Public sector innovation

One of my current projects is related to the government's recent efforts to transform the delivery of rural public services - in particular in relation to farming, food and conservation. there are many stimulating thoughts around this, but the one I've had in my mind all morning is about the culture of public services, and how this affects innovation. So what I've been discovering in my interviews is a mindset. And then I came across this post by Seth Godin about Abundance and Technically Beyond Reproach, which just sums it up a treat. He concludes with this:

I think what it comes down to is the first question you ask yourself when you see an opportunity or a challenge.

Is it,

"How can I make this bigger, do it faster and change the outcome for all of us?"

or is it

"If this doesn't work, will I get in trouble or will I be okay?"

So the next question is, what to do about it? There is a real need to innovate in the delivery of public services, and from my interviews, there are plenty of people out there at the sharp end with excellent ideas on what to do. But the culture and organisational structure ensure that they either develop a TBR attitude over time as they fail to combat the culture and organisation, and maybe as they get stuffed too frequently by 'getting into trouble'.

Or they leave. As I did. So what's next? Well I'm mulling over a few ideas as part of my report back. Watch this space...