Embracing Government 2.0: Leading transformation change in the public sector
March 9th, 2010Grant Thornton and FreeBalance White Paper
This white paper is co-authored by Government 2.0 thought leaders Martha Batorski, Director at Grant Thornton, and Doug Hadden, Vice President of Products at FreeBalance. “Government 2.0 is driving transformation in transparency, participation and collaboration,” said Doug Hadden, Vice President of Products at FreeBalance. “Our vision is that knowledge management and collaboration are integral to Government Resource Planning.”
The FreeBalance Grant Thornton paper encapsulates the essence of a series of articles from the FreeBalance Sustainable Public Financial Management blog to respond to a growing demand among Grant Thornton clients for greater clarity on what leaders need to do different to successfully transition to Government 2.0. Articles about Government 2.0 received substantial interest and attention from social enterprises and the broader public financial management community. The white paper shows how to employ effective change management skills in the emerging Government 2.0 open environment and describes the new skills and mindsets government leaders need to adopt to address and the many, emerging new challenges they face.
Embracing Government 2.0 Leading Trans Formative Change in the Public Sector
Martha Batorski has over 20 years experience leading business transformation initiatives in the public and private sector. She is currently leading Grant Thornton’s Government 2.0 and Change Management 2.0 practice in the Global Public Sector. And, she was a recent speaker at the Potomac Forum February 2009 Conference on “Planning and Implementing Social Media and Open Government Strategy and Efforts: What Executives and Managers Need to Know ” in Washington DC.
Martha Batorski writes about a key difference in leading change in the Government 2.0 era. “Traditional change management frameworks work for a mandated, roll-out of change – where change is pushed to a target audience. Change Management in the Web 2.0 era (Change 2.0) is more peer-to-peer, viral – change is pulled by participants, constituents, employees, customers. One key difference for leaders is in the need to engage with others, to convert value from the network into meaningful products and services and knowledge, and to quickly identify practical solutions to challenges.”
Doug Hadden has over 20 years of management, sales, marketing and product management experience. He has been instrumental in creating a vision for GRP software that incorporates Web 2.0 collaboration and content. Recently, Mr. Hadden hosted an interactive session detailing how Government 2.0 will transform the practice of government performance and public financial management. And he participated on the “Government 2.0: The Next Wave of Open Government?” panel at the ICGFM Winter 2009 conference.
H.E. Mr. Jose Luis Guterres, Deputy Prime Minister of Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste 
Dili, Timor-Leste: Stephen was able to capture a good picture of FreeBalance President and CEO, Manuel Pietra, with school children in Dili. Manuel has been at the forefront of Corporate Social Responsibility at FreeBalance by advocating more activities with SOS Children’s Villages and other organizations that focus on children.
Guatemala City, Guatemala: Miguel and the FreeBalance team read aloud at Public School # 80 “Angelina Acuña” in Guatemala City.
Kampala, Uganda: Tiberius reports that Government of Uganda IPPS project and Computech staff joined FreeBalance at World Read Aloud Day from the oldest school in Kampala. SOS Children’s Villages in Kampala also leveraged the reading material. Great art work was created by the children, rated far better than that produced by Tiberius who has wasted his talents on computer engineering.
Ulanbaatar, Mongolia: Khurelbaatar reports a “great day for the kits with lots of joy and new information sharing.”
Pristina, Kosovo: Rehana reports that children were happy to hear books read in Albanian and English.
Lisbon, Portugal: Antonio reports that the Portuguese children in the first year elementary class were intrigued with the subject matter. “When we explained this same thing was happening in classrooms all over the world, their eyes lit up and the questions flowed.”
shkek, Kyrgyzstan: Victoria describes the wonderful experience with school children in the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Palestine: Hussam thanks “FB management for giving the opportunity to share this with the kids in Palestine and special thanks from the kids themselves.”
Ottawa, Canada: James reports finding a school that appears like the United Nations.
Washington, USA: Anne reports that Michael dressed as Batman was big hit with the children at a Head Start Pre-School Program. “all loved the book and there was lots of talk about favorite animals during the Animal on the Globe Activity.” Anne and Michael were accompanied by Kathleen Guy from Global Action for Children.