Tag Archives: local government

251 – Commotion Inaction

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180 words (2 minutes reading time) by Gordon Brittas

Image source

In my days at the helm, I used the phrase ‘Commotion Inaction’ to describe behaviour like OECD.

It isn’t a recognised term (well, not yet) but its meaning is clear. ‘Commotion’ refers to a state of noisy or turbulent activity, often involving a lot of movement and noise. ‘Inaction’ means the failure to take necessary steps to address a situation.

Therefore, Commotion Inaction is when there is a lot of noise or activity, but no effective action is being taken. It describes a situation where people are busy but not achieving any meaningful results due to a lack of purposeful action.

Commotion Inaction is a lot of activity for no meaningful result.

Gordon Brittas

Feel free to use it.

Here are a few tips on how you use it in everyday workplace conversations:

  1. “Are you saying we have tried it before without success and we are doing it again? It sounds like Commotion Inaction”.
  2. “The bosses say just do it. They aren’t interested in the data to understand if it will work. Commotion Inaction, yet again!”
  3. “This is going to be a difficult decision and there could be some real risks in making it. We need Commotion Inaction.”

Ah, its good to be back.

250 – A Call to Transform Local Governance: Beyond Disappointment, Toward a Resilient Future

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200 words (3 minutes reading time) by Tim Whistler

I drafted a response to Colin Weatherby’s post and then decided to ask ChatGPT for help. I was heading down the same path as Colin with a rather dry and technical post. So, I asked ChatGPT to re-write my post as a rousing speech. Something you might hear from someone like Churchill (or me on a soap box).

Here it is.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to rise above the mundane, the short-sightedness, and the status quo. Colin’s technical jargon may have dulled the urgency of the situation, but let me be clear: what we are witnessing is not just disappointing; it’s nothing short of disastrous.

Are we really going to entrust the future of our councils to mere “minders”? Leaders, they are not, for they are steering our councils toward perilous waters, leaving behind a legacy of mess and irresponsibility.

It’s painfully evident that these so-called leaders are opting for the path of least resistance. They’re making decisions that may be easy for them but detrimental to our communities. It’s time for change, and it starts with our councillors.

Our councillors must possess the skills and determination to hold CEOs accountable, not just for short-term gains but for the long-term well-being of our communities. It’s a challenging task, no doubt. But let’s not forget that some among us are mired in short-term thinking, obsessed with the next election, and their own political fortunes. While they may not represent the majority, they exist.

I recently had a conversation with a seasoned local government CEO, and what he revealed was eye-opening. Many CEOs have thrived simply by keeping the council’s finances in check and maintaining cozy relationships with their councillors. But let me ask you, is this a formula for high-performance governance that meets the needs and expectations of our communities? I think not.

What we need, my friends, is nothing short of a transformation in local government. The rate cap has left our current system teetering on the brink of failure. And relying on OECD thinking alone won’t save us from this impending disaster, nor will it shield our communities from the fallout.

So, I implore you, let’s rally together for change. Let’s demand true leadership, accountability, and a vision for the long-term prosperity of our councils and communities. It’s time to act, for the future of our local government depends on it.“

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248 – Some recycling.

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700 words (8 minutes reading time) by Lancing Farrell with ChatGPT

In the best traditions of blogging, I have started recycling some early posts. To add value I have asked ChatGPT to analyse three posts (Post 103 – Classic paper – ‘Managing Government, Governing Management’ by Henry Mintzberg, Post 229 – Coronavirus and local government – time for a new O/S?, and Post 231 – A New City O/S – Stephen Goldsmith and Neil Kleiman) and re-write them as one post.

Mintzberg challenges traditional perspectives on government organization and management, Goldsmith & Kleiman’s book complements Mintzberg by proposing a comprehensive transformation of local government operations. Both identify the need for flexibility and adaptability in addressing the challenges of governance.

Here is the ChatGPT analysis.

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247 – The New Human Movement – Bill Anderson.

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1250 words (12 minutes reading time) by Lancing Farrell

Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini wrote ‘Humanocracy – Creating organisations as amazing as the people inside them‘ in 2020. It examined the way organisations have become over-burdened with bureaucracy, which stops workers learning and contributing, and destroys productivity. In it they produced a blueprint for creating organisations that are more resilient, and improve worker’s jobs and productivity at the same time.

