Leaders of large public sector organizations—government agencies, multi-lateral institutions and nonprofits alike—face unprecedented management challenges, ranging from labyrinthine and entrenched organizational structures to complex administrative policies. The result is slow decision-making, unnecessarily high costs, and, quite often, an overall sense of organizational inertia and resistance to change.

Monitor’s High-Performance Bureaucracy® practice draws upon Monitor’s full range of tools and methodologies to deliver targeted support, tailored to address the specific challenges faced by each client organization. Below are a number of challenges that large public sector organizations often face and the corresponding capabilities that Monitor can bring to bear in addressing them.

Does your organization struggle to effectively coordinate and manage its relationships with the range of political and regulatory external stakeholders, causing tense relationships, misaligned priorities, and endless “fire drills”?

Monitor’s “Constituency Engagement for Advantage” methodology allows public sector organizations to map the range of external stakeholders in a systematic fashion, identify the specific messages and engagement models best suited in each case, and aggregate this all into an integrated stakeholder engagement strategy for better results while freeing up critical management resources.

Does your organization face increased pressure to provide more and better results but with constrained resources?

Monitor’s range of methodologies for better understanding and addressing the unique needs of each client's constituents (or “customers”) enables leaders to group their constituents into appropriate “segments,” identify the unique needs and expectations of each, and develop targeted service delivery and communication plans for addressing these needs in an efficient and effective manner.

Is your organization dependent on outside public and/or private sector partners but finding those “partnerships” frustrating, time-consuming and ineffective?

Monitor’s approach to mapping and managing the value network allows public sector organizations to systematically map the range of current and potential external partners, identify the specific engagement models best suited for each case, and synthesize the information into an integrated partnership strategy and tracking system.

Does your organization lack a coherent and well-understood strategy that is clearly tied to the mission and concretely integrates operational choices and actions?

Monitor’s “Strategic Choice Structuring” methodology helps leaders make the mission of their organization actionable by working through an analytic process to arrive at a targeted and customized strategic plan for achieving it. Additionally, Monitor’s “FastForward” strategic planning methodology enables leaders to think through the critical uncertainties facing their organization and identify how it may need to adapt and change over time to thrive in these future scenarios.

Does your senior leadership team have the skills necessary to effectively identify the organization’s emerging challenges, and to motivate and mobilize its people, resources and processes to address these challenges?

Monitor’s suite of “Leadership Development Programs” is specifically designed to help senior executives build the skills and capabilities needed to effectively lead their organizations, today and in the future. Monitor works alongside the senior leadership team individually and as a group to diagnose existing skill and capability gaps and provide targeting coaching and instruction to address them.

Will your organization lack the people with the right skills and capabilities to effectively get the job done in the future?

Monitor has developed a range of tools and methodologies—including “Human Capital for Advantage,” the “Capabilities Diagnostics Suite,” and “PeopleScan”—specifically designed to identify the set of skills and capabilities required of the workforce, and to guide the development of a human capital strategy for recruiting, developing, motivating and retaining individuals with this skill set.

Does your organization struggle to allocate resources in the most cost-effective and impactful way, leading to waste and inefficiency?

Monitor’s “Adaptive Cost Management” methodology allows organizations to map their resource allocation across a series of “asset classes,” ranging from basic administrative services to true strategic activities, thereby enabling them to assess whether their resources are properly aligned against the highest-priority activities. Additionally, Monitor’s “Line-of-Sight Metrics” methodology enables organizations to develop ongoing performance measurement systems that ensure resource allocation continues to be aligned with strategic objectives and the political environment.

Does your organization’s current structure help or hinder performance? Do unclear roles, vague responsibilities, and critical but ill-defined interfaces impede effective decision-making and action?

Monitor’s “Organizing to Win” methodology enables organizations to systematically map the critical activities taking place across the agency and align on decision rights, roles, and responsibilities across each. Monitor then works with organizations to identify the most effective organizational structure for accomplishing this set of activities and design a transformation plan for implementing it.