After working for the civil service for 14 years, in 12 different jobs, with five promotions, across four departments in three countries… I left Whitehall for something completely different: a tech start-up. Why give up a decent pension and relative job security for the risky world of the .com? Well, I wanted to be on the forefront of innovation and realised I needed to go where innovation wasn’t a word fraught with risk, but a quality necessary for survival. Where better to go than the tech start-up community? Over the last year I’ve been working with banks, consultancies and construction firms advising on operational efficiency, collaboration and culture change. So is the grass greener on the private side? Here’s seven things I’ve realised since making "the jump":
1. It’s not the organisation, it’s you.
I was nervous about the move as I wasn’t sure how I’d stack up against my private sector counterparts. But as it turns out, whether you’ve spent your whole career in the private sector, or the public, what matters is the kind of person you are. If you enjoy working at pace, with constantly changeable goals, job descriptions, a lack of certainty and "structure" (and as much responsibility as you want) then the start-up life might be for you.
2. Breadth is important.
As a member of a talent scheme in the Ministry of Defence I was encouraged to move roles every year or two (hence 12 jobs in 14 years). If asked I’d say I had two specialisms, IT and comms… however, when I was in the Home Office I dealt with the High Court and that’s given me a pretty good eye for legal details. So in comparison to the private sector where people tend to specialise early on, being a broadly experienced civil servant is actually quite valuable, especially in a small company where everyone wears at least two or three hats.
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3. Everyone is bad at appraisals.
I’m sure I’m not alone in that I never once, in 14 years, filled out the same annual appraisal form two years running. But the private sector doesn’t have all the answers either and after many years of kicking and screaming, the annual appraisal process looks like it’s on the way out. Companies like Deloitte, Accenture, Adobe and even Microsoft are dropping the annual process in favour of more continuous and agile performance management systems and processes. Little and often is the new once a year, so get ready for more change.
4. Everyone makes bad decisions.
Civil servants may lament this policy or that, but in the private sector people don’t necessarily make better decisions. What people do do is make decisions faster, and learn more quickly from mistakes. In general the private sector has a more agile approach and prefers to "fail quickly", something it’s tough to do in government with media and public pressures. However I suspect public attitudes to service provision in a more agile way will, in time, change: the success of some of the Government Digital Service's (GDS) exemplar projects proves that.
5. Speed and intelligence.
The pace of work is increasing exponentially. Competition is fierce whatever sector you’re in and the lure of outsourcing means even those functions that thought they were "safe" are fighting to maintain their position. Unless you’re continually improving, you’re going backwards in comparison to your competitors. For the civil service this means continually growing public expectations for the speed of service provision. But faster decisions needs faster analysis and planning. In the private sector, they’re making much better decisions in HR and workforce planning, for example, and using much more detailed workforce analytics and even experimenting with big data to try and be one step ahead of their competitors.
6. Technology is key.
There is some seriously cool technology out there, much of which feels decades ahead of anything we’re using in government. And it’s not that hard to get hold of. The tech team at my company, ProFinda, are into Artificial intelligence, machine learning, advanced algorithms and big data - and that’s considered normal for a leading tech company. New tech presents game-changing potential for the organisations willing to make the most of it. The necessity of identifying and adopting the best and latest technology is not something any organisation, even government, is going to be able to ignore for much longer. And yes, the future is in the cloud. If the Cabinet Office can use Gmail, there’s no excuse for anyone else!
7. Culture is not a dirty word.
One of the classic excuses for not making use of the latest technology is "we don’t have the culture for it". And yet cultural change is normally the last thing to be considered as part of any change programme. Well, in the private sector it’s no longer a dirty word but one that is growing in clarity and value. If culture change is fundamental to your ability to adopt a technology that will save you or the taxpayer money, you need to address it. If it helps, don’t think of it as changing a whole culture, but more tweaking a collection of specific behaviours...