As an experienced management consultant, I’ve helped plenty of people in the public sector to implement programs and projects when they’ve needed our help. Recent machinery of government structural changes have meant I’ve had to give a different type of help, one that doesn’t seem to be quite as valuable as what I signed on to do.
I’m about to wrap up a piece of work where I’ve been helping managers improve their program management processes and capabilities, which has included working closely with interagency stakeholders. The main client is an executive for whom I’ve successfully completed many successful projects where they were happy with the results.
I realised a few weeks into this contract that program management wasn’t the biggest challenge for the team I was supporting. They’re very busy with the program, but it’s implementing the structural changes that have really overwhelmed them. They’re stressed out and tied up redesigning functions and organisational charts, which is taking their attention away from all of the work they should be doing, not all of which is within my scope to do for them.
Despite being procured for program management support, I’ve also found myself spending a lot of time reassuring the public sector team and giving advice on organisational redesign work that doesn’t seem to be particularly relevant or beneficial for this time-limited program, which is supposed to end in two years anyway.
I fear the structural changes that crept into this project are just a glimpse into the future for my next project, and then the next one, and then the one after that. I don’t really want to do this kind of work, partly because it’s not interesting, but also because, what am I really offering to the public sector? How does it help citizens to spend public money for a consultant to pick up routine delivery that is well within the capability of public servants, or to pointlessly redesign functions at great cost, or to console public servants about government restructuring?
