SPEECH BY PROFESSOR ASMAL, MINISTER OF EDUCATION AT THE SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

CSIR Conference Centre, Pretoria 22 November 2000

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY

Chairperson
Ms Ngoasheng
Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you for this opportunity to address you on what I regard as the key to success, not only in the private sector but also the public sector. Hopefully the words Batho Pele, People First, are well-known to all South Africans by now. I am convinced that the programme of Batho Pele will eventually determine the success of our democracy.

Allow me to start with a question: What is the perception of the ordinary South African about the government? You probably know the answer. The ordinary citizen sees the government as hierarchical and centralised bureaucracy, wasting the taxpayer money and not doing the job. Sometimes I think they may even be right.

Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut described this even more directly: “In government, the routine tendency is to protect turf, to resist change, to build empires, to enlarge one’s sphere of control, to protect projects and programmes, regardless of whether or not they are any longer needed.”

Hutnut also provided some of the answers to change the perception of citizens. He said that efficient and effective governments should have the following characteristics:

• “Searching for more efficient and effective ways of managing;
• Willing to abandon old programmes and methods;
• Innovative and creative;
• Take risks;
• Eschews traditional alternatives that offer only life-support systems;
• Works with the private sector;
• Employ solid business sense;
• Creates enterprises and revenue-generating operations;
• Market oriented;
• Focuses on performance measurements;
• Reward merit and outstanding achievement;
• Says, “let’s make this work”; and
• Not be afraid to dream the great dream.”

Although we still have a long way to go to be a really efficient and effective government, I am proud to say that the Hutnut characteristics are becoming the backbone of government actions to make superior service delivery possible.

Having said this, it is important to realise that sustainable service delivery could only take place in a broader context of Public Service Performance Excellence. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time that we show decisive commitment to make sustainable service delivery possible.

Let me explain: The White Paper on Transformation of the Public Service calls on all national and provincial departments to give high priority to service delivery. This means that services should be provided impartially, in a manner that is fair, equitable and without bias. People’ s needs should be met, as our Constitution stipulates.

Furthermore, the White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery, Batho Pele, or People First, contains three important issues to which departments should adhere, namely:

• Identify department-wide service standards;
• Implement department-wide service improvement programmes; and
• Ministers should sign a statement of public service commitment or a service charter.

I will not go about much detail into the Constitution, the two White Papers I have referred to, and the constitutional and the Public Service management framework. However, I wish to emphasise that a policy framework on the improvement of service delivery, which will lead to sustainable service delivery, is in place.

So, what is wrong?

Why is service delivery by government still not as effective and efficient as expected? Why do so many blunders and lapses occur in the delivery of government services?

Because our time is limited, I will only mention a few crucial aspects without which I am afraid we simply cannot achieve sustainable service delivery. These aspects have indirect linkages with service delivery. They are the drivers and enablers of sustainable service delivery.

For the public services to implement the principles of sound service delivery and to sustain these, the real challenge is to apply the concepts of performance excellence as a holistic framework throughout the entire Public Service. This should be done with enthusiasm, collectively and in an integrated way.

An important aspect of service delivery is intelligent leadership.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is important that, as leaders, we should accept a culture of continuous learning and innovation. We must move away from arrogant attitudes and the “I know it all” syndrome. The great psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion argues that arrogance and stupidity are pretty much the same thing, because the one invariably causes the other.

I agree with him.

Therefore, as leaders we need to look at service delivery from a different and innovative perspective. We need intellectual firepower to deal with the complexity of service delivery, because service delivery is not only the most important part of the transformation process, it also forms the framework of performance excellence. Well-known American service guru, Karl Albrecht, emphasises this fact by saying, “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.”

To indicate the necessary linkages between service delivery and performance excellence, public services should use the fundamental concepts upon which performance excellence is based, as the framework of their actions namely:

• Results orientation;
• Customer focus;
• Leadership and consistency of purpose;
• Management by process and facts;
• People development and involvement;
• Continuous learning, improvement and innovation;
• Partnership development; and
• Public responsibility.

The way in which these concepts are linked and support one another is extremely important. The main challenge within this framework of performance excellence is how public services should mobilise all its resources and integrate and direct all its activities towards improving processes, policies and services.

This approach to performance excellence merges the different elements of a department's operational process into one holistic management framework. This will ensure that departments resources are effectively mobilised and integrated through a series of activities and projects, each of which will focus on improving organisational and personal performance, and at the same time enhance service delivery.

