#Orgshift- Why aren’t organisations shifting?

I spent yesterday in a bubble of inspiration- an Open Space event in a room full of individuals who are as passionate as I am about changing the way that we live and work.

I then came home to watch the analysis and comment on George Osbourne’s challenge to government departments to save up to 40% on their budgets by 2019-20.

As someone who has spent her whole career in the social sector, my interests particularly lie in how new models of “work” might be applied to the delivery of public services (including those delivered by private and third sector organisations).

Since the start of the economic crisis, there has been ubiquitous talk of the seismic shift that is required for public services to survive. In reality, we have seen constant institutional reorganisations, but there is a huge question mark over whether anything has really changed as a result.

The people delivering services on the ground appear to be increasingly demoralised by the ongoing uncertainty, but mostly still work in hierarchical silo- based organisations, despite constant calls for “joined-up”, collaborative working that is outcomes-focused rather than bureaucratic.

So this summer, I am going to build on the inspiration I received from the Orgshift event to:

•    Read the book and web recommendations I received yesterday (please see my summer reading list post);
•      Further explore how this might apply to public services in the crowd sourced book that will be developed from insights and questions of all those who attended the unconference; and
•      Use this blog to explore the innumerable questions that I have in my mind about how new and emerging models of organisation, such as holocracy, can operate in public service.

If anyone would like to join me in exploring these questions, please contact me via twitter @clare_goggin.