The Public Innovator's Playbook
Book

The Public Innovator's Playbook

Nurturing bold ideas in government

William D. Eggers and Shalabh Kumar Singh
Deloitte/ Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Institute, 2009
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

People don’t usually associate creativity and innovation with government and bureaucracy, but William D. Eggers, executive director of Deloitte’s Public Leadership Institute, and economist Shalabh Kumar Singh say a public agency can be as innovative as any private company. Innovation is a discipline, like budgeting or planning. If innovation is not a core value in your organization, you’re missing the major ingredient you need to survive the shifting challenges of public administration. Referring to nimble private, public and nonprofit organizations, the authors explain innovation-building processes even big agencies can implement. Helpful infographics illustrate their concepts. getAbstract recommends this solid workbook to public agency leaders (especially new ones) and to other executives who want to harness the power of good ideas.

Summary

“The Innovation Cycle”

Too often, public-sector organizations are inflexible. To implement innovation, a government agency must look outward and harvest ideas from public officials, employees, citizens and other organizations. View innovation as a four-phase cycle in which each phase of the process is crucial to creating a forward-thinking learning organization:

  1. “Idea generation” – Put processes in place to generate new ideas continually.
  2. “Idea selection” – Systematically analyze fresh ideas to rank them for their value.
  3. “Idea implementation” – Convert ideas into practical solutions, goods and services.
  4. “Idea diffusion” – Engage stakeholders and spread innovation in the organization.

Putting Them All Together

Everyone has ideas about how to run government, so finding new concepts isn’t a problem. Public hearings, elected officials, citizen groups and employees are all sources of solutions to improve public administration. Encourage unbridled idea generation free of early criticism or rejection, which inhibit creativity...

About the Authors

William D. Eggers, executive director of Deloitte’s Public Leadership Institute, heads public sector research at Deloitte Research, where economist Shalabh Kumar Singh is a manager.

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