Rodney Barber Rodney Barber

Community Participation In Decision Making

The 7 things for communities and decision makers to do, to achieve a better society.

Imagine a society where people find fulfilment in community relationships, each understands their role within society, each is free to help others, there is healthy competition and cooperation, and the focus is on community wellbeing, not simply material wealth.

To achieve this, WE need to:

1.      Have vision led decision making

2.      Advocate for and equip communities to be resilient economically, socially, and culturally so those communities can thrive and speak with their voices into decision making.

3.      Recognise that whatever decisions are made by decision makers it is communities that need to live with them.

4.      Recognise systemic poverty prevents people and communities from being resilient

5.      Recognise and that the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.

6.      Have a public value decision system which includes a holistic, systematic, and relational way for decision makers and communities to think medium to long-term to identify the initiatives to measurably improve economic, social, cultural, and environmental outcomes, thereby eliminating systemic poverty

7.      Courageously and transparently navigate the ambiguity of difficult conversations by intentionally leaning in to listen and learn from each other, to build trust and confidence.

I am trying to be part of the solution by:

  • Providing training through Victoria University of Wellington here

  • Advocating for and equipping Newlands to be resilient here

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Rodney Barber Rodney Barber

Public Value Decision Making

IMAGINE a society in which

1.      People find fulfilment in community relationships, rather than simply in consumption and leisure

2.      People understand their role within society rather than being a collection of individuals

3.      People are free to help others, rather than wanting freedom from others

4.      There is healthy competition and sustainable cooperation, and

5.      The focus is on community wellbeing rather than simply material wealth

 

Also imagine

  • a vision of “Resilient relationships and good decision making enabling resilient suburbs, organisations, districts and regions” (The Why)

  • decision makers setting a vision (Policy), then building decision-making capability to think through and identify the best Portfolio option, and then preparing the business case for decision making ensuring clear measurement of the economic, social, cultural, and environmental, outcomes. (The How)

  • clear communication of the vision, equipping of and caring for each other in developing the vision, and speaking up for others. (The who)

  • a decision that starts with a vision (Policy) comprising a Portfolio of Programmes (each to achieve an outcome) that will collectively achieve the vision (Policy), a “start-up” decision. Then a decision for each Project (to each improve a service) that will collectively achieve the Programme (outcome), an “initiate” decision. Then a decision to proceed with a Procurement to enable the Project to improve a service, an “implement” decision. (The When)

  • a business case that describes a compelling vision (strategic case), describes the best public value Portfolio of Programme options to achieve the vision, (economic case), and describes how the preferred option can be procured well (commercial case), is affordable (financial case) and will be delivered well (management case). (The What)

 

HOW?

In my view WE need to think in a joined-up way to provide free and frank medium to long term advice to decision makers on options to achieve their vision for their district, region and country:

  • economic options (e.g. primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary and quinary)

  • environmental options (e.g. minimum, moderate or maximum standard) 

  • social and cultural options (e.g. provider centric or citizen centric)      

 

Successive Government publications state we need:

  1. to develop solutions drawn from local intelligence

  2. to focus on medium to long-term including trade-offs

  3. a joined-up approach across the public sector that supports coordinated decision making.

  4. to make decisions that will result in measurable increases in benefits for New Zealanders

 

In my view WE need a public value decision system that enables government to participate with the public who are part of a resilient community to achieve vision by thinking together using their different strengths, resulting in measurable benefits that will reduce demand on government criminal justice, benefits and mental health, and eliminate systemic poverty. That approach needs to be a holistic, systematic, and relational. WE need to courageously and transparently navigate the ambiguity of difficult conversations by intentionally leaning in to listen and learn from each other, to build trust and confidence, to set a vision and identify the best public value, affordable and achievable way to achieve that vision.

What do you think?

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London George London George

How can New Zealand keep living standard rising for all?

The gamechangers to resolve inequality are to have a national strategy, a quality reform of the welfare state and treaty of Waitangi settlements.

The gamechangers to resolve inequality are to have a national strategy, a quality reform of the welfare state and treaty of Waitangi settlements.

