No matter how hard the Bush administration wants to focus on the big
picture and act strategically, within a matter of weeks after taking office,
political appointees at all levels are likely to get bogged down putting
out fires and dealing with the day-to-day job of governing. Moreover,
the federal bureaucracy focuses more on managing its programs than it
does on understanding a rapidly changing environment and designing interventions
that serve as catalysts for change. And finally, strategic thinking across
agency/bureau lines rarely happens and is in fact discouraged because
of budgetary procedures and other factors. Combine all of these elements
and you get a federal enterprise that has become reactive and programmatic.
But this difficulty in being flexible, strategic, and visionary is not
confined to the federal government -- it is endemic to all large organizations
in the New Economy. In contrast to the federal government, large corporations
have responded to these kinds of inherent limitations in a myriad of ways.
One way has been to create "skunk works" -- havens in the company
that are focused on creativity, the future, and breakthrough changes in
how business is done. The term "skunk works" came from the innovative
unit that the aerospace company Lockheed Martin established more than
50 years ago to "think outside the box" and develop the next
generation of technologies and products. Lockheed describes the key to
its success as being able to "identify the best individual talents
in aviation, blend and equip them with every tool needed, then provide
complete creative freedom so they may arrive at an optimum solution in
short order.
Skunk works have been emulated by Ford Motor Co., McDonnell Douglas,
and many other companies as a means for developing products quickly, cheaply,
and effectively. Within government, the Blair administration in the United
Kingdom has created a unit (two-thirds of it staffed by business people
seconded from industry) inside its Department of Trade and Industry focused
solely on innovation and futures planning for government.
Effective governing in the New Economy, in either business or government,
means thinking strategically about changes and challenges in the world
and reacting quickly and strategically to make a positive difference.
Doing this in the federal government is hard. As a result, the Bush administration
should create its own skunk works.
But to do it right, it will have to be non-bureaucratic. Skunk works
aren't big on titles, protocol, or rules. They stay away from bureaucratic
management, enabling the members to work quickly and efficiently with
a minimum of corporate oversight. If they don't do this, they can't attract
the kind of creative, policy "extroverts" -- people who network
widely and often travel outside the Washington Beltway -- that are needed
for such an operation to work. But at the same time, skunk works need
to be linked to decision makers if their ideas are to be translated into
reality. For that reason the skunk works should be in the executive office
of the president, with close links to the Office of Management and Budget.
A skunk works is just one idea that the Bush administration should embrace
if it is to transform bureaucratic government into catalytic and entrepreneurial
government. Embracing a radical government re-engineering strategy will
mean adopting a host of other reforms, including consolidated, performance-based
grants; fundamental civil service reform, consisting of greater flexibility
for hiring, firing, and compensation; allowing agencies that cut costs
to retain savings; creating accountable, performance-based organizations
to foster digital, customer-centered government; and providing funding
and flexibility for "intrapreneurial" new government start-up
efforts. The New Economy demands a new organization of the federal government,
and making this a reality should be a top priority of the Bush administration.
