A Mental Revolution

I spent the last few days in Batumi (Georgia) for an international conference on the topic “Public Service of the Future”. And I have to say it was a great experience! The delegations represented around 20 countries, going from neighbours such as Turkey and Azerbaijan to faraway countries such as Iceland and Sweden, ex-soviet countries such as Ukraine to North African countries such as Egypt. And of course, there was also a Belgian delegation :)

The program consisted of a number of presentations showing how the new team of Georgian civil servants changed the old and corrupt bureaucracy into a modern, effective, and efficient public service. Another aspect of the program was the visit to the new service hall of Batumi, which is the showcase for the new approach. 

The conference was a school example of a young and dynamic team at their top. The average age of ministers is around 40 and most of the leading roles in the administration are taken by 30-somethings or younger. All of them had this mix of enthusiasm and “can do”-attitude that is needed to get great results. And they love to share these results. Through frank and open communication. One feels that they know what they want! One thing they surely want is that new technology paradigms are an integral part of their solutions. Data is to be open (silent consent), services always and anywhere available, and technologies as integrated as possible. 

“A Mental Revolution”. That was how the Economist described the changes that took place in Georgia over the last few years. And President Saakasshvili was more than happy to reuse this terminology when he recently addressed the UN general assembly
http://www.economist.com/node/16847798

The results shown during the conference were in any aspect impressive and surely wanted to confirm this mental revolution. Some may argue that “Greenfield implementations are always easier”, but how many organizations, let alone civil services have been able to grasp the tiny window of opportunity for this kind of reform? Perhaps Georgia might even be a good candidate to boost some of the ‘Old Europe’-civil services’ motivation.

There may be a catch - will the vision of the current generation of leaders be sufficiently balanced among all population groups of Georgia to form a solid base for long-term stability? And to what extent will they achieve the organizational learning, so critical when you want to turn a (transformation) project into a stable operational environment? And finally, how will the administration cope with change in political leadership and direction (which is inevitable in any democracy)?

But to quote one of the speakers “I do not like to make predictions, because it was only in 1992 that Bill Gates said that 640k a person would be moooore than enough…”.
For more information on the Georgian civil service and the services they offer, you can visit www.house.gov.ge