Report

Gain an adaptive edge

How public sector organisations can become as adaptive as the threats they face

Public sector organisations are facing a multitude of challenges and threats that are testing responses and capabilities built in a more stable world.

Responding to this new reality requires ingenuity. There is a renewed imperative for successful public sector organisations to become more purpose-led, adaptive and collaborative. This report shares practical insights, synthesised from our experience across the defence, law enforcement and national security industry, to serve as principles for all public sector leaders building adaptive organisations for the future.

As organisations move towards a hybrid model, they'll need to be bold, think big, start small and scale fast.”

The report

Complex, disruptive change is the new constant. Take new technology and data. A powerful force for prosperity but also a force for ill in the wrong hands. It can enable everything from terrorism and financial fraud through to industrialised misinformation and online child sex abuse and exploitation. Defence, law enforcement and security organisations need to constantly adjust to tackle the speed and cunning of the multiple, diverse adversaries they face, and their experiences offer lessons for a wider audience.

All public sector organisations must respond to become every bit as adaptable and innovative as the challenges and threats they face. An inability to match the speed of the challenge risks our society, security and prosperity.

The method matters

To help organisations adjust to this new reality and make transformation more effective, we work through this cycle with our clients:

Be bold
Set an ambition to transform the whole system, including people, processes, infrastructure, technology and facilities.
Think big
Define what value looks like, how you’ll get there, and how and when you’ll start to see value along the way. Create a roadmap for the transformation. And adopt a model for delivering it that lets you adapt to change as you go.
Start small
Build commitment to becoming an adaptive organisation. Learn where other transformations have failed. And pilot and prototype new ways of working, getting value early and using it to build momentum, motivation and buy-in.
Scale fast
Take these methods and results and replicate them across the organisation.

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Contact the team

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