Changes in strategies include:
Greater focus on and use of:
1. Long-term planning and scenario exercises: As many of the challenges and opportunities brought on by the megatrends are long-term in nature, governments must adopt a long-term view in their responses.
For example, prudent financial planning can be strengthened by incorporating long-term economic forecasts and old-age dependency ratio projections. Infrastructure plans should take a 50+ year view of population growth and factor critical infrastructure renewal assessments into the budgetary planning process.
2. Behavioral insights: Behavioral insights can be used to encourage people to act in ways that can proactively help mitigate or lessen the impacts of megatrend consequences.
For example, changes to food labeling can encourage healthier lifestyles, pricing signals can be instituted to decrease water and energy consumption and building codes can be altered to improve insulation, recycle water and/or enforce the use of carbon friendly materials, etc.
3. Outcomes and metrics: Ongoing program evaluation will help ensure that funds are allocated to cost-effective programs. Evaluations should be supported by robust data collection practices, guided by clearly defined outcomes and metrics, and allow for a consideration of alternative program or service delivery options.
For example, to ensure the effectiveness of social programs, governments will need to pay greater attention to results if they want to ensure that public funds are truly yielding a return for the taxpayer.
4. Flexibility and ‘paradigm’ thinking: Governments must exercise continuous flexibility
and adaptability in their policy and planning capacity to address unexpected challenges and opportunities in an evolving economic order. While continuous improvement and total quality management (TQM) are ever present, governments will also need to consider strategies which encourage out-of-the-box thinking and the pursuit of paradigms.
For example, over-the-counter service delivery models have either been replaced, or are rapidly being replaced, by online and mobile communication service delivery models.These solutions not only yield a more accessible and functional service, but are also cheaper and faster.
5. Technology adoption: Governments must overcome traditional barriers to technology utilization that have too often promoted lock-in, high costs and slow adoption.
For example, governments will need to adopt new technologies in transportation, energy and infrastructure to promote a lower-carbon future that can adapt to the pressures of climate change.
Technology has great potential to transform the delivery of public services. It will not always deliver massive cost reductions, but it can allow for much better results at similar costs.