Insurgency means challenging the status quo and the usual way of doing things, it means working with new and different partners to gain new insights or deliver projects.
It is about boldly working across silos inside and outside of government.
Innovation is about doing something new and there are often many voices that resist doing things differently
Understanding that “it’s always been done this way” is not an acceptable defence for poor service performance or quality. Meanwhile, alternative approaches should not be dismissed because of a “if it’s not broken don’t fix it” mentality.
Public services need to “fail fast”, identifying more quickly and earlier when something isn’t working and why.
Understanding and accepting that when trying something new there is a possibility it might not work. This should not be viewed as “failure” but an opportunity to learn more – identifying what does and does not work.
The challenges faced by the public sector today demands greater and deeper collaboration
Trying to innovate in the public sector on your own can be a lonely and impossible challenge, collaboration with others can improve your chances of success and the provide a safe space to explore ideas and ask questions.
Working with people you might not ordinarily consider could result new synergies and approaches.
People who are very different from you or who work on something very different, is no reason not to work with them, they may have valuable insights and practices that you haven’t thought of.