Recipe for Delivery-Driven GOVERNMENTPeace Corps Values + Code for America Innovation

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Recipe for Delivery-Driven GOVERNMENT

BY JIM SCHUTZ

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eace Corps volunteerscanbefoundinsomeof the world’s most far-flung locations—the highlandjunglesofPeru,themudhutsofMalawi,andthestaidofficecubiclesofMarinCounty,California.WhatwouldPeaceCorps

founderJohnF.KennedyhavethoughtoftheorganizationbeinginMarinCounty,oneofthe

wealthiestcountiesintheUnitedStates?

Well,JFKdoesn’thavetorolloverinhisgraveafterall,becauseitisthespirit,values,andapproachofthePeaceCorpsandnottheorganizationitselfthataretakingrootinMarin’slargestcity,SanRafael.

Ascitymanager,mysecretsaucerecipeforgovernancehasbeenoneheapingteaspoonofthelessonsIlearnedasaPeaceCorpstraineeinatinyvillageinGuineaBissau,WestAfrica.IcombinethiswithaheathysprinklingofthelatestthinkingfromthegovernmentinnovatorsatCodeforAmerica,whichisanonpartisanorganizationthatusesdigitalagemethodstoimprovehowgovernmentservesthepublicandhowthepublicimprovesgovernment.

Theseseeminglydifferentingredientsactuallysmellandtastequitesimilarand complement each other perfectly.

Trust and ExpectationsWhydoweneedsucharecipe?Becauselocalgovernmentisintransition,whichisanicewayofsayingintrouble.Publictrustingovernmentisdown,waydown.ThepublicnowtrustsgovernmentaboutasmuchastheytrusttheyaregoingtostrikeitrichbywiringmoneytoaNigerianprince.

Atthesametime,thereisnoshortageofhighexpectations.Accordingtoa2016Accenturesurvey,85percentofAmericansexpectthesameorhigherqual-ity from government digital services as they would get from a private company.

In other words, residents want to order up government services the same way theybuyabirthdaypresentonAmazon.Wouldyouliketwo-dayshippingordronedeliveryofyourbuildingpermit?

Theproblemis,localgovernmentsweren’tdesignedtobeasnimbleandflexibleastoday’schangingtechnologiesandcommunityexpectationsdemand.Tothegovernmentstaffer,itisstartingtofeellikeweneedtoreinventourselveseverytimeanewiPhoneisreleased.Theoldgovernmentwaysofbureaucraticsilosfilledwithexpertsnowseemarchaicandirrelevant.

The Peace Corps WayThemoreIthinkaboutlocalgovernmenttryingtostayrelevantinthedigitalage,themoreIthinkofmyPeaceCorpsexperience.Inthebroadestsense,myviewofwhatthePeaceCorpsdoesis:Findoutwhatthecommunitywantsandhelpitsucceed.Tome,thatshouldbethemissionforalllocalgovernments.

Thisdoesn’tmeanstaffistakingdirectionorgettingassignmentsdirectlyfrom the community, nor does it mean everything is up for a vote. It is design-ingservicessotheyareeffectivefortheusers.Todothat,youmustknowwhat the community wants and needs.

PeaceCorpsrecruiterBarbaraSmithsaysvolunteersneed“awillingnesstointegrateinacommunity.Werecognizethatculturalintegrationisnoteasy,andittakestimetodeveloprelationshipsandbuildmutualtrustandrespect.”

AllPeaceCorpsvolunteers,atsomepointduringtheirservice,hearsomevariationofastorythatillustratestheoppositephilosophyofthePeace

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Evolving a New Local GovernmentInSanRafael,wetalkabouthow the pervasive govern-ment structure we see today was largely designed in the nineteenth century and uses twentieth century technol-ogy to try to solve twenty-first centuryproblems.Asalocalgovernment employee, those words sting.

Wegotintothisbusinesstohelpmaketheworldabetterplacebydoingmeaningfulworkforandwithourcom-munities. Yet, the structure we findourselvesinwasbuiltforanother time and for purposes

Corps.Itgoeslikethis:Agroup of paid international workerscomeoverfrom[in-sertsmugEuropeancountrynamehere]andattempttosolvethevillage’sproblemwith some technology-driven solution.

Theyinstalltheequipment,drinkallnightcelebratingthemselves,andleave.Theequipmentisnotembracedbythevillage,residentswerenot trained how to repair it, anditinevitablybreaksandbecomesasymboloffailedinternational assistance.

Incontrast,thePeaceCorpsvolunteerworkssidebysidewiththevillagersovera long period of time learning theirculture,abilities,andinsights.Theylearnfromeachother and find solutions to the village’sproblemsthatactuallywork,arerepairablewithlocalresources, and stand the test of time.

ThemoralofthestoryisthatPeaceCorpsisnotaboutsome new technology as savior,itisabouttheuniqueneeds of the community and

workinginpartnershiptofindlasting solutions appropriate for the culture.

Delivery-Driven Government CodeforAmericadevoteestend to see technology not asasavior,butasanenabler.Itisabsolutelycrucialforlocalgovernmentstotakeadvantage of powerful new technology tools in the digital age,butthecultureandprocessof co-creating solutions to community challenges needs to beinplacefortechnologytobeeffective.

In other words, technology does not equal innovation. Adding new technology when we don’t have a deep understandingoftheproblemwe are trying to solve or we have a poor process in place, justmakesforamoreexpensivepoor process.

