Presentation by Sanford Borins on going beyond innovation awards made at the OECD Conference on Innovating the Public Sector: From Ideas to Impact (12-13 November 2014)

BEYOND INNOVATION AWARDS
OECD WORKSHOP 4, NOV.12, 2014
© Sandford Borins 2014
Professor of Management, University of
Toronto
Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School

Value of Innovation Awards for
Learning
2
 What is asked (award criteria, innovation process)
 Award repeated frequently
 Case studies
 Basic application data (who, where, what, application
history)
 Trends in innovation (all policy areas, within each area)
 Self-monitoring for award managers
 Study innovation process
 “Serial innovators”
 “Hotbeds of innovation”
 International comparisons

Learning about Innovation
3
 Innovations in American Gov’t Awards (Harvard
Kennedy School)
 Annual competition since 1986
 500 initial applications from all levels and policy areas
(prestige and outreach)
 Detailed questionnaire about process of innovation for
approx. 125 semifinalists
 2/3 of applications each year new
 Average of 6 years since innovation introduced

Latest Book and Report
4
(Brookings, 2014)
(IBM Center for The Business of
Government, 2014)

Previous Research on Innovation
5
Innovating with Integrity: How Local
Heroes are Transforming
American Government
(Georgetown, 1998)
 Influenced by the NPM debate
 Innovators (esp. public servants) NOT rule
breakers, loose cannons, self-promoters, power-
grabbers
 Unrecognized role of local heroes in bottom-up
innovation
 Evidence of integrity in innovation

6
 Study of applications to 2010 HKS innovation award
 Replication 20 years after original study (applications
from 1990 to 1994)
 Comparisons with Commonwealth (CAPAM) and Brazil
awards, Eurobarometer 2010 survey, Australian Public
Service survey
 Both quantitative and qualitative
 What has and hasn’t changed about innovation in
government
 Implications for practitioners

What’s Changed?
7
1. More interorganizational collaboration (80 % of
2010 semifinalists involved collaboration within
government or between government and
business or non-profit sector; 30 % in 1990-94)
1A. Greater diversity of funding (average of 2
sources per 2010 semifinalist; federal, state, local
government and non-governmental sources all
fund 50 % of the innovations)

What’s Changed?
8
2. More external evaluation: from 38 % in 1990-94 without
external evaluation to 28 % in 2010 without external
evaluation; more external evaluation by external policy
analysts, internal reviewers, and academic researchers
3. More transfer (from 42 % to 58 %)
4. More media attention (from 54 % in 1990-94 to 91 % in
2010) including local (70 %), professional media (76 %),
and national media (49 %)

What’s Changed?
9
5. Shifts in the innovation agenda in each policy
area
 Fewer community policing applications and
more corrections reform (public safety area)
 Fewer water and soil pollution and more
greenhouse gas emission applications
(environment area)

What’s Remained Constant ?
10
1. Local heroes still matter: 46 % of innovations
initiated by middle manager and/or front line staff
in 2010, 48 % in 1990-94
2. Problem-solving still a more important
antecedent than crisis response (74 % problem,
14 % crisis in 2010; 49 % problem, 30 % crisis in
1990-94), opportunities also important (25 %)

What’s Remained Constant?
11
3. Comprehensive planning still employed more
often than incrementalism (70 % planning, 17 %
incrementalism in 2010; 59 % planning, 30 %
incrementalism in 1990-94); often innovators do
both; pilot studies (40 % in 2010) and public
consultation (35 % in 2010) also frequently used

12
4. Obstacles to change most often internal to the
organization(s) (50 % in both 2010 and 1990-94) and
shortage of resources (20 % in both) and less frequently
external to the organization(s) (30 % in both)
5. Obstacles to change overcome most often through
persuasion (20 % in both) and accommodation (30% in
both); also through finding resources, persistence, building
political support, staying focused, but very rarely through
“hardball” tactics (firing unsupportive managers)

13
6. Innovations continue to produce verifiable
results (people made better off, satisfaction
increased, more people using the program, cost
reduction, productivity increase) …
6A. and to meet innovators’ goals (smooth
implementation, facilitating collaboration,
implementing conceptual models, stimulating
public discussion)

Advice for Practitioners
14
At Conception
 Prepare to collaborate
 Look for a variety of funding sources
 Proactive beats reactive: better to solve problems than confront
crises
 Start with a comprehensive plan but be willing to adapt it
At Implementation
 Anticipate obstacles
 Use the tactics to respond (persuasion, accommodation,
persistence)

More Advice for Practitioners
15
In Operation
 Establish performance indicators and pay attention to them
 Find outside eyes (formal external reviewers)
 Recognize that the media are watching: know whom to approach
and the nature of story they are looking for
Building an Innovative Government
 Support the local heroes (time, resources, protection, access to
networks)
 Innovation teams with funding and access to the political leadership
 Leadership commitment to innovation

16
(Brookings, 2014)
(IBM Center for The Business of
Government, 2014)

Presentation by Sanford Borins on going beyond innovation awards made at the OECD Conference on Innovating the Public Sector: From Ideas to Impact (12-13 November 2014)

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Presentation by Sanford Borins on going beyond innovation awards made at the OECD Conference on Innovating the Public Sector: From Ideas to Impact (12-13 November 2014)