Hamel and Zanini describe the legacy of bureaucracy as ‘top-heavy power structures and rule-choked processes that make organisations timid, inertial and incremental’ in the face of disruptive change. This triggered my interest because of the problems facing councils in Victoria who are starting to deal with the spending gap arising from the State imposed rate cap.

The book followed an influential essay in the Harvard Business Review by Hamel and Zanini in 2016 that estimated bureaucracy in the US costs $3 trillion each year, or 17% of GDP. 

From this thinking, the New Human Movement was born through a Youtube channel, where Hamel and Zanini speak to the ‘bold thinkers and radical doers who are reimagining work, leadership and organization for a new age.’ There are now 29 episodes online and they are all worth watching.

I have selected one episode to discuss because I think it has particular relevance to local government in Victoria. It provides a transformation example all councils could follow.

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246 – Local Government Utopia: 100,000 views by 57,000 readers in 187 countries.  

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600 words (7 minutes reading time) by Lancing Farrell 

It is 8 years since Local Government Utopia started and this post looks back at what has happened.

A lot has been written on the blog covering a wide range of topics. People often suggest to me that the blog would make a good book. There are over 250,000 words in the posts so far. Enough for 25 books. Publishing a book is likely to be less effective than a blog. A non-fiction book is considered successful when 10,000 copies are sold – that’s only 10,000 readers! 

Plus, a blog makes reading cheap and easy.  

I have done some basic analysis of the most popular posts and where readers live in the world. 

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245 – Council BI – some more thinking.

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880 words (7 minutes reading time)  by Lancing Farrell

Source: Qlik

Summary

Australian local governments make decisions on a range of issues that impact their communities, such as planning, zoning, environmental management, infrastructure, waste management, community services, traffic management, and economic development. The decisions they make are influenced by legislative requirements, public input, and deliberation among elected officials. The specific responsibilities and decision-making processes of local governments can vary depending on the state or territory in which they are located. The decision-making process typically includes planning and preparation, public consultation, council meetings, decision-making, implementation, and review and evaluation.

In Colin Weatherby’s post on BI, he looked at how it is used by companies and how it might be used by councils. With some assistance from ChatGPT (I am becoming quite a fan), I have tried to drill down to the actual decisions councils make where BI would be useful.

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243 – Ken Miller – Myth Buster.

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1350 words (12 minutes reading time) by Lancing Farrell

Summary

Ken Miller’s book, “We Don’t Make Widgets: Overcoming the Myths That Keep Government from Radically Improving,” presents the author’s experiences of working in government and his insights on the three myths that hinder the improvement of government services. The first myth is that government services are intangible and cannot be measured or managed, unlike widgets in the manufacturing industry. The second myth is that the people receiving government services cannot be considered customers, as they are hostages who cannot make choices about the provider and have competing interests. The third myth is that governments are not here to make a profit, which Miller defines as the private sector’s way of measuring return on investment.

Thank you to Adam Thompson from Zen Organisations for heading me in the direction of Ken Miller and his book ‘We Don’t Make Widgets’, subtitled, Overcoming the Myths That Keep Government from Radically Improving. It is an interesting read from the viewpoint of someone who has worked in government and spent their life trying to improve it.

Ken Miller was an original myth buster.

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242 – A Grand Strategy.

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850 words (10 minutes reading time) by Colin Weatherby and ChatGPT

A passage from The Book of Local Government:

“And lo, the Local Government was filled with aspirations for the community. But when the State government imposed a rate cap, limiting their capabilities, the leaders knew they must align their aspirations with their limitations through strategy. And Richard Rumelt, a wise strategist, spoke unto them saying “A good strategy addresses the most important and high stakes challenges through a coherent set of analyses, concepts, policies, arguments, and actions.” But many Local Governments strayed from this path, with strategies that lacked a clear central idea and failed to address important problems or opportunities. And Rumelt warned them “If thou fail to identify and analyze the obstacles, thou doth not have a strategy, but instead a stretch goal, a budget or a list of things thou wish would happen.” And the leaders heeded his words, and developed a good strategy to overcome their challenges.”

