The Covid-19 pandemic has evolved from a major public health crisis to also a major economic and jobs crisis, the full extent of which is still unfolding. Yet, at its core, Covid-19 is just the latest in a growing list of disruptors confronting governments. They are also testimony to a global environment is becoming increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.

Tech disruptions, cyberthreats, terrorism, natural hazards – there is no doubt that disrupters abound. Massive societal change and demographic shifts, likewise, demand adaptation and preparation by governments.

While future events may not take the same shape as the pandemic, they WILL require governments to navigate profound disruptions nimbly and effectively. This short note will seek to present an overarching framework based on lessons on how our governments can navigate a continuously disrupted world.

Covid & public services

The pandemic threatens our health, livelihood and peace of mind – our way of life. In times like this, all of the population all need public service organisations to help them stay resilient and emerge stronger.

Public services are at the forefront of the crisis. While public emergency response and recovery capabilities are strong, they are best suited for discrete events with a fixed duration. We face a very different challenge today. Public services must rapidly adjust to this new reality across three overlapping dimensions: crisis response, pandemic operations and long-term recovery. This is a balancing act in managing the now and the next, the present state and the future reality, or the new normal.

The now. Rising up to the challenge

As from the very case of transmission and response from a public health authority, it was obvious that government had to deal with a number of issues concurrently and ensure that it can handle a crisis of unknown proportions and on multiple fronts. The key dimensions that one can highlight are:

• Surge response - people’s engagement with public service organisations is surging. They want to know what will happen to the vital services they interact with;

• Response governance - collaboration across an ecosystem of government agencies is at the heart of successfully keeping everyone involved in the Covid response pulling in the same direction;

• Communication & collaboration – providing trusted information about the pandemic is a lifeline for the people;

•  Economic stability - the pandemic is having a very strong effect on the global economy and governments had to intervene forcefully;

• Operational continuity - operations had to flex as numerous agencies had to deal with new requests and also accommodate the safety measures introduced which impinged on operations;

• Monitoring & response - amid all the noise and uncertainty that surrounds the pandemic, the facts will see us through

The next. Preparing for the new normal

This pandemic will end. When it does, we will reflect on what we have been through – what we have lost and what we have learned. What’s heartening is that people are resilient, innovative and strong. So are public sector organisations.

I am confident that going forward, many of the capabilities we all built in in our public service organisations will be embraced as standard practice. In fact, I am confident that this experience and response to the crisis will place government agencies in a position to make rapid advancements in performance, leaving legacy technology and operations behind in favour of new capabilities adopted during the pandemic.

There are five main lessons that can be distilled, and which can be described as the five forces of change in public sector organisations:

• Flexible workforce - to keep the workforce safe, public organisations transitioned employees to remote working status during the crisis. With all the logistics and security issues addressed, there is no reason for this to disappear when the crisis ends;

• Break the silos - building on the networks formed during the crisis, public sectors need to continue working more closely across ministries and agencies;

• Embrace digital - the crisis has shown that public services need to be digital to the core to build additional resilience. More work needs to be done to deepen digitalization and to ensure that the mentality is truly digital and seamless. This will bring benefits to all;

• Secure supply chains - supply chains had to be assessed and strengthened. In the future, public sector organisations will continue to adopt new sourcing and data models so that supply chains are flexible and secure;

• The role of AI - AI-powered technology is helping agencies process information quickly and accurately right now. Automation and AI will become more desirable for maintaining service levels. The future will see greater adoption of AI across public organisations. With it will come new roles, new governance and new public service delivery models.

Facing future disruptions

The future environment remains highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Different shocks will ask from our organisations a response, not necessarily as that necessitated by the pandemic, but we will still have to rise up to the challenge.

Governments will need enhanced capabilities in three areas to help navigate both current uncertainties and tomorrow’s even more uncertain world

Foresight

Identifying forces and events that could place unprecedented demands on governments and their mission but could also create new opportunities for governments. Foresight abilities generally focus on two themes – understanding trends and uncertainties and analysing scenarios. The key is to use foresight as a mechanism to build organizational bias toward action rather than paralysis in the face of uncertainty.

Agility

Adjusting quickly to changes affecting customers, operations and the broader ecosystem. Agility requires organizational characteristics that allow resources, data and staffing to flow and adapt as needed. This means, becoming an adaptable organization, driven by fast, flexible decision-making that learns and adapts constantly.

Resilience

Withstanding and recovering from disruptions. Investing in resilience can help organisations structure their processes, resources and systems to better withstand future disruptions, so that performance will remain relatively unaffected or "bounce back” quickly.

The Covid pandemic will be a turning point for us all, and for everyone we serve as leaders of the public service. This is a challenge to which we have all rose and confronted. This is a time to build and adapt our organisations so they can weather the most unexpected events and disruptors because public service will always remain at the forefront of any crisis.

What is required is a cultural shift, one that recognises that success requires the ability to anticipate, adapt to, and withstand disruptive events. Leaders should embrace these capabilities for the organization while developing their own skills in foresight, agility and resilience.

The writer is a co-founding partner of Seed, an international focused advisory firm.

www.seedconsultancy.com | jp@seedconsultancy.com