Building State Capability Podcast

The Practice of PDIA: Building Capability by Delivering Results Podcast series

Part 10: Building and maintaining authorization

Welcome to Part 10 of the Practice of PDIA: Building Capability by Delivering Results Podcast series. This 12 part series, based on a video series used for our PDIA online course, will walk you through the PDIA or Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation approach to solving complex development problems. More than 1,500 development practitioners in 90 countries have used the PDIA approach.

Authorization is a necessary condition to build state capability. However, it is not easy to build authorization to act. In today’s podcast, Professor Matt Andrews will discuss the challenges of gaining authorization and offer practical ideas to address them.

Matt, can you share with our listeners what you mean by authority and why this is important for building state capability?

Understanding Your Authorizing Environment

Thanks Matt. People often make assumptions about their own bureaucracy. Can you share more about the difference between an ideal and a real bureaucracy?

Ideal vs. Real Bureaucracy

Can you further explain what you mean by the reality of authority? What does it look like?

Fragmented and Dysfunctional Authority.

You often say that maintaining support in a change process is a real challenge. How should our listeners grow and maintain their authority?

Maintaining Your Authorizing Environment

Thank you for listening to Part 10 of the Practice of PDIA: Podcast series. Tune in to listen to Part 11 where we will discuss iteration. To learn more about building and maintaining authorization in PDIA, download our toolkit at bsc.cid.harvard.edu.

To learn more about the Implementing Public Policy executive education course, visit www.hks.harvard.edu/EE/IPP. To read the Public Policy Failure paper, visit https://bsc.hks.harvard.edu/publications/public-policy-failure-how-often-and-what-is-failure-anyway/.

// https://bsc.hks.harvard.edu ///
Interview recorded on January 18, 2019.

About Matt Andrews: Matt Andrews is Senior Lecturer in Public Policy. His research focuses on public sector reform, particularly budgeting and financial management reform, and participatory governance in developing and transitional governments. Recent articles focus on forging a theoretical understanding of the nontechnical factors influencing success in reform processes. Specific emphasis lies on the informal institutional context of reform, as well as leadership structures within government-wide networks. This research developed out of his work in the provincial government of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa and more recently from his tenure as a Public Sector Specialist working in the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank. He brings this experience to courses on public management and development. He holds a BCom (Hons) degree from the University of Natal, Durban (South Africa), an MSc from the University of London, and a PhD in Public Administration from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University.

Read BSC's Public Leadership Through Crisis blog series: https://bsc.cid.harvard.edu/public-leadership-through-crisis

Listen to our podcast with Rob Wilkinson on the first P: Perception: https://harvardbsc.simplecast.com/episodes/episode-7-4p-leadership-framework-perception.

Listen to our podcast with Rob Wilkinson on the second P: Process: https://harvardbsc.simplecast.com/episodes/episode-8-4p-leadership-framework-process.

Listen to our podcast with Rob Wilkinson on the third P: People: https://harvardbsc.simplecast.com/episodes/episode-9-4p-leadership-framework-people.

Read Eye Movement and Vision by Alfred L. Yarbus: http://wexler.free.fr/library/files/yarbus%20(1967)%20eye%20movements%20and%20vision.pdf.

Read Mindset: The New Pyschology of Success by Carol S. Dweck: https://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Carol-S-Dweck/dp/0345472322.

Read What Leaders Really Do by John P. Kotter: https://bsc.cid.harvard.edu/files/bsc/files/kotter_what_leaders_really_do_hbr_2001.pdf.

Read Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen: https://www.amazon.com/Thanks-Feedback-Science-Receiving-Well/dp/0670014664.

Learn more about Prof. Robert Wilkinson: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/robert-wilkinson

Part 11: Designing and learning from your iteration

Welcome to Part 11 of the Practice of PDIA: Building Capability by Delivering Results Podcast series. This 12 part series, based on a video series used for our PDIA online course, will walk you through the PDIA or Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation approach to solving complex development problems. More than 1,500 development practitioners in 90 countries have used the PDIA approach.

We believe that the answers to complex problems do exist but they must emerge through active iteration, experimentation and learning. In today’s podcast, Professor Matt Andrews will discuss the PDIA principle of iteration.

Matt, can you share with our listeners how iteration can help build both legitimacy as well as functionality.

Learn Iterate Adapt

Could you walk us through the process of an iteration? What is it and how does it work?

Iteration is Research in Action.

Thanks Matt. Can you explain the process of designing the first iteration?

Designing your First Iteration.

Thank you for listening to Part 11 of the Practice of PDIA: Podcast series. Tune in to listen to Part 12 where we will discuss how we think about scale. To learn more about iteration in PDIA, download our toolkit at bsc.cid.harvard.edu.