How might we… use research and experimentation to build better human resources frameworks?
By Elizabeth Hardy
How might we use experimentation to improve internal government processes? While I’ve been working on experimentation, and particularly behavioural insights, for almost a decade, most of my work and that of my colleagues has focused on citizen-facing outcomes. I’m excited to be leading a team at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s (TBS) Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer (OCHRO) to apply rigorous research and experimentation to internal processes. In this post I’ll share some of the thinking behind our work, some early results, and the kinds of things we’d like to do.
Using research, experimentation and behavioural science to advance internal Government of Canada priorities
Turning our attention inwards — to those issues affecting the internal workings of government — is a fairly new space, and I’m excited about what all is possible. While there is a lot of citizen-facing work underway, there is not a lot of evidence out there around using behavioural science to fix internal enabling functions such as decision-making, organization design, human resources, communications, and information technology. It is something I have wanted to work on for a long time. I remember a few years back reading and being inspired by a Mowat Centre report on the topic , “Public Service Transformed: Harnessing the Power of Behavioural Insights.” As part of some work I did with the International Monetary Fund, we had a number of conversations about how you can use behavioural science to debias decision-making and create more evidence-based decision-making processes internally. This also leads to streamlining, gaining efficiencies, and then ultimately leading to cost savings and also just general employee happiness for having to deal with less red tape.
Building a more robust evidence base: Experimentation and innovation are not only accepted, but expected
The world of people management is full of so many interesting, complex, challenges. From a behavioural science and human-centered design perspective, there’s so much we can do to develop an evidence base for what works, and from there identify solutions that make for a better experience — for public servants, human resources practitioners, and related enabling functions (e.g., IT, real property). I see so much potential everywhere I look. Our team is responsible for rigorous research and strategy development, and experimenting with the integration of a mixed method approach.
Something I’ve been reflecting on lately is how much the fields of behavioural science and human-centered design in government have progressed. I’m often asked by senior management how we can use these methods to improve our outcomes. What I am hearing around the senior management table is that experimentation and innovation are not only accepted, but expected. That’s because of that understanding of the importance of good data and a solid evidence base. It’s uplifting and exciting. We have been able to bring it to the attention of various management tables across the federal public service, and we’re sharing what we learned with our provincial and international partners.
As an example of some of the work we do, reducing the time it takes to hire public servants is a government priority. So we’re leading a randomized controlled trial to identify whether and how staffing pools can support these goals. We’ll share more about this project, and others in future posts.
Building better data sets to track progress on increasing diversity
We’re also leading extensive work on self-identification to develop evidence-based recommendations that support the accuracy, breadth, and reliability of employment equity data.
Increasing the representation of women, Black and racialized Canadians, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and LGBTQ2S+ Canadians in the public services is an important priority for the Government of Canada, as is getting better data to measure and track progress on increasing diversity in the public service.
We were given enough runway to do evidence and research well, and to actually design with stakeholders in the process. It is the first time I’ve used human-centered design in collaboration with behavioural insights to tackle a government priority. That’s also really, really exciting. What did we do? First, we dove deeply into the research, both qualitative and quantitative, and then undertook a “design micromission” where we brought in stakeholders from across the public service to help us co-design a better identification process. Then we tested a new draft questionnaire in an experiment with a sample of public servants, and we’re continuing to refine it through briefings and consultations. We also ran a randomized controlled trial which tested multiple different messages on all executives in the federal public service in order to understand what works in encouraging self-identification among executives. Among other results, the trial found that direct messages from our Chief Human Resources Officer were more effective in encouraging self-identification among executives than a message from departmental deputy heads. We’re looking forward to being able to share key findings and lessons learned of the Self-id modernization project to inform systems-level recommendations, and to help implement related policy and operational solutions.
Curious? Or want to explore working together
We’re excited to connect with others experimenting within governments, and particularly to make internal services better. We’d also like to find more ways to work with counterparts across the public service on people management research and experimentation. We’d like to understand more about how we might support, empower, and amplify work happening across the GC. How might we scale work that has been done in parts of the Government of Canada where there is potential for benefits across the system? Over the next few months, we’ll bring together colleagues to explore this, and how OCHRO can support GC-wide coherence and collaboration. Check out our early GCWiki page, or drop us a line at HRexperimentationRH@tbs-sct.gc.ca.
