We talk a lot about strategic management, but what exactly do we mean by that?
Think about it as the sweet spot.
We argue that any manager of a governmental institution has to find a balancebetween three distinct sets of goals:
- the good of the country and the society as a whole,
- the objectives of his or her agency,
- the prospects of his or her individual career.
This argument will surely be resisted by administrative traditionalists. They almost always assume that only the first of these perspectives is worthy of consideration. The second is already suspicious and the third is outright rejected as unbecoming for a civil servant. 

Think about how paradoxical it is.
Imagine you asked managers of our iconic businesses to care only about the world economy, and not about their companies— and God forbid--about their own careers! We generally recognize that such an approach would be counter-productive, mainly because what the economy is made of is precisely successful corporations, which in turn require professionally accomplished and personally content managers and employees.
So we argue that for our administration to deliver public value,
it must be made of successful institutions full of accomplished and fulfilled professionals. 

And that a good strategic management can bring us to that sweet spot.


Some of our readers wonder whether strategic thinking is possible at all in the public sector.
After all, long lists of objectives for our governmental institutions appear to be set in stone by various laws and regulations. Can you simply disregard them to focus on strategic priorities?
Of course not.
Strategy in a governmental agency is not about roundly rejecting tasks
that your agency is required to do. But our research shows
that public managers can “patrol” low-priority tasks with minimal resources
while keeping their focusing on value-creating priorities.
In our book, we introduce “the Battleplan” --a simple tool that can help you identify your most important priorities without losing track of all the other tasks your agency needs to carry out.

“Strategy” often has a bad reputation in our public administration.
It is associated with a thick report gathering dust on a shelf. [use półkownik in Polish]
One reason for that is that we define “strategy” in an overly narrow way.
Strategy is not a document with high-level, long-term objectives. Rather, it is an entire plan that takes your agency’s resources
and creatively converts them into results.
In other words, strategic management includes your ability to integrate your people, knowledge, and key processes around your objectives. This is particularly important for public-sector agencies that often have ambitious, high-level goals.
But what they do every day has little connection with those solemnly proclaimed goals.
“Administrategy” gives you concrete tools to change this harmful pattern. In our book, we discuss 30 doable steps to introduce such strategic integration in your agency.

Even if you are not a public manager, and just an engaged citizen, you should read our book and understand what our public managers need to do to be more successful.
The basic idea of “Administrategy” is that our state should not attempt to do everything for everybody, But when it does introduce regulations or offers services, They should be designed and delivered with creativity, quality, and the focus on the needs of customers-citizens.
Imagine our public institutions, from ministries to your local public school, operating on these three concepts: creativity, quality, customer-focus.
Our everyday lives, as taxpayers, employees or entrepreneurs, parties having their day at court, patients, as students or parents would look very differently.

 


Strategic thinking should improve, not imperil, your chances to not only survive but also succeed in the public-sector career. That is why, in our book, we carefully explain how a public manager can balance what is right for the country and the society with what is necessary for your political survival.
Our research shows that public managers who become either radical technocratic idealists or extreme political cynics end up badly. To be sure, not every mixture of technocratic insight and political calculation will work.
While defining your strategy you should start with what you believe makes sense and then filter it through the lenses of what is politically feasible.
At the end, you should confront your ideas with direct customers of your agency, both because they often know a lot about the subject-matter and because you will need their cooperation later on.
In Part I of our book, you will find specific techniques for managing these three faces of public value: good solutions, political support, and customer engagement and satisfaction, along with numerous case studies from our region.

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