Empowering Bureaucrats for Better Government Performance — Dan Honig

In Pursuit of Development

Season finale! It is my great pleasure to welcome back a person I have very much enjoyed speaking with earlier— Dan Honig, an Associate Professor of Public Policy at University College London and Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy (@rambletastic). His latest book is Mission Driven Bureaucrats: Empowering People To Help Government Do Better. Mission-driven bureaucrats, according to Dan, are individuals who work within the bureaucracy with a genuine desire to serve their organization's mission of helping citizens. They perform their jobs out of a strong belief in their purpose, rather than being driven by a set of rules or incentives that compel them to act in specific ways. But what are the historical roots of the term "mission," and how can mission-driven bureaucrats thrive? The book argues that the key to better government lies in empowerment and trust, rather than stricter controls and more rigorous oversight.

Key highlights

• Introduction – 00:24
• Mission driven bureaucrats – 04:04
• Managers like Ted Lasso – 18:21
• Managing for empowerment versus managing for compliance – 25:12
• Demotivated and unmotivated bureaucrats – 37:46
• Characteristics of efficient bureaucracies around the world – 35:06
• New public management and the centrality of citizens – 43:52

Host

Dan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)

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