What are the three main themes of this approach?

• Firstly, an integrated Planning Cycle. This involves the development and revision of corporate, operational and action plans, which should be translated into individual performance plans and performance contracts. Importantly, planning should use an comes-based process at all levels.
• Secondly, the continued development of a corporate culture of performance excellence. This culture should be aimed at appropriate leadership and management styles, values, attitudes, behaviours, innovation and commitment. Not only does it support thlanning process itself, but it also has a direct influence on overall organisational performance. In other words, departments could develop an excellent planning process, but without leadership, values, commitment, etc. the results achieved will always be sub-optimal.
• In the third place, leaders and managers should ensure that all staff members have the necessary resources and assistance to achieve the outcomes defined through the planning process. It links the planning, or what we do, with the need to develop thelture of performance excellence, or how we do it.

Ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately time does not allow me to comment on all eight elements of the framework for an excellent public service that I have mentioned. I would therefore use the time available to discuss some important elements.

The first one is Leadership and Management, which implies ways in which the behaviour and actions of senior management inspire, support and promote a culture of performance excellence.

Leadership and management involve three key implications:

Number one is that a distinction needs to be drawn between the role of political leadership and that of other leaders in the Public Sector.

Number two is directed at ways through which self-assessment and improvement should address the management role, and how it interfaces with the performance agreements.

The third element is directed at visible involvement in the setting and supporting of customer-oriented goals, balanced with the Constitutional mandate and departmental strategic objectives. Leaders need to show a clear understanding of who their various customers and stakeholders are. Ultimately, managers should know how to create a balance between political imperatives, and a commitment to clients, citizens and politicians.

Unconsciously, or sometimes consciously, we as leaders and managers forget that the staff working for us, are our first direct clients. They are our most important resource and also the most neglected.

But how can leaders visibly demonstrate their commitment to a culture of performance excellence?

This can be done, inter alia, in the following way:

• Set the direction of the organisation and seek future opportunities for the team or organisation, depending on your mandate;
• Develop and incorporate clear values and high performance expectations;
• Act as models of the organisation’s values and expectations and lead by example;
• Personally give and receive training to create a learning organisation;
• Act as coaches and mentors;
• Make yourself accessible by listening and responding to the staff;
• Be active and personally involved in improvement activities, especially in administration where blunders and lapses usually occur; and
• Review and improve our own leadership skills.

Another element I wish to refer to is the management of the performance of the individual and the organisation. We must also appreciate the very important link between these activities. The impact and importance of this linkage only becomes apparent when we realise that the excellence of government is in fact the sum of individual excellence.

The questions is: What are the qualities of performance management that maintains a strong focus on the achievement of planned outcomes and performance management strategies, including ongoing monitoring and evaluation?

The answer:

• Make it possible to assess the extent to which planned outcomes have been achieved, that is effectiveness;
• Demonstrate the delivery of outputs in terms of the key attributes, including quantity, quality and cost of delivery, which will make it possible to assess the efficiency of the organisation;
• Provide information about the implementation of policies that are relevant to the achievement of outcomes; and
• Demonstrate the links between outputs and planned outcomes.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is a general fear and resistance among managers of evaluation, monitoring and assessment.

The main reason for this may be a lack of understanding the real benefit and motive behind performance management. Let me explain.

A performance management and development system, directed at assessing individuals or an organisation, should house the following key principles:

• It should improve performance in a positive, forward-looking way;
• The work plan and performance agreements should be linked to implementation plans;
• The assessment should be results-based, that is the what that a person achieve should relate to the expected outcomes of the organisation, plus the capabilities. Also important is the how, which relates to the culture of the organisation, including tvalues, behaviour, attitudes, commitment to the outcomes and innovation;
• The system should recognise and minimise subjectivity; and
• It should be a participative process.

The measuring of the performance of the organisation is also of vital importance. This should not only indicate the progress made with organisational outcomes, but also give an indication on what processes an organisation should accelerate in order to achieve its outcomes.

