What problem are we trying to solve?

What problem are we trying to solve?

My former manager asked me this on Thursday. It was in response to the new Public Service Performance Management Agreements, but I think the question applies to what is going on in government and in business. The problem we seem to be trying to solve is perceived apathy- whether it is voter apathy or a workforce that has disengaged, we want people to connect to the systems that they are working within. The funny thing is that people are doing lots and sometimes even more, but yet feel disassociated from the rewards of contributing.

Young people and immigrants (who typically don’t vote) are very active in activities that we would consider to be reflections of engagement- participation in community groups, volunteering, social media, We Day ect. yet they remain hesitant to engage in the formal processes and roles in democracy.

Public servants who are constantly asked to do more with less, have jokes and derision heaped upon them in the media and social media are in fact doing really great jobs delivering service. My road was plowed this morning, even though nasty things are being said about public works budget and management in our local paper.

In the private sector employees still show up at Blackberry and work hard at making it work even though job losses are always looming in the background. The same was true of Nortel when it was in its dying throws.

So what is going on? I think it is that deep down everyone cares about the contribution they are making. No matter what, on some level just saying “to hell with it” isn’t an option. So people work outside and around systems because in the end it is the systems that are broken not the people.