Explore how the public sector built organizational resilience in the face of crises and the role of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and human resilience in its future.

Learn more about building resilience in the Australian public sector in our report, here.

Rony Azzi

Hi, my name is Rony Azzi and I'm a partner in Oliver Wyman's Government and Public Institutions Practice, based here in Sydney. I'm joined today by my colleague Lisa Quest, our head of Government and Public Institutions, Europe.

Lisa Quest

Hi Rony. Thanks for having me.

Rony

Welcome to Australia.

Lisa

Delighted to be here.

Rony

Lisa, I know you spent the past few days in Canberra speaking to a broad array of government departments and public sector stakeholders, and the topic of public sector resilience has come up quite a bit. Why do you think that topic is so important?

Lisa

The topic of public sector resilience is so important because it is something that is impacting governments around the world. We're facing it in Europe the same way that you're facing it in Asia and in Australia. One of the biggest things that comes up for us is the fact that resilience used to be your ability to mobilize and sprint a hundred yards really, really quickly. But given the polycrisis world in which we currently live, resilience is now your ability to run a marathon with constantly changing parameters.

One of the things that governments are finding so hard is how do we maintain a level of resilience in the organization, not just in our governance structures and in our operating models, but in our people. And how do we make sure that people are able to understand that this type of polycrisis world is actually the new normal — so we're not in crisis all the time — and how do we help people adapt to the fact that not only is change going to continue to happen, but the velocity of change is going to continue to increase, and just create that internal organizational and human resilience that we need to operate in that world in a much more seamless way.

Rony

Great. Any other reflections across any other topics from your time in Canberra over the past few days?

Lisa

My time in Canberra over the past few days has been phenomenal. It's been great to see the energy in Canberra. It's clear there's a lot of growth that's happening. It's clear there's highly motivated government service that is looking to really make change, support the Australian people, support Australian industry, and really look at what the position of Australia is in the world. Every single one of the civil servants that I met with was excited; they were on top of their briefs, and they were really looking to the future around how can we increase the productivity, not just of Australia, but of the entire region. I thought that sovereign feel combined with the regional outlook was really exciting to see.

Rony

And hopefully it wasn't too cold.

Lisa

No, I mean as a Canadian, I'm well versed in the cold. I was not prepared as I should have been. I forgot my jacket, but aside from that, it's been a great time.

Rony

Well, fantastic. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Now, the public sector in the UK is something you are very much immersed in and very passionate about. What I'm keen to understand as part of our discussion today is what sort of journey has the public sector on the UK been on, and what can Australia and our public sector here learn from some of the challenges or issues that the UK has had to deal with in the context of the last decade or so? I might start by asking you about some of those challenges specifically: what has shaped the public sector in the UK over the past little while?

Lisa

The UK has been on an incredibly interesting journey over the past decade. If you think about the start of the journey with Brexit, and the decision of the United Kingdom to exit the European Union and the impact that that had not only on the civil service but on the country as a whole. What we saw was the civil service very quickly adapt to a new normal outside of the European Union, what that would mean, how they would change and how they would modernize, and how they would update their systems and approach in the new country that they were operating in.

Fast-forward to COVID, and we had yet another disruption that severely impacted the civil service. Again, here we saw the UK civil service [not only] mobilize incredibly quickly, think about the impacts that they were trying to have, and really rally together to have a response that minimized the health impacts for the organization and for individuals within the United Kingdom, but also looked at how do we support our people and our SMEs economically, [such as] what were the financial supports that were needed.

This is where we saw the civil servants working very closely with the private sector, particularly the financial institutions, to come up with some really innovative and novel financial instruments that would help the country through quite a disruptive period. As we look forward, that sense of public-private partnership will continue to be really important, not just in the UK but in all countries. The government and private sector agenda is increasingly intertwined. Government needs private sector to deliver on its policies. SMEs need the public and private sector to be working together effectively to increase productivity.

It can't go without saying, but as we look forward in terms of what it is to be expected in the civil service and also society at large, you cannot underestimate the impact of AI and generative AI as that comes on at scale. We'd be remiss to say we've already been using predictive AI for decades. It's something that everybody knows but as we look to scale that — the increase in productivity gains, particularly for operational issues in terms of public sector delivery, how we deliver our pensions, how we deliver our taxes — will be incredibly important.

