WITH political campaigns heating up and Jamaicans readying to head to the polls once the general election is called, public sector leaders are being urged to focus on agility and strategic planning to maintain consistent service delivery, regardless of which party forms the next government.

The call for greater adaptability came during a panel discussion at the launch of The Change Evangelist – Tools for Effective Change Management playbook, hosted by the Transformation Implementation Unit (TIU) at AC Marriot Hotel in New Kingston.

During the session a public sector representative raised a pressing concern: How can the change management process be protected from being derailed by the complex relationship between politics and public administration?

The question stemmed from a broader discussion on how public sector workers can lead more effective and impactful change management efforts, especially in light of global research showing that nearly 70 per cent of change initiatives fail to achieve their intended goals.

A thought-provoking exchange followed among the panellists who stressed the importance of building organisations that are responsive, resilient, and capable of pivoting in the face of shifting political priorities.

Change management lead consultant at the TIU and panellist, Cherrie Ann Joseph acknowledged that the possibility of political change is inevitable and cannot be separated from the work of public sector organisations.

However, she emphasised that the real focus should be on strengthening internal capacity to adapt.

“The fact of the matter is, we cannot isolate the organisation from the possible political changes that might take place. This is the reality of life. Things change, it might be four years, it might be five years, [but] fundamental transformation is continuous. So… it’s not so much the freaking out when a change happens, it’s [about] building the ability of the organisation to pivot when changes in policy take place,” she said.

According to Joseph, public servants must stay alert to the external political environment and understand the direction of incoming governments so they can align their efforts without starting over from scratch.

“New governments have their own priorities, they have their own policies, they have their own strategic directions, and we as leaders in the public sector need to work with our organisation so that they can become agile and adaptive and aware of what’s happening on the outside of the organisation. Because it’s not like when a political party comes into power, it’s not like they haven’t been saying the same thing all the time. They’ve been out there; it’s just that we’ve not been paying attention,” she explained.

Joseph also encouraged public sector leaders to keep their elevator pitch ready when new ministers arrive, suggesting that transformation efforts should be adapted and not abandoned, to support the new vision.

“We all need to have our elevator speech ready, because when a new minister comes into the organisation and the new minister is about to pivot, your role is to embrace the new vision in the context of the transformation you’re already engaging in. Your role is to say, ‘Absolutely, that’s a brilliant idea, and how can we do this?’ and integrate the transformation you’re already going through into fulfilling the vision of the new person. So [in] that way, you’re not completely cancelling all the transformation efforts that you would have engaged in before, but you’re adapting them in an agile manner to support the new vision,” she said.

President and CEO at VM Group Courtney Campbell, who was also a panellist, added that strong change management processes help new ministers hit the ground running and show results faster — something that every Administration wants.

“If Jamaica, for example, were to have a change of Government at the next election, then I think the change management methodology that we are talking about here would be good for those new ministers because they would have a shorter time to see impact on their part,” he said.

He also pointed out that the best way for public servants to navigate political shifts is to keep their focus to the citizens they serve.

“The best way to insulate yourself as a public servant is to focus on the customer — the people, the stakeholders who are to be served. If they are served well, if you have a good mechanism for hearing from them, for sharing updates with them, for improving service delivery, that is the best insulation,” said Campbell.