Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Innovation and Transformation in Government

by Laura Durity

As a licensed lawyer, self-proclaimed political junkie and a first year Darden student who is interested in the intersection between government, business and law, I was particularly pleased to see a panel of senior government officials addressing the “business” of government, a topic too infrequently addressed at Darden. The panel offered a different perspective on how the management skills Darden teaches can be applied (and where they are desperately needed).

Although I agree with panelist Robert Motyka, a Darden alum and Senior Manager at the Federal Reserve Board, that the United States government is not a business, as the panelists made clear modernizing how our government’s operations with ideas and innovations from the private sector is essential. Darden alum and panelist Pat Nicklin, Executive VP & COO of Partnership for Public Service emphasized the need to improve federal government operations and , perhaps more importantly, inspire agencies to hire mission critical talent who can improve agencies’ ability to do more with shrinking dollars. Panelist Eric Schweikert, Director of Compliance Analytics at the Internal Revenue Service, agreed that the biggest hurdle facing government agencies is a lack of resources, both money and staff. As a result, he said, the IRS can “do something of everything but not all of anything.” The panelists also emphasized other challenges of government leadership: how to function when strategic goals are lacking or amorphous and how to motivate employees to improve performance when poor performance rarely leads to job loss.

However, I found the panelists concluding remarks to be the most salient. Eric summarized that whether Americans desire a small or large government, all Americans should want a government that operates efficiently and with greater professionalism. I agree. Why not demand higher standards of performance from our government instead of concluding it cannot improve? Why can’t this politically-neutral goal be a unifying point for Americans? Moderator Roberta Mourao of Accenture’s Federal Government Practice and the panelists illustrated several recent innovations in government leadership but in general, these seem few and far between. Ultimately, I agreed with Robert’s conclusion: Darden should offer more coursework concerning what it means to be a government manager in contrast to a for profit manager. Maybe then more accomplished MBAs will be interested in fostering innovation in both the private and government sectors.

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