But also, as we're moving into the realm of policy development using AI, that will start to have a fundamental impact on how the civil service operates. Those forward-looking changes are something that we are advising clients on already, but equally working with academics and practitioners to understand what the next level in evolution of that looks like so that we can help the civil service scale through that incredible journey.

Rony

On that, if you keep your crystal ball out for a little while longer, we've spoken a lot about AI and digital. How do you see any other key trends shaping the public sector over the next 10, 20 years, and what do you think the public sector of the future looks like?

Lisa

The public sector of the future looks like one that is very much integrated into an overall delivery model for citizens and business at the heart. It's one that includes climate as a first principle in every design. In terms of climate adaptation, how are we living in an adapted world?

It includes AI as a first principle from every design. What are we doing in terms of the advancement of technologies and how are we pre-baking into policy and delivery? These technologies will continue to change and that the velocity of that change will be higher.

As I look forward, I see an adaptive civil service. I see a very agile civil service, and I see a constant learning organization because the time and the tenure when you're able to come in and do one job for 30 years, and it looks very similar when you leave that job to when you started that job, is absolutely over. The ability for, not just the civil service and not just for governments, but for all individuals to keep learning on an ongoing basis will be critical. 

Rony

An adaptive civil service sounds a lot like a very resilient civil service as well. 

Lisa

Bringing it back full circle, an adaptive civil service is a very resilient civil service. 

Rony

Coming back to that point around resilience, we speak about [how] the civil service is almost an entity in the context of resilience and organizational resilience, but there is a human element to resilience as well, right? And the people that operate within the civil service ­— there's also a need for them to think about their own personal resilience. A lot of that shone through as we face things such as the pandemic that you spoke about earlier. How important is it to help instil that, not just organizational resilience within the public sector, but rather just within individuals as well?

Lisa

Human resilience needs to sit at the heart of every single resilience strategy that any government or business has. The language we have now to talk about mental health, and mental and physical resilience, is so much better than we even had five or 10 years ago. The conversations that civil servants are able to have with their organizations are fundamentally different.

As we think about building the next generation of resilience planning, human resilience will be at the very center of that. Part of that for me is about making sure that we help individuals understand not everything is a new crisis, and we live in a world that is constantly adapting. I think changing the narrative to say we live in an adaptive organization and just because something changes, doesn't necessarily mean that that's a bad thing. And we can help people build resilience in that way.

Equally, we need to be cognizant of the fact that as technology changes, the mental load on individuals changes, and when we've gone through a major event, we need to give people the space in whatever way is authentic to them so that they can rebuild their reserves and they can rebuild their resilience. Considering what that looks like as an organizational design and as a program is important, but never underestimating the one-to-one human interventions of having an individual on your team and how can you help them in that moment? It's those smaller moments that are really the most impactful in terms of building individual resilience.

Rony

Lastly, if you could give just one piece of advice to senior public servants or politicians around the civil service, around the public sector, what would that be?

Lisa

The biggest piece of advice that I would give to senior public servants is to understand how much the citizens value and appreciate them. There is a very bad habit of bashing civil servants in the media, and in business to some extent, and that leaves a lot of senior civil servants in particular, feeling sometimes isolated, alone, and vulnerable.

The biggest piece of advice is actually: you're an incredibly valued human being in the country, and your ability to impact the country is almost unparalleled. You can be the CEO of a major company in any given country, and you'll have an impact on that company and that organization, and maybe that company has a bit of an impact on the country in terms of the people that you employ. But as a senior civil servant, you have a unique ability to set the course and direction for the entire country. That's a position that is valued and respected, and we don't often give them enough appreciation.

Rony

Very sage advice indeed. Well, thank you, Lisa. It's been wonderful having you in Australia over this past week, and hopefully you've had a great time and we look forward to welcoming you back in the not-too-distant future.

Lisa

Well thanks, Rony. It's been terrific to be here, and I would love to come back. Maybe next time in summer.

Rony

Look forward to it.

