Every so often, along comes a free AND useful publication.

Purpose, Public Value, and Service Design in Local Government – Seven stories from Nova Ratio Publica by Stephen Thorpe is a good example. Drawing on 30 years of leadership experience in local government in Victoria, Australia, the e-book provides seven easy to understand public service stories to help you improve your work.

Thorpe explains how he has overcome some big challenges Inside the e-book you’ll find practical ways to think and act differently, including:

• Managing for value to move a conversation from operational gripes to strategic leverage.
• Aligning public value, legitimacy, and operational capability so good intentions can be delivered.
• Designing operations for the visible signals that tell people a place is being deliberately looked after (especially when resources are tight).
• Service blueprinting to map services end-to-end, anticipate fail points, and build recovery so services are safe-to-fail at go-live.
• Accommodating variety by designing a menu of consistent options that fit different household circumstances.
• Understanding system capability and process behaviour/variation to understand what a system can actually produce — and why targets outside capability damage capability.
• Purpose-led improvement in statutory services that focus on the applicant experience drivers so that statutory measures become a consequence, not the method.

Inspired by Mark Moore, W. Edwards Deming, John Seddon, and other systemic thinkers, Thorpe has thought deeply about the challenges that he others experienced at work, and looked far and wide for theories to explain what he was observing and help him learn and improve.

Permeating each of the stories is the idea that when service purpose is defined in terms of what the customer, resident, applicant, or service user is trying to achieve, the right measures of performance and the right method for delivery become clearer. In comparison, when purpose is defined by what the organisation wants to achieve, report, or control, effort gets misdirected, and demands rebound as rework, complaints, and escalations.

The e-book has been written for councillors, executives, service managers, and improvement practitioners. Download the e-book and read these stories if you are tired of plans that promise more than your organisation can deliver.

Download free from Nova Ratio Publica