Tackling Wicked Problems : A Public Policy Perspective

5. The Need for Innovative and Flexible Approaches

A traditional bureaucracy, divided into vertical silos, in which most of the authority for resolving problems rests at the top of the organisation, is not well-adapted to support the kinds of process necessary for addressing the complexity and ambiguity of wicked problems. Bureaucracies tend to be risk averse, and are intolerant of messy processes. They excel at managing issues with clear boundaries rather than ambiguous, complex issues that may require experimental and innovative approaches. How can we stimulate and nurture the innovation and experimentation in the public sector that is needed to address wicked problems?

It has been argued that the public sector needs to adopt more systematic approaches to social innovation as opposed to the current rather ad hoc approach:

How many departments or agencies have a board level director responsible for innovation—for models that may be mainstream in 2020 or 2030? How many have significant budgets for innovation—or anything remotely comparable to the 2–4% of GDP that is generally seen as the right level for nations to spend on R&D? How many can point to the flow of new models in their service that are being cultivated, developed, improved, tested?⁹

Innovation in public services does raise additional issues compared to innovation in private sector services, particularly around managing risk—‘… the only way to have good ideas [is] to have lots of ideas and discard the bad ones, but you cannot afford too much creativity with benefit payments or traffic lights, school curriculums or court procedures. Risks have to be carefully managed.’¹⁰ Nevertheless, while the primary responsibility of public sector managers is to deliver an excellent service and achieve continuous improvement, a secondary responsibility is to ensure that part of the organisation is focused on the models and services of the future, cultivating the innovators both inside and outside and helping them to evolve their ideas.

Some of the literature stresses the need for public service organisations to become more adaptive and flexible in dealing with wicked problems:

In these complex circumstances, people and organisations have to become adaptive … public services should be understood as complex adaptive systems and not according to the mechanistic models that have traditionally dominated government thinking. Paul Plsek likens this difference to that between throwing a stone and throwing a live bird. The trajectory of the stone can be calculated precisely using the laws of physics. The trajectory of the bird is far less predictable. The question is whether policy-makers can embrace this shift in perspective, and redefine their role as supporters of adaptive processes of change. They need to stop pretending they are throwing stones, and acknowledge that the management of public services is far more akin to throwing birds.¹¹

One way of increasing adaptability in the public sector is to blur the traditional distinction between policy development and programme implementation when dealing with complex programmes. Policy development and evolution needs to be informed with on-the-ground intelligence about operational issues and the views of service users or recipients, and be modified in the light of feedback about what works and what doesn’t. Programme evaluations play an important role in this regard. In a recent UK study of ‘Better Policy Delivery and Design’ prepared by the Cabinet Office’s Performance and Innovation Unit, it is argued that system design should be iterative:

Past experience shows that delivery is rarely a one-off task. It is best understood not as a linear process—leading from policy ideas through implementation to change on the ground—but rather as a more circular process involving continuous learning, adaptation and improvement, with policy changing in response to implementation as well as vice versa.¹²

Another way of increasing adaptability and flexibility is to focus on sharing the learnings and experiences from dealing with wicked problems within and among public sector organisations. Kay refers to the need to develop ‘an ability to read across experiences from one area of public service to another’.¹³ Objective, well-researched and well-presented reviews of government activity in the area of complex policy problems, and the dissemination of that information across networks of relevant people, will be an important resource for the future. Of equal importance is that organisational culture supports the importance of sharing learning, and adapting policy and programmes in light of new learning. The objective is to encourage a new style of managing for learning organisations—a style that encourages initiative but recognises the need for learning. Action to deal with problems is required, but there needs to be recognition that change may be required in actions taken:

The style is not so much of a traveller who knows the route, but more of an explorer who has a sense of direction but no clear route. Search and exploration, watching out for possibilities and inter-relationships, however unlikely they may seem, are part of the approach. There are ideas as to the way ahead, but some may prove abortive. What is required is a readiness to see and accept this, rather than to proceed regardless on a path which is found to be leading nowhere or in the wrong direction.¹⁴

This style displays a willingness to think and work in new and innovative ways, and requires flexible and creative thinking (e.g. using trials, prototypes or multiple iterations). A concomitant condition to increasing adaptability is a broad acceptance and understanding, including from governments and Ministers, that there are no quick fixes and that levels of uncertainty around the solutions to wicked problems need to be tolerated. Successfully addressing such problems takes time and resources and adopting innovative approaches may result in the occasional failure or need for policy change or adjustment. Policy makers also need the capacity to be able to adapt to inevitable swings and changes in the environment, including the public sector environment.

9 G. Mulgan, ‘360 Degree Improvement and the Imperative of Social Innovation’ (Address to the National School of Government, UK Public Services Reform Conference, London, June 2006), p. 3 <http://www.youngfoundation.org/node/297>

10 G. Mulgan, ‘360 Degree Improvement and the Imperative of Social Innovation’, p. 4.

11 T. Bentley and J. Wilsdon 2003, ‘Introduction: The Adaptive State’, in T. Bentley and J. Wilsdon (eds), The Adaptive State— Strategies for Personalising the Public Realm, Demos, London, p. 26.

12 G. Mulgan and A. Lee 2001, Better Policy Delivery and Design: A Discussion Paper (UK Cabinet Office, Performance and Innovation Unit), p. 4 <http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/downloads/files/betterpolicy2.pdf>

13 J. Kay, ‘A New Public Sector’, Prospect, No. 64, June 2001, p. 12.

14 M. Clarke and J. Stewart, ‘Handling the Wicked Issues—A Challenge for Government’, p. 15.

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Tackling Wicked Problems : A Public Policy Perspective

5. The Need for Innovative and Flexible Approaches