Your article resonates with me, Aaron, and I'm 14 years retired from my Senior Policy Advisory role. Still working with federal public servants, so somewhat up-to-date on current challenges. And I still feel the angst of the rounds of cuts I went through.
Having said all of that, I 100% agree that public servants serve Canadians. Not just their political masters- in fact, sometimes despite them. Alignment isn't always good for both: the tension is real.
I had the challenge of moving Canada into eLearning, then eHealth in my work. It was a challenge working on 10-15 year agendas, to say the least. Particularly in times of great uncertainty. I view AI as a similar challenge, but much deeper.
I'll end by sharing what I heard at one presentation and never forgot. Public service is often charged with solving 'wicked problems'. I couldn't agree more, and hope that notion is never lost. I had a front row seat when I was a PS management consultant. We found we couldn't rely on private sector consultants to understand that.
Thanks for this thoughtful reply. I've been thinking about how these core values are passed on and learned/taught recently. It's frightening when I open LinkedIn and see 5 posts every day of people departing. I wrote a post on this and it's in the queue for September, which you may be interested in reading.
I'll be interested to read that. Knowledge bleed is a real issue. I was lucky I could do a bit of knowledge transfer, but it's not always possible. In the past, some folks would be hired back as consultants, but again, not always possible.
Great article Aaron! I would add future Canadians to your service lense and rebuke if Serving Canadians is actually a core competency of the GC or is it Policy Making and we should partner better with academia, non-profits and industry for Service?
Thanks for the comment, Vern. I do wonder myself if it is a core competency... in the future, Canadians, completely agree, I tried to reflect that in the first sentence of my statement "... both now and for future generations," but you're right to suggest it might be more strongly emphasized.
Interesting juxtaposition. As for myself, I always viewed serving Canadians as a core value, and policy making as a key competency. And you highlight something very fundamental - good policymaking is not done in isolation. It should always be done in consultation, with those types of partners and dozens more. I'm thinking of professional associations (education, health care, science, etc.) and even relevant grassroots groups. I led several consultation processes for social Departments and that's what I did. It's a proxy for getting more representation at the table.
Your article resonates with me, Aaron, and I'm 14 years retired from my Senior Policy Advisory role. Still working with federal public servants, so somewhat up-to-date on current challenges. And I still feel the angst of the rounds of cuts I went through.
Having said all of that, I 100% agree that public servants serve Canadians. Not just their political masters- in fact, sometimes despite them. Alignment isn't always good for both: the tension is real.
I had the challenge of moving Canada into eLearning, then eHealth in my work. It was a challenge working on 10-15 year agendas, to say the least. Particularly in times of great uncertainty. I view AI as a similar challenge, but much deeper.
I'll end by sharing what I heard at one presentation and never forgot. Public service is often charged with solving 'wicked problems'. I couldn't agree more, and hope that notion is never lost. I had a front row seat when I was a PS management consultant. We found we couldn't rely on private sector consultants to understand that.
Thanks for this thoughtful reply. I've been thinking about how these core values are passed on and learned/taught recently. It's frightening when I open LinkedIn and see 5 posts every day of people departing. I wrote a post on this and it's in the queue for September, which you may be interested in reading.
I'll be interested to read that. Knowledge bleed is a real issue. I was lucky I could do a bit of knowledge transfer, but it's not always possible. In the past, some folks would be hired back as consultants, but again, not always possible.
Great article Aaron! I would add future Canadians to your service lense and rebuke if Serving Canadians is actually a core competency of the GC or is it Policy Making and we should partner better with academia, non-profits and industry for Service?
Thanks for the comment, Vern. I do wonder myself if it is a core competency... in the future, Canadians, completely agree, I tried to reflect that in the first sentence of my statement "... both now and for future generations," but you're right to suggest it might be more strongly emphasized.
Hope all is well is you!
Interesting juxtaposition. As for myself, I always viewed serving Canadians as a core value, and policy making as a key competency. And you highlight something very fundamental - good policymaking is not done in isolation. It should always be done in consultation, with those types of partners and dozens more. I'm thinking of professional associations (education, health care, science, etc.) and even relevant grassroots groups. I led several consultation processes for social Departments and that's what I did. It's a proxy for getting more representation at the table.