Source: ChatGPT

I have been inspired for the title of this post by John Lewis Gaddis, who says strategy is necessary for ‘the alignment of potentially unlimited aspirations with necessarily limited capabilities’.  It is strategy that aligns our most important aspirations with our capabilities so that we can achieve them. It is especially important when capabilities are being limited.

Local government is full of aspirations. We deliberately ask the community what they want to create a list of things to do. We don’t wait for them to tell us. Our workers are expert at identifying new needs. We like to say that we really understand community needs and expectations. I suppose, this is where the problem starts when a State government disagrees and decides that people are being charged too much for councils to meet their needs and they introduce a rate cap.

Worse still, is when the State thinks some of those needs should not be met by the council at all or they are being met in ways that are inefficient or frivolous.

“The days of ratepayers footing the bill for Arnold Swarzeneggar impersonators are over.”

Labor leader, Daniel Andrews, 2014

I have recently re-read Richard Rumelt’s book ‘Good Strategy/Bad Strategy’. It is over 10 years old now and remains a classic on strategy. I also read his new book, ‘The Crux’. He has recently described his ideas about strategy as ‘challenge-based strategy’, which is useful when thinking about them in the context of local government. We have challenges.

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241 – Rate capping – the final words (from our future)

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250 words (3 minutes reading time) by ChatGPT (with some help from Colin Weatherby)

The Victorian government has implemented a policy requiring councils to operate and deliver services within the constraints of annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) increases. This means that councils must fundamentally re-think the way they deliver services to the community in order to meet this requirement.

If there are certain services that cannot be delivered within this framework, councils must identify these “special” services and seek a higher rate cap for them. The need for these services must be explained and justified through a community engagement process, as it is essential for the council to have the support of the community for this change.

These special services could vary, such as infrastructure projects that are partially funded by the government but the operating costs fall on the local community, or natural issues specific to a region such as tree canopy coverage or flooding.

To request higher rate caps, councils must demonstrate responsible and efficient use of resources in delivering their regular services within the CPI increase constraint. This will require a dedicated team within the council to understand and work with the Essential Services Commission, the regulator overseeing this policy.

Overall, while it may require a re-thinking of current processes and the development of new skills, there is a pathway (a new paradigm) available for councils to live within the rate cap and meet the needs of their community.

Footnote

It is somehow fitting that the last post on this topic (at least for now) is written by AI using information taken from previous posts. It is illustrative of the efficiencies the rate cap must drive if councils are to deliver services with only CPI increases. Over 500 words in random paragraphs were reduced to 250 words of clarity in seconds. The essential actions were gleaned from many ideas. Councils need to do this.

Footnote to the Footnote

When asked to take the Footnote and re-write it, ChatGPT became quite chatty about itself …

The task at hand for councils is clear: to deliver services to the community within the constraints of annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) increases. This requires a fundamental re-thinking of the way services are currently delivered, and an emphasis on efficiency and productivity. The use of AI, like in the example of this post, serves as a reminder of the potential for technology to aid in streamlining processes and identifying key messages. It is now up to councils to take this concept and apply it to their own operations, in order to meet the demands of the community within the rate cap.

240 – In the beginning …

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1000 words (10 minutes reading time) by Carole Davidson

The posts so far about the impact of the rate cap explain what is happening, but do they really help to work out what to do about it? Councils can tighten their belts and, perhaps, raise alternative revenues to replace lost rates. My question is will that be enough?

I thought I would go back to the beginning. Why did the Victorian Labor government think the rate cap was needed and what were they hoping to achieve? I am pretty sure that unless they see the changes in local government that they were after, they will not change their position. Even if they did, it is my understanding that the rate cap has bipartisan support, so the opposition will need to agree or they will simply reintroduce it if they win office.

The earliest information I can find is a report in The Age on 4 May 2014 saying that the then Labor opposition leader Daniel Andrews was promising a rate cap if his party were to be successful in the election being held in November that year. Their stated intention was to give ratepayers a ‘fair go’. Under the rate cap, councils would have to detail where every dollar they spend goes.

“The days of ratepayers footing the bill for Arnold Swarzeneggar impersonators are over”

Source: State councils must cap rates under Labor plan, The Age 4 May 2014
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