Public sector organisations

Aligning mandate, decision-making and cross-departmental collaboration.

transformis team in the office, a consultant standing in front of the group

Questions to start with

Which change serves the organisation’s remit?
Who needs to be involved, and with what mandate?
Which ways of working should continue independently once our support ends?

In the public sector, organisational development starts with the specific remit and its framework. Different responsibilities and stakeholder groups are taken into account when collaboration and decision paths are developed.

Understanding the mandate and expectations: Which tasks are fixed, where is there room to develop, and which interests need to be considered? A structured clarification of the brief and a stakeholder perspective give the joint work its direction.
Tracing decision paths: Specific tasks are used to examine how expertise, responsibility and participation come together. Formal requirements and everyday routines are looked at side by side.
Designing change that fits the organisation: The architecture of change has to fit responsibilities, resources and decision paths. Role clarification and learning architectures can support the introduction of new ways of working. The specific brief determines which methods are used.
Connecting performance and political steering: Societal expectations, demographic change and the capacity of state and municipal bodies to act are important starting questions. The brief has to clarify how citizens’ expectations, professional requirements and political steering are turned into decisions. Responsibilities and ways of working together matter as much as the substantive goals.

Distinguishing remit, mandate and participation

For us, consulting means working on both the substantive task and the organisational conditions. In a public sector organisation, that means first understanding the specific remit and its formal room for decision-making. A stakeholder analysis can make differing interests visible; participation needs a clear mandate and a route back into the responsible decision-making. An organisational diagnosis can show where formal rules and actual collaboration diverge. This determines the right scope for work on strategy, organisational design or leadership.

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Frequently asked questions

Where does an assignment begin?

With the specific public remit and its room for decision-making. The first step is to clarify which tasks are fixed, where there is room to develop and which interests need to be considered. A structured clarification of the brief and a stakeholder perspective provide orientation; together they determine the right scope for work on strategy, organisational design or leadership.

Who takes part?

People and stakeholder groups with relevant knowledge of the task or a mandate for it. A stakeholder analysis can make differing interests visible. Participation needs a clear mandate and a route back into the responsible decision-making, so that results are not left sitting alongside the formal responsibilities. Citizens’ expectations, professional requirements and political steering are kept distinct.

What can diagnostics show?

Gaps between formal rules and how people actually work together. Specific tasks are used to examine how expertise, responsibility and participation come together, looking at formal requirements and everyday routines side by side. We do not have a documented case study of our own for public sector organisations; the consulting questions are documented, but no results are promised.

What determines which methods are used?

The specific brief. The architecture of change has to fit responsibilities, resources and decision paths. Role clarification and learning architectures can support the introduction of new ways of working. Societal expectations, demographic change and the capacity of state and municipal bodies to act are the starting questions from which the brief derives the decisions and capabilities required.