Government by the numbers: 3, 1, 3, 4

Dear Bob …

What are the tricks for applying the 3,1,3,4 (“Secretive solutions,” Keep the Joint Running, 9/3/2007) to government entities? I just made the switch from private industries to county organization, and it’s been a real ‘eye-opener’, in every sense of the word… Any help/tips/support there? If not, where do I go? Would you please give me some pointers?

– Adapting

Dear Adaptable …

I don’t see why any of this would need to be modified. This is how you go about organizing your thoughts and plans, and how you go about leading your team.

What you probably need to adjust are your expectations. That isn’t because you now work for a government entity. It’s because you work for a different entity.

Government entities have a reputation for stodginess – for being slow, bureaucratic, and hard to change. I haven’t done enough work in the public sector to be able to judge whether they are, on the average, any slower, more bureaucratic or harder to change than businesses or non-profits. (I’m certainly not going to base my judgment on “everybody knows” arguments, either.)

What I do know is that businesses run the gamut from nimble to glacial. I’d expect government entities to do the same.

This all matters because having a three-year vision, one-year strategy, three month goals and four week plan still makes sense for you. What doesn’t make sense is to assume an unrealistic pace of change and try to drive your organization harder than it is capable of changing … or harder than the larger organization in which it is embedded will allow it to change.

Your guideline: Your goals should be aggressive, but not hallucinatory.

– Bob

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