Tools and templates to help conduct organization assessment and planning in the public sector
TURNKEY Public Management Toolkits - Key features
At its broadest level, the TURNKEY Public Management Toolkits concept is about sharing the knowledge acquired from assessing organizations that has been developed over many years of management consulting assignments for government departments, ministries and agencies. Guides, tools and templates are available for 10 management tasks (or types of advisory/management consulting assignments) applied to a range of government functions. Generic templates are also available for each of the 10 management tasks. Key characteristics of the tools are:
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Public sector focus. The tools and templates reflect public sector requirements recognizing the unique nature of government service delivery and that management methodologies used commonly in a private sector context are not always suitable to the different objectives of public service organizations.
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Function specific. For each management task, functional tools and templates contain information specific to each function, with the emphasis on the key considerations in assessing the function, capabilities required, activities carried out by the function, and best practices that are unique to the function.
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Integrated suite of tools. A single web site provides tools for a range of management tasks and functions, thereby enabling public sector managers, management consultants, coaches and advisors to do one-stop shopping to quickly find tools and templates.
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Guidance. The tools provide methodologies and work plans, templates, checklists, key steps, questions to address, in addition to function specific content.
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Fully editable. The tools have been developed with the expectation that users will make changes to the templates and content to reflect the particular circumstances of each organization and its mandate.
- Reporting tool. The templates provide a ready-made structure to document findings, conclusions and opportunities for improvement in an easy to comprehend and professional looking report format.
Benefits
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Self-service/do-it-yourself. Enable public sector managers, management consultants and policy advisors to scope and initiate a management task or project, decide on the most suitable approach and methodology, and conduct the task or assessment.
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Time saving. Starting with a structure and content is far more efficient than recreating something from scratch that has been done countless times before, particularly when functions must be assessed urgently in a limited timeframe. In practice, this means that you are able to put forth a comprehensive approach and methodology from day one and quickly make changes depending on the objectives of the assessment.
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Consistency. The templates all follow the same structure and reporting format in order to ensure consistency, of particular importance when separate teams or team members are assessing different areas of the same organization.
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Context knowledge. The tools enable you to quickly access information on what a particular task such as benchmarking, functional review, organizational design, etc., entails; and as importantly, information on the function being assessed and all the key elements that need to be considered as part of the assessment. The guides provide information on the pitfalls to avoid and specific approaches to ensure the assessment is a success.
What Public Management Toolkits do not do
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The tools and templates do not replace the specialized expertise of an expert consultant, or the role of the advisor providing an independent assessment.
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The tools do not promote the latest management fad. The tools follow proven and well known organizational assessment approaches applied many times over in a public sector context.
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Public Management Toolkits is not a consulting service, and is not using the tools to promote management consulting services. TURNKEY is about providing management consultants, advisors, coaches and senior public sector managers quick and easy access to guides and templates at a modest cost.
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The tools and templates must be customized to the infinite variations of each organization. Although comprehensive, the templates provide a starting point only.
How the tools can be used by different users
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Diagnostic tools. To help public sector senior executives and managers better understand the scope of specific management tasks or consulting projects, the challenges they will encounter, and key steps required. The tools can be used to help obtain senior management commitment and engagement to change management initiatives as they reduce uncertainty around projects.
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Management consulting tools for government. To provide management consultants context information on a function and the potential application of specific management consulting methodologies to that function within a government context. Consultants can also use the templates to summarize their findings and observations, and prepare professional looking reports.
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Organizational assessment tools. To provide advisors, policy analysts, management consultants, coaches, audit specialists and other specialized experts guides and templates to help better understand and recognize the key features of specific public sector functions; apply proven methodologies and solutions to address organizational and management issues; and templates to report their findings and recommendations.
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Work plans. To provide public sector managers and management consultants work plans to help prepare statements of work for specific management/consulting tasks.
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Learning tools. To help train new managers and professionals on organization assessment and planning and the scope of functions carried out in a public sector context.
Specific applications of the tools
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Functional review templates to assess the scope of activities carried out, responsibilities, and the capabilities the organization requires in the way ahead.
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Capability assessment templates to identify key organization capabilities required, assess core competencies, tools and technologies, compare with common/best practices, and determine “as is” and “to be” capabilities required in the way ahead.
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Delivery model option assessment templates to review how well the current delivery model is working, and identify and assess alternative delivery model options.
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Organization design templates to assess the existing organizational structure, consider service delivery/structural options, and select and implement the optimal organizational structure.
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Benchmarking templates to help compare service delivery and management practices with other jurisdictions nationally or internationally—“are we doing the right things compared to common/best practice?”
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Strategic and business planning templates to help you structure and organize your planning program so that you can best apprise external trends, your current situation and decide on strategic priorities and projects in the way ahead.
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Operational planning templates to help managers prepare an operational plan for their ongoing activities and targets to be achieved for the upcoming year.
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Expenditure/spending review baseline assessment templates to review the resource levels of an organization and provide a snapshot of current activities and resources supporting a function or program.
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Risk profiling templates to identify risks faced by the organization, ensure mitigation measures are in place to address these risks, and confirm actions required to address the gaps.
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Performance measurement templates to help identify indicators to measure performance in terms of results achieved, quality, service, stakeholder relationships, client demand/workload, efficiency, and people/workplace health.
Intellectual property
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Individual users that acquire the tools from TURNKEY can make any changes they desire to the tools and contents, and use the tools in the manner they best see fit.
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The tools cannot be redistributed for sale or otherwise.
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The user is responsible for the use made of the tools and all decisions/actions taken.
Follow up questions
- Contact TURNKEY (Michael Kelly) by email at turnkeypublicmanagementtools@gmail.com in the case of questions or if follow up is required in relation to the guides and tools.