the selection process as difficult because all applicants were so strong. In the end, victory went to the organizations that focused more on execution and replicability.
Elinor Caplan
Letting Canadians in on the secret
The great work happening across all levels of Canada’s public service is in many ways the country’s best kept secret. Elinor Caplan says that’s because Canadians often don’t want to toot their own horn.
“It’s part of our culture,” she says. “We don’t like to be seen as too proud.”
Because of this, we often miss our chance to share our successes.
“We sometimes don’t acknowledge the things that we do really well, and the awards process gives us an opportunity to do exactly that.”
Capturing this opportunity involves making it abundantly clear to Canadians just how much value they’re getting out of their public service – and how successes here are already being recognized around the world.
“Many of this year’s presenters told us how delegations from other countries have come to see the leading-edge work being done here,” says Caplan. “These awards help us get the message out – both within as well as beyond our borders – about the excellence within our public service, and why Canadians have every reason to be proud.”
"That pride extends to the finalists and winners as well," adds Caplan. "They didn’t just submit winning ideas. Rather, they’re already making a difference in the lives of Canadians."
“It’s important to look through the lens of how these projects make a positive difference in the delivery of public service,” says Caplan. “These investments are creating a continuous improvement environment within the public service. It’s not about doing things in the same old way.”
Peter MacLeod
Looking for excellence in all the unexpected places
Canadians don’t often realize how large the public sector is, and we don’t appreciate the amount of innovation that’s taking place within it – and its impact on us – every day.
“There’s a lot of courage and cleverness inside the public sector,” says Peter MacLeod. “These awards celebrate innovation in corners of the public sector you might not think to look. But when you do take the time to look, you see a lot of very positive initiatives, and you know Canadians really want to hear about them.”
In the process, MacLeod hopes to shatter some of the old stereotypes about the public sector.
“You would be hard pressed to describe any of the people who came in front of us as grey bureaucrats,” he says. “They are deeply committed to Canadian society, creating public value and delivering results. They are shaking their organizations to the core and demanding more for less.
“If you knew nothing about government but instead thought it wastes a lot of money and is simply a tired old bureaucratic machine, you’d really have all of your assumptions challenged.”
MacLeod says celebrating leadership isn’t something that’s traditionally happened in public service.
“We’re totally used to celebrating this in the private sector and in academia,” he says. “But in the public sector, it seems almost immodest. In truth, it isn’t. We should be rewarding innovation, risk-taking and excellence.”