Paul Sloane argues that public-sector innovation requires decentralized, local experimentation rather than central agencies. He emphasizes doing more with less through creative thinking, lifelong learning, and leadership that empowers people to find their own solutions.
Chapters
There's a lot of public sector people here, a lot of public sector leaders, and the need in public sector for innovation has never been greater. In fact, it's the only way they're ever going to figure out how to get more with less, is by innovating. Creative thinking is what we need, and we need creative solutions in virtually every area we look at, whether it's in health or education or or transport, in the public sector and in the private sector, we're not going to compete with China and India by working harder and grinding down costs. We're going to do it by working smarter, by creating, by innovating. And the only way we're going to improve the health service is not by spending more. We've tried that, right, for the last 10 years. We can't spend more. We've got to find smarter ways to do things. In local government, we've got to find better, more agile ways to serve the needs of I don't think it should be centrally controlled. I think it should bubble up from the bottom. I think we should empower people close to the action to try things. And the idea of a central government agency for innovation is anathema to me. I think it's the exact opposite of what we want. We want to free the people, not control them. Lifelong learning is critical to this. We've got to keep reskilling ourselves, our teams, our organisations, and we've got to keep trying new ways to do things and learning new ways to do things. So it's a responsibility for every individual to continually learn new skills, and it's a responsibility for every organisation to create an environment in which people can renew their skills. Leadership starts with a vision. There has to be a vision for change, and you have to sell people on that vision. And what the leader does, he says, we're here today, we're going to be somewhere different tomorrow, and I need your help to get there. And I'm going to give you the opportunity to find creative new ways of delivering the services that our customers need.
