Doing Things Differently Report

The work of the PSC Advisory Board is focused on the reform agenda for the NSW public sector. In December 2012, the PSC Advisory Board added three priorities to its strategic agenda:

• identifying the measures and drivers of public sector productivity
• examining how the public sector collaborates with the not-for-profit and private sectors in the reform and delivery of services
• determining how best to measure customer satisfaction with government services and feed that information into improvement initiatives.

This publication details research commissioned by the PSC Advisory Board that will enable NSW public sector agencies to improve productivity, and the measurement of customer satisfaction and take a more collaborative approach to the way they provide their services.

The publication contains:

• a foreword from the Premier
• an introduction from former PSC Advisory Board Chairman, Professor Peter Shergold
• the findings of the three research projects
• the actions the PSC Advisory Board and/or Commissioner have planned in light of the research findings.

Some common themes arise across the three research projects: the focus on customer, performance and leadership; the critical role of sound data and evidence as a basis for decision-making and service delivery reform; the importance for all sectors of measuring customer satisfaction and productivity and testing innovative approaches to collaboration; and the need to change the risk-averse culture of the public sector to facilitate innovation.