Debate, Trust reform | Could it be the politicians themselves who are the cause of the top-heavy municipality?
Debate post This is a discussion post, written by an external contributor. The post expresses the views of the writer.
I read several posts in Fredriksstad Blad, where the trust reform does not have any expectations from the politicians for the municipality’s administration. The administration has expressed that they are waiting for a national trust reform before they want to start this work, cf submission to Silje Waters 11.08.2022.
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I am a little unsure whether she is mixing up the trust reform and trust-based management in her post, as she argues that it is ingrained in the municipality and that there are too many managers and too many management levels.
This is how I understood the trust reform, so this is another way of dealing with matters that concern the residents. Cases where residents must participate to a greater extent in the investigation and treatment of the case, such as a new school, sports hall, etc. The municipality of Copenhagen is known for having introduced the trust reform, and several municipalities in Denmark, Sweden and Norway are in the process of this important work.
The Norwegian Labor and Welfare Agency is also well underway with the trust reform, and has initiated the work ahead of the government’s decision on the Hurdal platform. The trust reform in the public sector is one of the government’s most important projects. The goal of the trust reform is to provide more welfare and better services to residents, and at the right time, cf. https://www.regjeringen.no/no/sok/id86008/?term=tillitsreformen
Whether a trust reform will result in decisions becoming less bureaucratic and taking less time remains to be seen.
In Silje Water’s submission, it is claimed that there are far too many bosses and too much bureaucracy in the public sector. I myself experience that it is very different in the public sector, both between state agencies and between large and small municipalities. I can understand that it is experienced as a lot of bureaucracy in Fredrikstad municipality, as this is a large municipality, with many employees and many levels of management.
Whether a trust reform will result in decisions becoming less bureaucratic and taking less time remains to be seen. The advantage of the trust reform may be that greater participation from the residents will lead to more openness and a better understanding of the matter prior to decisions made in the political committees. In this way, we will possibly also avoid the “rematches”, which can again be perceived as bureaucracy, and which can cause the case to take a long time.
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Silje Waters also believes that employees must be given more trust and that it must be possible to make decisions at a lower level. We can call this trust-based management. There are many types of management theories, where trust, responsibility and authority to make decisions are delegated to the employees to a greater or lesser extent. It requires that the employees are competent and that the management dares to let go of control.
In NAV, the job is to change this through what is called competence management, which consists of, among other things, employeeship, self-management and empowering management. A training program prepared by Høyskolen i Inn in collaboration with the Directorate of Labor and Welfare.
Those who have worked with change management, restructuring or development projects know that changes like time. This is because it is about changing organizational culture, i.e. attitudes, handling and behavior of managers and employees. Fredrikstad municipality is undergoing a major restructuring in connection with #Sustainability25.
In connection with major change jobs, it is common to want quick results, but which are also absolutely necessary for the municipality’s finances. It may seem that the municipality’s top management wants to have full control over all decisions, for the sake of the economy. By having full control, trust-based management is not possible in practice, as it requires “letting go” of control and giving employees the authority to decide for themselves.
In Fredrikstad municipality, many cases are dealt with politically. Maybe more than what is necessary? This requires a lot from the administration in preparation and in political meetings. If Silje Walters wants less bureaucracy, then maybe it’s smart to see how the municipality manages? Could it be that the politicians in the municipality themselves are the cause of a top-heavy municipality?
If trust must be given to the employees in order for them to be able to provide good services to the citizens, then the municipality must be able to be managed with trust. This means that the municipality’s politicians must become less concerned with detailed management, and give more power to the administration. Perhaps the trust reform must start in the political committees?