Overview

This book is a comprehensive guide to an exciting new approach that managers at any level can use to transform their corners of government. Whether people want more government or less, everyone wants efficient government. But most innovation efforts try to change the very nature of government-such as dismantling bureaucracy or privatizing services-and thus they usually fail. Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder accept government on its own terms and simply ask how some existing organizations are dramatically improving their performance. What they found is that the best innovations come not from the top down but from the bottom up. Drawing on their study of seventy government organizations and interviews with nearly 1,000 people in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Sweden, they found that the most innovative agencies and offices solicited and implemented ideas from frontline workers, the people who directly serve the public. These often modest, pragmatic improvements can have a huge cumulative effect. For example, the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses was able to cut its average wait time from an hour and forty minutes to just seven minutes. Robinson and Schroeder offer a comprehensive guide for systematically collecting, evaluating, and implementing game-changing frontline ideas. Reading group discussion guide available in book.

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Reviews

""Inspiring, relevant, and timely...It is an unparalleled resource for any government manager who wants to make a real impact."" -- ""Wendy Kortuis-Smith, executive director, Virginia Mason Institute, and founder and former director of Results Washington"" ""One of the most important books in decades on improving government performance. A must-read for leaders at all levels who want to make their organizations better, faster, and stronger."" -- ""Michael Hancock, mayor, City of Denver""

Author Information

Dean M. Schroeder is the Herbert and Agnes Schulz Professor of Management at Valparaiso University. Robinson and Schroeder have advised hundreds of organizations in more than twenty-five countries on how to improve their performance. Alan G. Robinson has authored or coauthored ten books, including Corporate Creativity, coauthored with Sam Stern, named ""Book of the Year"" by the Academy of Human Resource Management. He teaches at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dean M. Schroeder has authored or coauthored four books and won numerous awards for his research. He has worked with many organizations around the world and led radical transformations at four companies. He is a senior research professor at Valparaiso University. Walter Dixon is a broadcast media veteran of more than twenty years' experience with a background in theater and performing arts and voice work for commercials. After a career in public radio, he is now a full-time narrator with more than fifty audiobooks recorded in genres ranging from religion and politics to children's stories. Walter Dixon is a broadcast media veteran of more than twenty years' experience with a background in theater and performing arts and voice work for commercials. After a career in public radio, he is now a full-time narrator with more than fifty audiobooks recorded in genres ranging from religion and politics to children's stories.

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