Explore how the public sector built organizational resilience in the face of crises and the role of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and human resilience in its future.

Learn more about building resilience in the Australian public sector in our report, here.

Rony Azzi

Hi, my name is Rony Azzi and I'm a partner in Oliver Wyman's Government and Public Institutions Practice, based here in Sydney. I'm joined today by my colleague Lisa Quest, our head of Government and Public Institutions, Europe.

Lisa Quest

Hi Rony. Thanks for having me.

Rony

Welcome to Australia.

Lisa

Delighted to be here.

Rony

Lisa, I know you spent the past few days in Canberra speaking to a broad array of government departments and public sector stakeholders, and the topic of public sector resilience has come up quite a bit. Why do you think that topic is so important?

Lisa

The topic of public sector resilience is so important because it is something that is impacting governments around the world. We're facing it in Europe the same way that you're facing it in Asia and in Australia. One of the biggest things that comes up for us is the fact that resilience used to be your ability to mobilize and sprint a hundred yards really, really quickly. But given the polycrisis world in which we currently live, resilience is now your ability to run a marathon with constantly changing parameters.

One of the things that governments are finding so hard is how do we maintain a level of resilience in the organization, not just in our governance structures and in our operating models, but in our people. And how do we make sure that people are able to understand that this type of polycrisis world is actually the new normal — so we're not in crisis all the time — and how do we help people adapt to the fact that not only is change going to continue to happen, but the velocity of change is going to continue to increase, and just create that internal organizational and human resilience that we need to operate in that world in a much more seamless way.

Rony

Great. Any other reflections across any other topics from your time in Canberra over the past few days?

Lisa

My time in Canberra over the past few days has been phenomenal. It's been great to see the energy in Canberra. It's clear there's a lot of growth that's happening. It's clear there's highly motivated government service that is looking to really make change, support the Australian people, support Australian industry, and really look at what the position of Australia is in the world. Every single one of the civil servants that I met with was excited; they were on top of their briefs, and they were really looking to the future around how can we increase the productivity, not just of Australia, but of the entire region. I thought that sovereign feel combined with the regional outlook was really exciting to see.

Rony

And hopefully it wasn't too cold.

Lisa

No, I mean as a Canadian, I'm well versed in the cold. I was not prepared as I should have been. I forgot my jacket, but aside from that, it's been a great time.

Rony

Well, fantastic. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Now, the public sector in the UK is something you are very much immersed in and very passionate about. What I'm keen to understand as part of our discussion today is what sort of journey has the public sector on the UK been on, and what can Australia and our public sector here learn from some of the challenges or issues that the UK has had to deal with in the context of the last decade or so? I might start by asking you about some of those challenges specifically: what has shaped the public sector in the UK over the past little while?

Lisa

The UK has been on an incredibly interesting journey over the past decade. If you think about the start of the journey with Brexit, and the decision of the United Kingdom to exit the European Union and the impact that that had not only on the civil service but on the country as a whole. What we saw was the civil service very quickly adapt to a new normal outside of the European Union, what that would mean, how they would change and how they would modernize, and how they would update their systems and approach in the new country that they were operating in.

Fast-forward to COVID, and we had yet another disruption that severely impacted the civil service. Again, here we saw the UK civil service [not only] mobilize incredibly quickly, think about the impacts that they were trying to have, and really rally together to have a response that minimized the health impacts for the organization and for individuals within the United Kingdom, but also looked at how do we support our people and our SMEs economically, [such as] what were the financial supports that were needed.

This is where we saw the civil servants working very closely with the private sector, particularly the financial institutions, to come up with some really innovative and novel financial instruments that would help the country through quite a disruptive period. As we look forward, that sense of public-private partnership will continue to be really important, not just in the UK but in all countries. The government and private sector agenda is increasingly intertwined. Government needs private sector to deliver on its policies. SMEs need the public and private sector to be working together effectively to increase productivity.

It can't go without saying, but as we look forward in terms of what it is to be expected in the civil service and also society at large, you cannot underestimate the impact of AI and generative AI as that comes on at scale. We'd be remiss to say we've already been using predictive AI for decades. It's something that everybody knows but as we look to scale that — the increase in productivity gains, particularly for operational issues in terms of public sector delivery, how we deliver our pensions, how we deliver our taxes — will be incredibly important.

