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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 10d

Waiting for boarding info at Euston station. Now then, Bluesky, what % of people a) in Euston station rn and b) on my train to Liverpool Lime St are going to conference?

And how to tell the wonks from the normies?

Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 14d

Grateful to @civilserviceworld.bsky.social for publishing this op-ed from me on why the culture of Whitehall puts the brakes on public service reform.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...

The human handbrake: Why good ideas so often ‘hit the wall’ in Whitehall

Whitehall rewards “policy heroes” over those who can deliver

www.civilserviceworld.com

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Reposted by Amy Gandon

Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

Delighted to publish this first paper in @demos-uk.bsky.social Powering Public Service Reform programme today.

And it’s only right that we start with one of reform's biggest, but simultaneously least explored, barriers: culture.

demos.co.uk/research/the...

The Human Handbrake: How Whitehall culture holds back public service reform

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

Thank you Adam!

Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

Comment below, DM me or email me or Anna (Director of Policy and Impact) at: [email protected] or [email protected].

We'll then be in touch where there are ideas to take fwd together to refine + iterate if we *really* want to 'rewire the state'.

(Chris Wormald are you listening... 👀)

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

So, the next bit is over to you. Answers on a postcard please.

👉 What resonated?
👉 What didn't? What have we got wrong?
👉 What can we practically do to address these issues?
👉 What thinkers / practitioners can help us?

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

We offer some of the potential directions we could take to tackling them in the paper...

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY: we're sharing them while they're still emerging - in the spirit of the reforms we argue for - in the hopes that you'll join us in a dialogue on where we go next.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

These all might feel like immutable features of our system of governance, or the pace and sensationalism of our media cycle and political culture.

But there are mature approaches to coping with these kinds of environments from management science and other sectors, from healthcare to aviation.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

5️⃣ Politics is impatient for quick, legible results.

40 hospitals, 20k policy officers, 50k nurses. Headlines are better generated by things which are countable, or quick to bear fruit.

The reforms we need - i.e creating better relationships between service and citizens - are not so visible.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

4️⃣ There is a bias towards standardisation and simplicity.

Faced with complexity, humans also prefer 'neat and tidy' solutions: scaling local innovations to a standardised national programme vs. embracing adaptive, uneven or 'messy' growth.

But often the latter is what works best.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

3️⃣ The sheer scale of Whitehall fosters tribalism.

Beyond a certain level of complexity, humans sort people into 'ingroups' and 'outgroups'.

The trouble is that our systems currently promote greater loyalty to dept colleagues than others w/ a shared mission (in other depts or on the frontline).

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

Thank you so much for reading and sharing, Tim!

Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

Whitehall is often a microcosm of the theatre of politics: polish + quick wits often earn the ministerial patronage so important at the higher ranks of the CS.

This trades off with elevating those with the humility, collaborative instincts and delivery nous needed to shift things on the ground.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

2️⃣ Whitehall promotes 'policy heroics' over long-term delivery or stewardship.

One of the strongest cultural signals is what it takes to get ahead. In our political culture, the allure of announcements is stronger than grinding the gears of delivery. (ctd)

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

1️⃣ Politics - and the public sector - is steeped in risk.

Whitehall is a high-stakes place where mistakes can lead to blame or scandal.

In the absence of more sophisticated approaches to handling risk, officials reach for emotional defence mechanisms: hierarchy, control and moderation.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

Building on interviews with 20 reformers - from Perm Secs to LA CEOs - and the 100 interviews I've now conducted with civil servants since 2022, the paper sets out five features of Whitehall that hold back a more reforming culture - and the seeds of some ways we could address them.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

This is a major oversight, in my view. There are mature models from management science and other sectors that can be harnessed, if only Whitehall can shake of its sense of exceptionalism - or suspicion that culture is somehow 'woolly' and unscientific - if it means business on reform.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

And I say 'practical', because I think Whitehall has been far too defeatist about culture in the past.

Commentators have spilt much ink identifying the same pathologies – risk-aversion, hierarchy, reactivity – but too little identifying solutions that actually work to shift culture in practice.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

If we want public services that deliver for citizens - and fend off the threat to our democracy in the process - then we must surface these unwritten rules and find practical ways to rewrite the script.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

Whitehall culture has been a mild obsession of mine since I left 3 yrs ago.

Ask any official and they’ll tell you much of what makes Whitehall dysfunctional isn’t written down anywhere.

Unspoken rules shape behaviour far more than the formal policies or processes the system claims to live by.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · 15d

Delighted to publish this first paper in @demos-uk.bsky.social Powering Public Service Reform programme today.

And it’s only right that we start with one of reform's biggest, but simultaneously least explored, barriers: culture.

demos.co.uk/research/the...

The Human Handbrake: How Whitehall culture holds back public service reform

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · Sep 1

Proximity to power tends to make people want bigger brief / more control, too, which doesn’t incentivise clarification or the teamwork needed to muddle through in its absence.

Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · Sep 1

Yes accountabilities piece is key. In my exp Whitehall pretty terrible at that ie just adding more people to the mix, giving overlapping or conflicting job titles to manage egos and not bothering with the detail of who does what.

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · Sep 1

Interested in what others think:

@samfr.bsky.social
@alexgathomas.bsky.social
@jillongovt.bsky.social
@jo3hill.bsky.social
@iandunt.bsky.social
@henrynewman.bsky.social
@schwitzer.bsky.social

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Amy Gandon @amygandon.bsky.social · Sep 1

In short, No10 would do well to take a good hard look at itself - if the unforgiving pace and responsibility overwhelm would ever allow it that perspective - rather than seek out marginal, additive fixes.

But maybe Jones will have the nous to see that. 🤷‍♀️

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