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Design and adopt an APS wide framework that embeds meaningful, open, public and multi-stakeholder participation into policy development and service delivery. This commitment aims to improve engagement, build trust, and tap into expertise from the community.
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Introduction Commitment 5.2: Enhancing public participation in government decision making Design and adopt an APS wide framework that embeds meaningful, open, public and multi-stakeholder participation into policy development and service delivery.
Empathise phase – user research • 13 departments and agencies • APS & state public servants • 38 people • Stocktake: 13 departments • 29 organisations • Business, engagement practitioners, academia, community sectors, peak bodies • 5 states/territories • 37 people • APS interviews and Stocktake • Non-APS interviews
APS Insights Awareness and practical experience of how to engage the community beyond traditional information sharing and consultation is patchy. Consultation often has an emphasis on obtaining buy in rather than accessing expertise. There’s a knowing/doing gap between what the participants know about best practice, and what often occurs.
APS Insights Our internal processes can act as a barrier/constraint to achieving best practice engagement. Traditional consultation processes have, however, helped develop the base skills needed to engage in more deliberative or collaborative processes
Non-APS Insights Participants saw themselves as holders of expertise and it is in the public interest for that expertise to be tapped by the APS. Participants are sceptical about government engagement. Participants are pragmatic and realistic. They understand that the APS has legitimate constraints on its engagement.
Non-APS Insights Participants are interested in more collaborative and deliberative engagements. They are also hopeful of building ongoing relationships with the APS. There are some universal basics that help make an engagement effective and genuine.
Stocktake: How does the APS engage thecommunity? • High reliance on static processes. • Barriers to engagement: • Authorising environment • Lack of trust & confidence in stakeholders • Lack of APS awareness and motivation to engage • Improvements required: • Building ongoing relationships • Advanced methodology • Co-designing together
Design Questions From Challenge to Opportunity for Design
Create Phase – Socialising the Discover Report • Department of Industry, Innovation & Science • Public Sector Innovation Network • Australian Public Service Commission • Department of Human Services • Department of Social Services Presented to 220 people from 9 agencies so far… • Department of Infrastructure & Regional Development • Attorney-General’s Department • Department of Education and Training • Department of Immigration & Border Protection
Create Phase – Workshops Ideation workshops with 60 people so far: 1 in Sydney and 2 in Canberra Indicative results: 37 developed ideas (Concepts) Some of the Concepts from the workshops included: • Engagement and Participation Hub: Create a central team to provide advice on engagements, work with agencies to conduct deliberative and collaborative engagements, establish a marketplace to make it easier to procure assistance, undertake projects like integrating engagement more effectively into the policy development process, establish a network across the APS and support the digital platform developed through the BRII. • Hire a job seeker for a day: End users (in the case of DSS, the unemployed) work in project teams for a day to build empathy with end users.
Create Phase – Workshops Other Concepts from the workshops included: • Cost of not consulting: Compare cost and time of projects that didn’t consult widely with projects that did – public servants then learn from failures and gain confidence in different engagement approaches. • The Art of the Possible: Staff from other areas/agencies are invited to observe collaboration/public participation processes – builds awareness of new ways of doing things, and builds confidence to try new approaches/overcome risk. • Hire more community engagement experts: Instead of outsourcing to consultants, the APS should recruit and incentivise in-house community engagement experts as part of the team. • Public Participation knowledge library/repository: One-stop shop for all sectors to access knowledge and expertise on public participation in government.
Create Phase – Workshops Indicative results: Total of 272 simple ideas to improve engagement were written on post it notes. These ideas are being developed into concrete concepts for prototyping and refinement. 1. Reward for effort - 42 ideas including: • incorporating community engagement into senior executive performance measures • proving training to staff on engagement (e.g., embedded in graduate programs) • secondment opportunities for staff to better understand different stakeholders • recruiting the right people for the job (e.g., ensuring interview process test skills that the applicant is being recruited for)
Create Phase – Workshops 2. Back to basics - 62 ideas including: • open, honest and transparent engagement with the community (e.g., using social media and live chats to have ongoing two way conversations with the community) • engaging early, making engagement accessible and promoting engagement opportunities to target relevant audience by having a dedicated engagement officer in each agency • building relationships and empathy with the community by seconding relevant community members (end users) to the public service to tap into each other’s expertise and learn from each other.
Create Phase – Workshops 3. Return on investment - 42 ideas including: • building an innovative culture where creativity is encouraged (e.g., pub tests, innovation labs, encouragement from the senior executives) • showcasing exemplar engagement approaches to illustrate the benefit of engagement • using data to show benefit of engagement and highlighting learnings from failure to engage, through case studies. 4. Horses for Courses - 43 ideas including: • providing guidelines and information kits on how to engage effectively with the community • developing practical training courses to build capability of public servants to co-design with the community.
Create Phase – Workshops 5. Breaking the wheel - 39 ideas including: • making policy fun, interesting and innovative (e.g., gamification of engagement) • changing business processes by creating a cabinet submission template with a mandatory ‘engagement’ section • a skills register as part of a whole-of-government directory so the community is aware of who to contact 6. What’s in a name - 40 ideas including: • mapping the pathway of potential engagement process for a policy officer • creating mentoring programs run by senior executives for junior staff • encouraging lower level staffs to engage more with the community.
