Dan Chenok

Enabling the public sector to deliver on mission priorities remains a major research theme of the IBM Center for The Business of Government.   Making this vital connection between outcomes that agencies strive for on behalf of the citizens they serve, and the good management needed to achieve those outcomes, is a critical link for effective government. 

Earlier this year, the IBM Center for The Business of Government and the Partnership for Public Service co-hosted a roundtable on innovation. The focus was how the next administration can use innovation to support the achievement of their priorities, how new agency leaders drive and sustain innovation, and how to enhance customer experience, and support empowerment of citizens and businesses.

Blog Co-Author: Alan Howze

Governments around the world face similar challenges, including how to raise program performance given constrained budgets, how to manage the development of policies and regulations for maximum benefit, and how to harness innovation to improve operations and serve citizens.  As governments have begun to explore sharing best practices for addressing these and similar challenges, the IBM Center for The Business of Government has increasingly worked with global leaders who are interested in research and actionable recommendations to raise public sector effectiveness.

By using an enterprise-wide view of how the government can work, the next president may be more effective in getting large-scale initiatives underway and successfully completed, writes University of Massachusetts Distinguished Professor Jane Fountain, in a new report, being released today jointly by the IBM Center and the Partnership for Public Service.

The report offers three key recommendations to the next president’s transition team and the next White House:

The IBM Center for The Business of Government is committed to helping identify and distill the lessons learned from the past, identify current and new management initiatives and capacities that will be needed to address key challenges facing the country in the next administration, and offer ideas on implementation.

(with Joiwind Ronen Ethos Strategic Consulting)

NOTE: Today I've invited a colleague, John Bordeaux, to be a guest blogger.  Hope you enjoy his insights as much as I do!

Recently, President Obama spoke at the South by Southwest Conference (SXSW).  “We are at a moment in history where technology, globalization, and our economy is changing so fast,” he said. “Those changes offer us enormous opportunities but also are very disruptive and unsettling. They empower individuals to do things that they could have never dreamed of before, but they also empower folks who are very dangerous to spread dangerous messages.” Then he gave his pitch.  “So the reason I’m here really is to recruit all of you.”  Why is disruptive innovation on the president’s agenda?

On Monday, at an event with the Secretaries of State, Commerce, Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Obama Administration released its international strategy for cyberspace.  The strategy, described in a post from White House Cyber Coordinator Howard Schmidt, for the first time outlines a number of principles that the US will follow i

For the duration of their time in office, the president and members of the administration will seek to make smart and timely decisions that advance a presidential agenda and respond to emerging challenges.

Some decisions, such as those that inform the budget, will follow well-worn processes and timelines.  In other cases, new decision processes will address emerging challenges. How incoming leaders make decisions will significantly influence the effectiveness of their choices.