Let me also mention a few key elements of an instrument that should measure the performance of an organisation:

• The instrument should be a method for reaching agreement on where activities should be heading and making sure that they stay on course;
• It should focus on a deliberately selected set of measures and on using them to achieve and communicate a shared view of the organisation’s strategy for its future development;
• It should be complemented to financial controls and as a means of reducing the danger of a harmful short-term approach, while at the same time making the staff more aware of the meaning of their work and of the underlining assumptions about the futured the organisation;
• It should be a change approach: from economic control to strategic control; and
• The instrument is intended to link short-term operational control to the long-term vision and strategy.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is clear that the measurement of performance should be no threat for staff. However, remember that what you measure is what you get. If we as leaders and managers do not set the example, if we do not measure the performance of individuals and the organisation consistently without fear or favour, then we have to be satisfied with what we will get. Setting the example means that we too should be open for assessment.

You see, we should create a conducive environment for staff in which to perform.

The elements I outlined in detail here are the elements that drive, enable, and empower staff to perform and achieve the expected outcomes of their organisation.

If we are not going to invest time and energy in these elements, we cannot expect sustainable service delivery.

Now you might ask me what should happen in a department in order to achieve sustainable service delivery within the context of a performance excellence framework?

Please allow me to mention to you the eight key performance outcomes that the Department of Education wishes to achieve in the next four years in order to sustain service delivery throughout all education departments and institutions:

1. All education departments and institutions should have an Integrated Planning Cycle, which reflects national trends and expectations; balances financial, operational, strategic and people-management priorities, and is outcomes-driven and results-oriented.

We will know this has been achieved when a combination of the strategic plans of departments and institutions create a single national education plan, which incorporates outcomes-driven and results-oriented financial, operational, strategic and people management priorities, and which reflects and is responsive to national trends and community expectations.

2. All education departments and institutions should have implemented a Performance Management and Development Scheme, which assesses the work performance of individuals; identifies their development needs; and assesses the extent to which effective work cultures are in place in departments and institutions.

We will know this has been achieved when staff in departments and institutions receive regular performance management feedback; receive advice on their personal development needs; and when the work culture of departments and institutions are reported on periodically in terms of their effectiveness and support for work performance.

3. A key guiding principle of all education departments and institutions will be that of service to learners, partners and stakeholders.

We will know this has been achieved when departments and institutions are regarded by learners, partners and stakeholders as being committed to the Batho Pele principle, focus on customer needs and are responsive to continuing changes in those needs. This will be reflected in public comments by relevant interest groups and acknowledged by relevant commentators.

4. All education departments and education institutions will establish performance measures built around organisational outcomes considered vital both to each institution's present success and its ability to perform successfully in the future.

We will know this has been achieved when a range of organisational performance measures is published for departments and institutions, which allow their achievements and performance against key organisational outcomes to be assessed, both now and in future.

5. All education departments and institutions should have in place effective and well-functioning financial and administrative systems and procedures which support their delivery of educational outputs and outcomes, and are committed to the continuous improvement of these systems and procedures.

We will know this has been achieved when independent surveys and audit inspections show that the basic financial and administrative systems and procedures of departments and institutions are working well. The effectiveness of these systems and procedures will also be evidenced by a reduction in public criticism and critical comment on the administrative deficiencies of departments and institutions. The commitment of departments and institutions to continuous improvement processes will be proved by the existence of an appropriate performance-oriented culture.

6. All education departments and institutions should have suitably skilled managers and leaders who provide efficient and effective direction, guidance and support to the work of their organisation.

We will know this has been achieved when managers have the management skills necessary to ensure that efficient systems, procedures and controls are in place in their organisations, and when they have the leadership skills to ensure that the organisation’s priorities and directions are well articulated and followed.

7. All education departments and institutions have integrated their collection of data, which can be translated into meaningful information and knowledge and is managed in such a way as to contribute to the continuous improvement of organisational processes, policies and achievements.

We will know this has been achieved when all education departments and institutions manage their data and knowledge in such a way that it provides a clear basis for the present and future work of the organisations.

8. All education departments and institutions maintain an effective communication network with learners, stakeholders, customers and citizens, which enables the dissemination of relevant information and ensures appropriate two-way interaction between them.

We will know this has been achieved when learners, stakeholders, customers and citizens receive the information they need about the work of education departments and institutions. We will also know this has been achieved when stakeholders experience that there are appropriate channels to ensure two-way interaction, and that their voices are being heard.

Lastly, I believe that the only reason why Government and departments exist is to deliver a professional service to the citizens.

I conclude by reading to you Brutus’s words from Julius Caesar, Act IV, Scene 3:

Please do not let this opportunity to ensure a sustainable service delivery pass you by!

I thank you.