CodeforAmericaExecutiveDirectorJenniferPahlkasuggests the term “delivery-drivengovernment.”Thethreemainprinciplesare:1)understand and meet user

needs;2)getreal-timeuserdata, not years-old estimates; and3)iterateeverystepoftheway from intention through implementation.

Ifwetrulycareaboutoutcomes, it is not enough to just provide a service. We must design the delivery of servicessotheyworkfromthecommunity’s perspective and thus,thatgovernmentworksforeveryone.

Pahlkanotes,“Youdon’thavetobeaSteveJobsfigureinablackturtlenecktodoinnova-tion in government, you just have to have the guts to apply a differentplaybook.”

San Rafael, California

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that are no longer relevant.Inresponse,wehavebeen

inspiredbyvaluestaughtbythePeaceCorpsandCodeforAmericatoform“TogetherSanRafael,” which is our name for how we are evolving a new local government in the twenty-first century that uses twenty-first century tools to solve twenty-firstcenturyproblems.

Ithasbeenfreeingtoseehow easily we can wipe away thespiderwebsofbureaucracyandbuildsomethingthatmatches our passion for innovation, mutual learning, and community focus.

Webeganbyformingacross-departmental advisory committee representing all levelsoftheorganization.Itprovides guidance to these subgroups:communica-tions and storytell-ing, employee events, employee recognition and engagement, and innovation education and learning.

Oneofthefirsttaskswastocreateguiding principles. A diverse employeesubgroupburnedthrough many ideas and landedonsix.Onewastostartwith community needs, which includes cultivating trust and co-creating services with customers.

Another is to reimagine the status quo, which includes findingtherootproblem,askingwhywedoitthisway, trying new approaches, learning, and trying again. Theprinciplesarethethreadswoven into recruitment, performance evaluation, recognition, appreciation, and employee life.

With the innovation and engagementfirmCivicMakers,wecreatedlearninglabsfor

makemore,strategicchangestoourorganizationalstruc-ture.Weask,“Howwouldyoudesign your department if you could create it today rather than when it was created decadesago?”

In this vein, we are elevating andexpandingourformerdivi-sion of information technology into a new department called digital service and open government.Technologywillleave its functional silo and becomeanenablerofsolutions.

Thenewgroupwillhelpdepartmentsdesignbetterservices,informedbydataand with a focus on the user experience.

Lookingatthechangingroleoflibrariesinthedigitalage, we are in the process of uniting our community services(parksandrecreation)

departmentwithourlibrarydepartment into a new department focused on community enrichment and lifelonglearning.ThesefewTogetherSanRafaelexamplesshow a path to delivery-driven government.

Bring the Peace Corps to Your CommunityMostofushaveseenaleaderbringanewinitiativetoanorganizationonlytoseeitfadeawayrightafterthatleadermoveson.ThatiswhyTogetherSanRafaelisnotaboutthecitymanager,oranelectedofficial,oranyoneindividual.

It is a ground-up, employee-drivenefforttoevolveandmeet the changing needs of the community, as Bryan

WalkerandSarahSoulewriteintheir Harvard Business Review article,“ChangingCompanyCultureRequiresaMovement,NotaMandate.”

WethinkofeverySanRafaelemployee as having the word “innovation” in his or her title. Oursisawhole-organizationefforttobeatwenty-firstcenturygovernment that is unique to our community.

Thereareothermodelsoutthere, including creating an innovation team or putting a focus on data and technology andbecomingasmartcity.Nomatter what the right fit is for your community, at the very core shouldbethePeaceCorps-inspired approach of finding out what the community wants and then helping them achieve it.

Yourroleasthechiefexecutiveis to give permission to operate

differently.CodeforAmericahas found that permission is the main driver of success and not the specific team structure thatyouuse.Patienceisalsoimportant.

Ittookmanydecadestocreatethecurrentsituationofbureau-craticsilosandlowpublictrustingovernment.Dramaticallychanging how we do local government isn’t going to happen overnight. But if you give the permission for change, and channelyourinnerPeaceCorpsvolunteer,you’llbeamazedatthe results.

Jim Schutz is city manager, San Rafael, California (Jim.Schutz@cityofsanrafael.org). Author retains copyright to this article.

cross-departmental cohorts of employees to learn human-centered design, how to prototypeanditeratebasedoncommunity input, and how to solvereal-timecityproblemscollaboratively.

Wecelebrateeachcohortwith a demo day at San Rafael’s downtown theater so teams can showofftheirnewskillsandsolutions.Problemstackledinclude: permitting process, illegal dumping, new employee on-boarding,obsoleteandonerous regulations, fire threats from homeless encampments, and more.

Somelearninglabsolutionshave incorporated new technologies while others have not.Onegrouphadagoalofimproving civic engagement in

aneighborhoodthatis largely under-

represented and lower income, and

functions as a gateway forimmigrants.Comingtocity hall for lengthy govern-ment meetings was not high on the priority list for most.

Theteamstartedcollectingdata. While use of the social networkNextdoorwasquitelow,FacebookLiveeventsthe city did in Spanish with a nonprofit partner were highly viewed. A multimodal strategy was necessary.

Theteaminvestigatedwhat the community most wantedtohearaboutandhow.Onesimpleideawasamultilanguage informational kioskto“meetpeoplewheretheyare”atapublicparknextto the community center.

We have also made, and will

RESIDENTS WANT TO ORDER UP GOVERNMENT SERVICES THE SAME WAY THEY BUY A BIRTHDAY PRESENT ON AMAZON. WOULD YOU LIKE TWO-DAY SHIPPING OR DRONE DELIVERY OF YOUR BUILDING PERMIT?