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T INCREMENTAL

BENEFITSIS THE CRITICISM OF

THE GOVERNMENT'S

UNIVERSAL CREDIT

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pin or no spin, it'scommonly accepted -governments will make

mistakes. But can we doanything about it?

It's a permanent Parliament paradox

but the seemingly unanswerable

question is one that South Norfolk

MP Richard Bacon tackles in hrs

book Conundrum.The boo( a^alyses failu'e in'rany

h gh-prof e UK publlc sector projects,

includrng the National Programme forlT in the NHS, the Child Support

Agency, Passport Agency and Student

Loans Company.

Along with co-author Christopher

Hope, senior political correspondent at

The Daily Telegraph, Richard says one

key reason for repeated prolect fatlures

rs recruit ng civil servants on the basis

of their cognitive abilities in terms ofplaying with ideas, rather than their

ability to deliver.

He quotes former head of the Nationa

Aud t Off ice, Sir John Bourn:"The topjobs should go to those who have

successfu ly managed programmes and

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prolects in health, social, welfare andtaxation as well as construction anddefence. At the moment, they're given

io those helping ministers get throughthe political week."

Richard believes, to a large extent,Bourn's words still ring true,

"Ministers have a limited pool ofpre-determined talent to choose fromin hirng the permanent secretaries whorun civil service departments. These are

very seldom professionals with prolect

ma nagement experience."More people are needed in

Government with a deep understandingof project management and a

successful track record. "

The Conservative MP, who sits on thePublic Accounts Committee, was inspired

to write the book after seeing too much

go wrong for too long. He outlines his

passion for project management."With lust about everyrl'ing you

see, feel, touch and experience in theworld, somebody, somewhere has

prolect managed it. It is ceniral and

ubiquitous and yet in both Parliament

and Government we don't know howvital it is.

"That to me is a problem for theprofession that it needs to do

something about." D

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..MORE PEIIPLE ARE

NEEDED Iru GOVERNMENT WITH

A DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF

PRtlJEGT MANAGEMENT

AND A SUCCESSFUL TRACK

REC[lRD.''

DECEMBER 2013 projegt

,,THE PR[lFILEOF PROJECT

MANAGEMENT IS

PERCEPTI()il IN PARLIAMTNT"lthink its making progress," Richard

says when qurzzed over Parliament's v ew

on project management. "l don't thinkts there yet in terms of its status, by

any means, but the advent of the Major

Projects Authority, the way rt has been

rece ved and the calibre of the people

nvolved, is positive.

"The profile of prolect management

rs rising but do we have a series ofperrnanent secretarles across

Whitehall wrth serious backgroundsin project management? We don'tyet but we should."

He says new mrnisters eading

departments often lack any understanding

of the tension between managing large

organisat ons and the political process.

"They may understand electoral timetables

but they often don't fully understand

the negatrve impact these may have on

managing projects successf u1 ly. "

The book's case-study chapters detail

examples of very srgnif icant project failures

- including the recent lnterC ty West Coast

Ma n Llne franchise.

"The 12 case-study chapters deliberately

straddle different governments."l wanted to make the point that this

is not a party political book and that farlure

happens under governments ofall parties. "

Richard welcomes the MPAs Malor

Project Leadership Academy, which is

building the skills of senior project leaders

across Government. He believes rt will

improve percept ons of the profession

across Whitehali, leading to better

performance. He urges cautron though:"l don't think itl a silver buLlet that will

solve a I prob ems, and there may be a

danger of creat ng a crop of attractive,

valuable peopie whom the private sector

tnes to poach. That aspect needs careful

management. "

IMPLEMEI,ITAII0N AND IDE0L0GY

Richard quotes Labour MP Stella Creasy

saying: "Governments should notlust start

projects or pol cies - the public expects

them to be able to f nish them too.

Essentially, implementation is as important

as ideology in po itics. "

ln other words, Wh tehall needs to back

up promises with action. And the way you

do that, says Richard, is by giving them the

tools to de iver.

"lf everyone becoming an MP had

a deep awareness of project management

from day one, then there would be

more chance that they wou d al operate

towards the same oblective - better

project de ivery. "

An MP training proqramme in the

discipline of project management wou d

be beneficial, but probab y unreal stic,

he adds. "To become an MP you have to

devote so much time to t that it often

prevents you from spending time on

other things that would give you more

experienc."," says R chard. "People often

compiain that MPs don't have enough

experience, but if they did, they probably

wou dn't be MPs "

It is another conundrum wh ch brings

Richard back to his frrst po nt about

having the right people in post in the

first place. He uses the announcement

of Dav d Higg ns as the new HS2 chief as

an example. "lts the best thing that has

happened to the prolect. David Hlggins

has the righr combination of background

and experience.

"Of course the question remarns, 'why

you wouldn't get someone of that calibre

right from the beginning?"'Longevrty is another challenge,

according to Richard. Repeated faillngs

can often be connected to rapid turnover

of both minrsters and civil servants in their

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project DEcEMBER2ol3

departmental roles.

Richard argues: "This strongly militates

against the possibility of things being done

well. There are some things that I hold

ministers responsible for but this book was

not an attempt at apportioning blame.

It's not an attack on the civil service or an

attack on ministers - I really wrote it tounderstand better why things go wrongquite so often."

PE(}PTE MANAGEMENT"ln a way, this is a book pleading for betterproject management, " explains Richard,

"but it is also about better management

of people."

The latter part of the book ts focused

on behaviour. By including a 50-year history of attempted civil service

reforms which have under-delivered and

disappointed, the reader can see the

impact of human behaviour.

"My contention is, if you really want toget improvements, including improvements

in projects, then you need to manage more

closely how people actually behave. In

order to do that, you need to understand

why people behave the way they do and,

to do that, you need to understand where

behaviour comes from. "

On page 340 of the book, Richard

makes this point abundantly clear.

"Where does our behaviour come

from? Schmoozing, scheming, consensus

building, mediating conflicts, developing

trust, abusing trust, mutual fear, total

domination, reconciliation under

the pressure of circumstances, the

development of rivalries, the repairing

of ruling coalitions. Which of these

behaviours do you recognise?" Richard

points out that they are all well-observed

behaviours of chimpanzees, adding:"Primatologists remind us that the roots ofpolitics are older than humanity."

He says: "We are social primates whoare pre-wired to behave in certaln ways todefend our position. To get the best outof people you have to study what makes

people tick. lts not an accident if you look

at the big organisations who come top in

the'best-to-work-for' surveys, whetherthey're in manufacturing or services, public

or private sector, that they're organisations

that place a sustained premium on howthey look after and bring on their people.

"lts not an add-on, its part of what they

are and the consequence is they have great

people and do great things. "

He adds: "A lot of failure stems frombehaviour. We should spend more time

understanding how people behave, which

will help us navigate through the problems

we are facing. "

So where do we start? This. ofcourse, 15 tne conundrum tr

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