Alicia McKay
Taking the Boot out of the Public Sector, Volume 4
Have you called your electricity company recently, to say thanks? The conversation might go like this:
‘I just wanted to say, on this sunny Friday afternoon, how much I appreciate your impact on my life this week. Thanks to your company, I’ve had continuous and reliable electricity that has improved every aspect of my personal and professional life. From hot water for showers and dishes to an internet connection for Zoom meetings, the power you’ve generated for my household has been transformative. On my behalf, and hundreds of thousands of others: thank you.’
I bet you’ve never done this. You take electricity for granted and rarely think about it unless there’s a brief interruption or a high bill. Most public services are the same (See also: parenting, leadership and volunteer roles.)
This is particularly difficult for the public sector, and for leaders who work in it. Negative information rises like heat, but the mostly-happy-majority don’t say anything at all.
Public leadership is like a utility
Public leadership, done well, is like a utility. When it works, it’s invisible. A marker of success is that the government’s service provision and careful planning go largely unnoticed. Even when Councils and government departments go to great lengths to engage and share transparently, the payoff can be disappointing. People are busy, distracted, and uninterested. They have too much on to care.
But when something goes wrong, or you do something they disagree with –you’ll soon know about it! When people say the government are stupid or doesn’t listen, they often mean things weren’t decided in their favour or created a minor intrusion in their life, when they’re used to ignoring them entirely.
Public opinion is a terrible metric
Public opinion, positive or negative, is not the right datapoint for creating value. First, research shows public opinion is a poor predictor of public value creation. Just because people are upset about something doesn’t mean they’re right, and just because they like something, doesn’t mean it’s a net good.
Remember when we took smoking out of bars, and the hospitality sky was falling? The pubs and restaurants would all go out of business forever! … Until a week later, when everything was fine.
Or when we banned plastic bags and we wondered how we would ever cope without them? …But then a week later, it was fine. This happens a lot. It’s the tyranny of our short-term self-interest. It’s why we elect representatives and staff a bureaucracy - because our judgment is off and we don’t have all the information.
Second, you probably don’t even know what public opinion is. Even the act of asking someone’s opinion changes it. Public opinion is fluid, socially constructed, and difficult to pin down.
Plus, you’re disproportionately likely to hear negative views from a limited range of voices. Only a certain section of society feels entitled to air their views and ask for better - most other people shut up and get on with it. When you kowtow to the vocal minority, they can perpetuate that inequity.
Public opinion skews your perspective
The fear of public backlash is strong, and warranted. Belonging is a basic survival requirement and the fear of rejection lives in all of us. Few can imagine worse than being publicly lambasted or criticised, so we do whatever we can to avoid it. But that fear makes it hard to keep a clear head on our shoulders.
When politicians and public leaders form their perspectives from a limited, negative selection of voices, they lose perspective. They overlook things going well, form blind spots on issues with no public profile, and give excessive consideration to a few politically active constituents.
Don’t get trapped
When you’re doing a great job as a leader, you won’t receive the praise you want from the people you want it from. Whether it’s for your parenting (‘Thanks for the curfew, Dad, it’s kept me out of trouble!’) or your governance (‘Wow, due to your foresight, my grandchildren will live a better life.’), your best decisions may be unappreciated and unpopular.
Avoid spending too much time and attention trying to please a small group who will never be pleased anyway, and be wary of mistaking a vocal minority for a disgruntled majority or caring too much about ‘reputation’ and confusing it with character and integrity.
Finally: the people who will be most affected by your decisions are often the quietest. Go find them and ask them some questions instead.
Til next week,
AM
PS - This also applies to all the things you’re avoiding doing in your personal life because some unnamed, imaginary person with no life might judge you. Mate. Just do your thing. Bugger ‘em.
PPS - Watch the video on LinkedIn if you like.I just recorded it sitting at my desk and my hair’s still a bit wet and my un-made-up puffy face is very “Single Mum Running Business Tries to Prepare for Christmas and Not Die” but hey, that’s my life.