Beyond light bulbs and pipelines

Innovation will be vital over the coming years to ensure public services can achieve more with less, but how ready is the public sector to be innovative? The need to "achieve-more-with-less" moved from being the latest Civil Service buzz phrase to a very stark reality with the announcement of George Osborne's first budget. Over the next four years, unprotected departments will see their budgets cut by at least a quarter, and for some possibly 40%. But the social and economic challenges facing public services in the 21st century will continue to persist and in many cases intensify. Tackling stubborn and complex problems with cuts of this magnitude, demands public sector innovation. But there is a considerable risk that a narrow view of efficiency will prevail which will see public services deteriorate and miss the potential of innovation to offer different and better for less. Thinking differently At its most basic, innovation requires public servants to reconsider what they do; redefining problems and approaching them from different perspectives. The 13 Total Place pilots have been a catalyst for public servants from across agencies to come together to do just this. The initiative looks at how organising services around places and citizens can achieve better outcomes at less cost. Those involved report the power of engaging with citizens and understanding services from their perspective. From this starting place, the pilots are now rethinking public services in their locality. The Croydon pilot, for example, engaged with frontline workers and managers, utilised video ethnography and collaborative techniques, mapped customer journeys, and took advantage of brokering organisations to challenge their thinking. Building on this insight, the partners have developed a new vision for early years support in Croydon, with a focus on working with families, building resilience and social networks, early intervention, targeted interventions and joined-up support, which they estimate will achieve "significantly improved outcomes at reduced cost". The ability of public servants to take a step back, redefine the issue they face and revaluate their approach will be vital over the coming years. More than just good ideas But unleashing creative new ideas is only part of the story. A greater challenge is how to make something of them; ensuring that they are spread, and adapted and adopted by others. Lots of bright ideas will not improve services or make a dent in the deficit unless they see the light of day. If government is to make the most of the more-with-less opportunities innovation presents, we need to bin the imagery of light bulbs flashing on above people's heads, along with one-size-fits-all approaches to support, and develop a more subtle and sophisticated understanding of what innovation is and how it can be supported. With this in mind, the Sunningdale Institute has produced Beyond Light Bulbs and Pipelines; a report we hope will broaden senior public servants' understanding of innovation and how to lead and nurture it in their sector. We set out a number of models of innovation, suggest where they are most appropriate and offer guidance on how they can be supported. Our key points are: • different settings require different types of innovation with different sources and forms of support. Models of innovation we identify are: R&D Led, High Involvement, Network, Radical, Entrepreneur Driven, Recombinant, and User-Led • strategic leadership is vital to ensuring that the right kind of innovation and the right kind of support are in place. Leaders must create the space, rewards and recognition for developing and adopting ideas. • the level of discretion held by frontline workers will affect the type of innovation needed – continuous improvement (eg lean) may work for those with limited discretion (eg benefit delivery staff), but won't work for doctors and teachers. Where possible, innovations should be co-produced with frontline workers and citizens. • opportunities for platform innovations should be sought, from which other innovations may spring. Organisations should be continually open to new ideas from inside and outside, and make the most of networks, scouts, intermediaries and brokers to nurture and spread innovation The public sector dictum of the time must be: different and better for less. But this will not happen by itself, it will require top officials to take on the strategic leadership responsibility for making it happen, leading and nurturing innovation throughout the public sector. Beyond Light Bulbs and Pipelines: Leading and Nurturing Innovation in the Public Sector is authored by Professor John Bessant (Exeter University), Professor Sue Richards (Sunningdale Institute Director) and Tim Hughes (Sunningdale Institute researcher) and is available as a PDF here