How to get things done in government

Labour faces a choice: continue with business-as-usual in Whitehall or power up mission-driven task forces.

The primary force required to send a rocket into orbit is thrust, the propulsion generated by the rocket engine. For a successful launch, the thrust must be greater than the opposing forces of gravity and atmospheric drag, allowing the rocket to reach a high enough altitude and the tremendous speed needed to achieve orbit.

I have not found a better description of what it takes to get anything done in government, such are the ‘forces of conservatism’ and ‘atmospheric drag’.

This government needs thrust and a lot of it, if it is to change the country. Thrust to tackle the boats. Thrust to build 1.5 million new homes. Thrust to turn around the NHS. Thrust to get growth again in the economy.

There’s too little thrust around at the moment.

So, there’s a choice for the Prime Minister and his new chief secretary, Darren Jones: continue with a business-as-usual Whitehall mentality or switch decisively to the propulsion generated by mission-driven government.

The business-as-usual model involves departments working in silos, Cabinet Committees where ministers read out their pre-prepared briefs, delivery units shouting ever more loudly from the centre, and civil-servant-led policy teams charged with delivering hugely ambitious real world targets with no track record of doing so.

The missions model involves ring-fenced, multidisciplinary task-forces, led by the best person in the country/world - public or private - with experience of delivery, harnessing data and new technology, developing a culture of innovation and experimentation and using the power of local mayors and on the ground experience to get the job done.

Given the public’s increasing impatience for change, this isn’t one of the more difficult decisions. If the government is to make good on its new mantra of ‘delivery, delivery, delivery’, it’s got to move quickly to the missions’ approach.

In Opposition, the Prime Minister laid out clearly what was needed to get things done. In a speech launching the missions he asked some searching questions:

“How do we devolve decision-making to those with the real expertise on the ground? How do we bring people affected – every day – by the issues we must solve, into the heart of our decision-making? How do we make sure that our relentless focus on the ends goes alongside flexibility, creativity and imagination about the means? How do we change incentives so that we embrace technology rather than be afraid of the risk that comes with the new? How, in everything we do, can we take a preventative approach? I’m not concerned about whether investment or expertise comes from the public or private sector – I just want to get the job done. Not command and control, Whitehall knows best, but an approach that understands what national renewal means – change for all, from all.”

There have been some attempts to answer these questions, but after a year in power it’s been too patchy.

There needs to be a step change in the second year.

All of the following need to be in place and firing on all cylinders.

Prime Ministerial time, attention and drive

Everything flows from the top.

The Prime Minister’s time is his most precious commodity. How he spends it signals what is important. There needs to be a relentless focus on the strategy and implementation of delivering his national missions.

This means:

1. Turbo-charging the sense of urgency - focusing relentlessly on the things that matter most

2. Bulldozing through blockages - doing whatever it takes - new structures, new legislation, new people - to get the job done

3. Finding and hiring the best talent - persuading the best talent from anywhere in the world to join the national effort to turn around the country

4. Ensuring spending follows mission task forces not departmental silos

5. Fostering a climate of innovation - working in new ways, rewarding the innovators not those who play it safe

6. Building partnerships - properly galvanising all the key players who need to make change happen

7. Communicating a compelling change narrative - constantly explaining the rationale for change, giving milestones, being honest when things get in the way, championing successes.

The Future Governance Forum has written an excellent paper on the capacities and new ways of working that need to be established to make mission government work.

A Missions Mindset: Multi-disciplinary task forces working on key projects

Each of the five government missions needs to be broken down into distinct project task forces. The above table gives an example of what they might be.

Learning from previous examples like the Rough Sleepers Unit, Vaccine Task Force, and Social Exclusion Unit, there needs to be an approach that is characterised by some of these key elements: (each project will have a slightly different mix).

• A dynamic leader who has the expertise and hunger to drive the project to success

• A team of civil servants and external practitioners who stay in post for the duration of the project and are on the hook for getting the job done

• A multi-disciplinary team including data analysts, technologists, project managers, policy specialists, frontline practitioners, and strategic communications experts.

• The resources needed to make an impact

• A culture of innovation and experimentation - constantly testing, learning, refining, growing

There needs to be a ‘war room’ style set up for each project where there is a sense of urgency and buzz as each milestone is met - for example each 100,000 homes.

For each project there needs to be a baseline audit of the state of play, horizon scanning of the best solutions, a ten year plan with milestones and a coalition built around it. This has been done well for the health mission - beginning with the Darzi Report on the state of the NHS and more recently with the publication of the NHS 10 year plan.

A delivery unit should be designed to do very specific things - beyond progress chasing - to enhance and support the task forces. Tackle blockages across Whitehall. Benchmark progress. Test out whether change is being felt on the ground. Ensure there is a talent pipeline of suitable people feeding into the task forces.

Mission boards should be very different from traditional Cabinet Committees. They should not just have all the relevant Ministers from across government who are key to that mission. But also robust external challenge from experts on the speed and design of each project.

There needs to be a proper forum - not a talking shop - that involves Mayors and local leaders in the design and implementation of these project teams. They are ultimately crucial to the success of missions and should be treated with respect and fully integrated into the process.

There are some good examples of this missions’ mindset being developed in government, notably the Test, Learn and Grow programme kickstarted by former Cabinet Office Minister (now Schools’ Minister) Georgia Gould. These are bottom up projects that are testing new approaches to tackling thorny issues such as establishing neighbourhood health services, better supporting children with special needs, getting more people into work, and tackling violence against women and girls.

This way of working needs to be spread across Whitehall and become a new model for how change happens across government, not the exception.

One of the best papers on what this new approach could look like is written by Nesta and Public Digital called the Radical How. More detail is provided in this Institute for Government/Nesta paper including some of the enabling conditions - structures, culture, data to make it happen.

Finding and recruiting the best talent

None of the aims of the government will be achieved without the right people in the right positions.

I remember from Blair’s government, that big successful changes required a guiding coalition of (i) a strong Secretary of State (ii) an expert, driven special adviser (iii) a powerful Number 10 ally (iv) a radical permanent secretary (v) an external expert. When David Blunkett drove forward the literacy strategy in Labour’s first term, all of those components were present.

It means the promotion of civil servants who deliver real impact.

It means politicians being clear about the change they want, making a strong case for it and driving it forward.

The incentives, and structures need to allow for more seamless integration of outside experts. At the moment there is too much resistance to outsiders from senior civil servants, too much rigidity on pay and conditions.

Each department needs to become skilled at building partnerships, tapping into local expertise and empowering the frontline.

My last post was on why missions are important, this one set out how to implement them, so they force through change. Time is running out to get these structures in place.

It is difficult work escaping the gravitational pull of the status quo.

To reach orbit, a rocket’s trajectory must be extremely precise: the right altitude, the right angle, the right speed. Being slightly off means re-entry and destruction in the atmosphere, or drifting into useless space.

Now is the time for the missions - and delivery - to reach orbit.