Public time is public money

What do you do for work?” Gulp. When you work for the government, sometimes it’s tempting not to tell people. Primarily if you work in local government. Nothing sours a BBQ faster than being on the receiving end of someone ranting about “those bloody idiots on Council.”

There’s always someone who thinks they can do things better and cheaper than their local decision-makers. There’s an unhelpful current of thinking that public servants are overpaid and irresponsible. That bureaucrats enjoy nothing more than a bit of frivolous overspending and get a kick out of inflating staff numbers.

To clarify, I am the first to defend the public sector on spending. None of this could be further from the truth. The data on public spending inflation is precise: cost increases are driven by increases in activity - not expenditure. The government is doing more. Public agencies are increasingly expected to do more, often with the same or fewer resources.

Herein lies the problem.

“The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all of those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.” Thomas Sowell

I know, I’m always going on about this. You can do anything… but not everything. Economics 101: opportunity cost. When we spend our resources on one thing, we no longer have them to spend on something else. 

We get that with money but not with time. I work with dedicated, purpose-driven senior public leaders who spend their energy on things below their pay grade. These same leaders are equally surprised and regretful when I point out what a horrendous waste of public money this amounts to.

Deep breath…. Rant incoming… 

When we waste time on low-impact initiatives, when we don’t delegate, when we don’t make decisions, when we keep something in draft for an extra two weeks because no one wants to be held accountable, when we ‘jump to’ for squeaky wheels, when we cater to grumpy politicians, when we work around and thereby perpetrate a crappy process, when we attend meetings we should have deputised for, when we avoid risk, when we report on things instead of doing them, when we write emails in place of hard conversations, when we go around in circles, when we work in silos and duplicate effort…. we’re ripping the community off.

How you spend time matters at least as much as how you spend money. You’re certainly not getting any more of it.