Social investment is the right approach to target spending to those in need but it is early days and we are yet to identify the services that are needed.

Business want to help to resolve inequality but say they don’t know how to.

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London George London George

Social Progress Imperative

The United Nations sustainable development goals are an ambitious commitment by the world’s leaders to improve the wellbeing of all people and ensure environmental sustainability by 2030.  The Social Progress Index is a comprehensive measure of the sustainable development goals to help decision makers monitor progress and prioritize actions that accelerate social progress.

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London George London George

Better Business Cases Certification White Paper

It all begins with an idea.

This article is an extract from "Better Business Cases Certification White Paper," a publication by APMG International

Public sector bodies around the world invest vast sums of money each year on new or replacement assets such as buildings, equipment and facilities. With so much demand for investment it is essential that we make the right choices and demonstrate value for money.

The Case For a Business Case

Gartner studies suggest that 75% of projects are considered to be failures by those responsible for initiating them, meaning the solutions fundamentally did not achieve the agreed objectives or they missed deadlines and/or came in over budget. Half of projects exceeded budget by 200%!

Putting the Right Foot Forward

The “start” is not the beginning of the project itself, but its point of conception and can be traced back to how the business case for the proposed project is approached.

A research article entitled Building Better Business Cases for Investments focused on how business cases were developed for investments and how those practices related to successful outcomes across 100 European organizations.

The research revealed that while constructing a business case prior to investment is the norm, there are significant problems with the quality of the business cases and the process used to create them.

Despite it being common practice, 65% of respondents said their organizations were not satisfied with their ability to identify all the available benefits, with 69% reporting that they do not adequately quantify and place a ‘value’ on the benefits for inclusion in the business case. 

Although implementation issues frequently reduce or eliminate the achievement of the intended benefits, research suggests that the benefits described in the business case were often never achievable in the first place. These benefits are often either exaggerated to obtain funding, or there was insufficient understanding of the business changes needed to achieve the benefits.

The Five Case Model

The British Government has implemented a Better Business Cases framework for creating successful business cases. In New Zealand, the Treasury created a concise version.

Rodney Barber, The Treasury’s BBC programme lead for New Zealand and a member of the International BBC Steering Committee recently spoke at a project management seminar. He explained BBC as “both a thinking and a stakeholder engagement process”. “It is not a writing process,” he explains emphatically. “It takes you as far as the investment decision so that there is clear agreement between the sponsor and the decision maker on what the scope is and what the best value for money option is and who is going to pay for it. The approach won’t inform policy or strategy, in fact the first thing it will do is test strategy.”

“The heart of BBC is the Five Case Model,” Rodney continues. “There are only ever five questions that any governing body or decision-maker is going to want the answer to if they are going to invest.

Those questions are:

■ The strategic case: Is there a compelling case for change?

■ The economic case: Does the preferred investment option optimize value for money?

■ The commercial case: Is the proposed deal commercially viable?

■ The financial case: Is the spending proposal affordable?

■ The management case: How can the proposal be delivered successfully?

These questions are articulated in the Five Case Model which covers the five key elements of best-practice business cases. Further to the Five Case Model is the pathway of the Better Business Cases process, which can be used to select which type of business case best delivers the required decision. Large-scale and/or high-risk projects require a more in-depth business case than smaller projects.

As much as anything, the framework is a common language that everyone can use when working on a business case. According to Barber it is about “bringing transparency to the trade-offs and giving the key stakeholders visibility to your thinking. The delivery risk is not part of the approach and it will not manage the project past the investment decision – you need good project and programme management to deliver the project once you have got the money,” he explains.

The whole point of the Better Business Cases approach is to help you make the right decision in the first place so that, as long as you have good project management along the way, the likelihood of the project meeting expectations will be greatly increased.

The Five Case Model provides the framework and tools to enable effective decision-making when scoping and planning spending proposals in a robust and thorough manner and can be used at strategic, programme and individual project levels. Its use should always be proportionate to the level at which it is being applied as well as the cost and risk associated with the investment.

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