Gov't must lead in disruptive thinking to help improve citizen outcomes - EY
EY's Bjorn Conway says disruption is more than a digital movement, "it is the key that unlocks innovation."
I keep hearing the word ‘disruption’ but what does it really mean? If you looked up disruption a few years back in the Oxford dictionary, you would have seen something of a negative connotation, often associated with transport schedules:
"Disturbance or problems which interrupt an event, activity, or process: the scheme was planned to minimize disruption."
Now, ‘disruption’ has taken on a new positive meaning and has become synonymous with the digital/tech movement. This is true to a point. There is no doubt that technology is and will continue to force a change in thinking. Business and people will need to ‘adapt and adopt’ or ‘adopt and adapt’, depending on how immersed they are in the movement. You can read more about this in our Megatrends paper. But there is more to disruption than just digital. To me, disruption is a way of thinking. It is the remit to force ourselves to think differently about how we identify and respond to challenges and changes at work and in our personal lives. It is the key that unlocks innovation.
In 2016, a more recent dictionary.com definition of disruption reads like this: “Business. a radical change in an industry, business strategy, etc.,especially involving the introduction of a new product or service that creates a new market.”
The important words in that definition are ‘new product or service and new market’. This is what disruption is all about - creation. So, how does this translate for Government and what are some of the ways that they are taking the lead in disruptive thinking to help improve citizen outcomes?
The best way to understand this is by taking a look at some of the areas and innovations that Government has already delivered. More often than not, the innovations go unnoticed by the media and subsequently, the general public. But the reality is that there are huge amounts of innovation in the civil service. These are celebrated annually at the Civil Service Awards – an initiative which recognises innovation and one which EY is proud to support. I want to share a handful of some of the best examples of innovation from the 2015 awards:
Reducing the weight of army ballistic uniform without losing mobility - Multidisciplinary Body Armour Coverage Analysis Team
A small team of three have developed world-leading and innovative approaches to improve the ballistic uniform of UK Armed Forces personnel. The team assessed the different requirement across areas of the body (including arms, abdomen and thorax) to maximise protection without a loss of mobility for soldiers. Their work will help to reduce the weight of the soldier's protective uniform and improve interoperability with other equipment. Undoubtedly this will save lives. The initiative has also saved the Ministry of Defence over 1.5M in procurement costs.
Breaking the cycle of crime for prisoners due for release - Working Out Team, HMP Standford Hill
The ‘Working Out Team’, working with HMP Standford Hill (an open resettlement prison) has a focus on breaking the cycle of crime. They embarked on a programme to improve the work ethos and employability of prisoners due for release. They achieved this through a twofold approach: 1) breaking down barriers with employers to secure employment for prisoners and 2) addressing the skills gap in prisoners. Rehabilitation of offenders is at the core of their delivery, with half of the prison's population now engaged with the ‘Working Out Team’ to improve their employability and work ethos. Some of their successes include 65 prisoners who are now lorry drivers which has helped to address the 45,000 national deficit. Communities are also cleaner and have been refurbished with the equivalent of 37 years’ worth of work including litter picking, gardening and refurbishment of village halls.
Digitalisation of HM Land Registry service creates efficiencies - MapSearch Project: HM Land Registry
The Land Registry is digitising its huge volume of paper transactions to make them faster and cheaper. The project is a part of the larger MapSearch project, a service used by 6,000 customers every day. The free-to-use digital service was launched in March 2014 and has enabled over 130,000 business customers to establish whether land and property in England or Wales is registered; view and record the location of land and property; obtain Land Registry title information and save a PDF record of their search enquiry. HM Land Registry wanted to reduce the resources required to perform ‘Search of the Index Map (SIMs) - a paid-for service used to discover if land is registered and obtain title numbers, essential in the conveyancing process. The service has led to a 50% reduction in annual intake of SIMs from 610,000 to 300,000 as well as a £2.3m reduction in staff costs by redeploying 60 staff into other key operational areas. Furthermore, in a survey of 627 MapSearch users, undertaken in December 2014, 95% said the service saved them time, 95% said it was easy to use, 94% said it met expectations and 96% said it was intuitive.
It’s time for us all to use disruptive thinking to innovate across all the aspects of our environment and never before has there been so much impetus to do so. The first step to achieving this is asking questions. It could be as simple as ‘joining the dots’ to realise efficiencies; to creating 'something' which changes the way the world works. The important part is that we actively partake to help build better businesses, organisations and social and citizen outcomes.
This piece was originally published on Linkedin.
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