As published in The Mandarin October 29, 2024 by Kiah MD John Glenn It’s de rigueur to run performance-based contracts. Deliver the agreed performance, get paid. Don’t meet the performance standard, get paid less. Should make sense, but does it? Do the job, get paid In a business-to-business (B2B) relationship, if a company delivers faster,…
A large IT project off the rails, who would have thought? It’s not actually news and picking on the Defence ERP program is like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s not that people aren’t trying to do a good job, it’s just that sometimes they just dig a hole they can’t get out of by…
As published in The Mandarin September 27, 2024 by John Glenn and Kylie Pezdirc If we want the best possible public sector, we need more leaders questioning what has always been done. Not to seek consensus, but to challenge it. To challenge themselves. The status quo is yesterday’s answer to today’s problem. Consensus is the…
As published in The Mandarin September 10, 2024 by Kiah MD John Glenn I know I’m a heretic. Surely, it’s obvious we need good contract management. The Department of Finance has a well-meaning 50+ page guide to managing contracts. ANAO has a web page providing advice on better procurement and contract management (ANAO Insights: Audit…
You don’t have to be at the top to demand that your organisation delivers. Hold yourself, your colleagues and your leaders accountable. As published in The Mandarin September 17, 2024 by John Glenn Last week was a tough one for the Defence sector. But there are lessons for everyone in public service. I get told…
As published in The Mandarin, 28 May 2024 by Kiah Managing Director John Glenn I ran a short course recently for a client on how to engage consultants and contractors. Feedback asked that I expand on how to better manage them once they had been engaged. A good question. Preparation is always key to success….
s published in The Mandarin, 21 March 2024 by Kiah MD John Glenn I have reproduced below a Facebook post by a good friend of mine, Kat Rae. The post was private, so sharing it was difficult. Kat is a private person, and she doesn’t seek to be the “face of a movement”. But her message…
As published in The Mandarin, 26 February 2024 by Kiah MD John Glenn The public and private sectors are different, and not everything translates well, but some things do if adapted. We know – we do a lot of work at the intersection of the two and many of us have worked inside both public…
As published in The Mandarin, 6 December 2023 by Kiah MD John Glenn Trust in consultants would seem to be at an all-time low, given the integrity breaches over inappropriate use of confidential information, conflicts of interest, and even the sharing of online assessments. Yet they remain among the most capable and trusted advisers across…
As published in The Mandarin November 7, 2023 by Kiah MD John Glenn I’m not against the ‘Big Four’ — they have things to offer. They just shouldn’t be offered everything. Setting aside the egregious behaviours of a few, the bigger problem is their extraordinary exclusionary access and influence. It has created an oligopoly across…
