ICGFM Sustaining Members Publish: Embracing Government 2.0

Embracing Government 2.0: Leading transformation change in the public sector

Grant Thornton and FreeBalance White Paper

This white paper is co-authored by Government 2.0 thought leaders Martha Batorski, Director at Grant Thornton, and Doug Hadden, Vice President of Products at FreeBalance. "Government 2.0 is driving transformation in transparency, participation and collaboration," said Doug Hadden, Vice President of Products at FreeBalance. "Our vision is that knowledge management and collaboration are integral to Government Resource Planning."
The FreeBalance Grant Thornton paper was encapsulates the essence of a series of articles from the FreeBalance Sustainable Public Financial Management blog to respond to a growing demand among Grant Thornton clients for greater clarity on what leaders need to do different to successfully transition to Government 2.0. Articles about Government 2.0 received substantial interest and attention from social enterprises and the broader public financial management community. The white paper shows how to employ effective change management skills in the emerging Government 2.0 open environment and describes the new skills and mindsets government leaders need to adopt to address and the many, emerging new challenges they face.

Embracing Government 2.0 Leading Trans Formative Change in the Public Sector

Martha Batorski has over 20 years experience leading business transformation initiatives in the public and private sector. She is currently leading Grant Thornton’s Government 2.0 and Change Management 2.0 practice in the Global Public Sector. And, she was a recent speaker at the Potomac Forum February 2009 Conference on "Planning and Implementing Social Media and Open Government Strategy and Efforts: What Executives and Managers Need to Know " in Washington DC.

Martha Batorski writes about a key difference in leading change in the Government 2.0 era. “Traditional change management frameworks work for a mandated, roll-out of change – where change is pushed to a target audience. Change Management in the Web 2.0 era (Change 2.0) is more peer-to-peer, viral – change is pulled by participants, constituents, employees, customers. One key difference for leaders is in the need to engage with others, to convert value from the network into meaningful products and services and knowledge, and to quickly identify practical solutions to challenges.”

Doug Hadden has over 20 years of management, sales, marketing and product management experience. He has been instrumental in creating a vision for GRP software that incorporates Web 2.0 collaboration and content. Recently, Mr. Hadden hosted an interactive session detailing how Government 2.0 will transform the practice of government performance and public financial management. And he participated on the "Government 2.0: The Next Wave of Open Government?" panel at the ICGFM Winter 2009 conference.