But also, as we're moving into the realm of policy development using AI, that will start to have a fundamental impact on how the civil service operates. Those forward-looking changes are something that we are advising clients on already, but equally working with academics and practitioners to understand what the next level in evolution of that looks like so that we can help the civil service scale through that incredible journey.

Rony

On that, if you keep your crystal ball out for a little while longer, we've spoken a lot about AI and digital. How do you see any other key trends shaping the public sector over the next 10, 20 years, and what do you think the public sector of the future looks like?

Lisa

The public sector of the future looks like one that is very much integrated into an overall delivery model for citizens and business at the heart. It's one that includes climate as a first principle in every design. In terms of climate adaptation, how are we living in an adapted world?

It includes AI as a first principle from every design. What are we doing in terms of the advancement of technologies and how are we pre-baking into policy and delivery? These technologies will continue to change and that the velocity of that change will be higher.

As I look forward, I see an adaptive civil service. I see a very agile civil service, and I see a constant learning organization because the time and the tenure when you're able to come in and do one job for 30 years, and it looks very similar when you leave that job to when you started that job, is absolutely over. The ability for, not just the civil service and not just for governments, but for all individuals to keep learning on an ongoing basis will be critical. 

Rony

An adaptive civil service sounds a lot like a very resilient civil service as well. 

Lisa

Bringing it back full circle, an adaptive civil service is a very resilient civil service. 

Rony

Coming back to that point around resilience, we speak about [how] the civil service is almost an entity in the context of resilience and organizational resilience, but there is a human element to resilience as well, right? And the people that operate within the civil service ­— there's also a need for them to think about their own personal resilience. A lot of that shone through as we face things such as the pandemic that you spoke about earlier. How important is it to help instil that, not just organizational resilience within the public sector, but rather just within individuals as well?

Lisa

Human resilience needs to sit at the heart of every single resilience strategy that any government or business has. The language we have now to talk about mental health, and mental and physical resilience, is so much better than we even had five or 10 years ago. The conversations that civil servants are able to have with their organizations are fundamentally different.

As we think about building the next generation of resilience planning, human resilience will be at the very center of that. Part of that for me is about making sure that we help individuals understand not everything is a new crisis, and we live in a world that is constantly adapting. I think changing the narrative to say we live in an adaptive organization and just because something changes, doesn't necessarily mean that that's a bad thing. And we can help people build resilience in that way.

Equally, we need to be cognizant of the fact that as technology changes, the mental load on individuals changes, and when we've gone through a major event, we need to give people the space in whatever way is authentic to them so that they can rebuild their reserves and they can rebuild their resilience. Considering what that looks like as an organizational design and as a program is important, but never underestimating the one-to-one human interventions of having an individual on your team and how can you help them in that moment? It's those smaller moments that are really the most impactful in terms of building individual resilience.

Rony

Lastly, if you could give just one piece of advice to senior public servants or politicians around the civil service, around the public sector, what would that be?

Lisa

The biggest piece of advice that I would give to senior public servants is to understand how much the citizens value and appreciate them. There is a very bad habit of bashing civil servants in the media, and in business to some extent, and that leaves a lot of senior civil servants in particular, feeling sometimes isolated, alone, and vulnerable.

The biggest piece of advice is actually: you're an incredibly valued human being in the country, and your ability to impact the country is almost unparalleled. You can be the CEO of a major company in any given country, and you'll have an impact on that company and that organization, and maybe that company has a bit of an impact on the country in terms of the people that you employ. But as a senior civil servant, you have a unique ability to set the course and direction for the entire country. That's a position that is valued and respected, and we don't often give them enough appreciation.

Rony

Very sage advice indeed. Well, thank you, Lisa. It's been wonderful having you in Australia over this past week, and hopefully you've had a great time and we look forward to welcoming you back in the not-too-distant future.

Lisa

Well thanks, Rony. It's been terrific to be here, and I would love to come back. Maybe next time in summer.

Rony

Look forward to it.