written by Salimah Samji
Are you a public policymaker frustrated with the limited impact of your government’s policies? Do you see many policy ideas starting out with promise but ending up incomplete or ineffectively implemented? Are you trying to improve implementation? If so, you are not alone.
Join with peers from around the globe for a dynamic, highly engaging online-only version of Implementing Public Policy (IPP). Led by faculty chair Matt Andrews, participants will learn the skills to analyze policies as well as the field-tested tools and tactics to successfully implement them. In an action-learning environment, including peer engagement and application to your work with the support of faculty, participants will have time to work on their implementation challenge, apply their learning to their own context, reflect on their experiences, share and learn, and become part of a global community of practice.
In 2020, we pivoted IPP to 25-weeks online. 140 participants from 45 countries successfully completed this program.
“The IPP course was one of the best educational experiences I have ever had in my over 25 years of local government and non-profit work!”
“The study material in both audio-visual and text format were excellent. The combination of live sessions, peer group sessions, and the assignments, ensured that while one learnt, one also got to share experiences and learning.”
The participants wrote blogs about their learning journey which you can find here.
Here’s what participants had to say about IPP 2020:
“I’ve come across ideas similar to PDIA before. But, every time I’ve seen it before there didn’t seem to be any tools associated, like when to use it or why to use it. It’s quite valuable to have a framework to help deconstruct a problem and to think through the steps of approaching a complex policy challenge.”
“I also loved how we learned how to use this the problem as part the motivation strategy and to get people on board in authorizing the work and in sharing in responsibility for the solutions. If you can agree there is a problem, it becomes harder to deny that solutions are needed.”
“I believe the teaching about individuality and personalities as well as the needs/bias we all have was very profound. It wasn’t so much that I learned about my peers but I learned about myself.”
“I’m a typical planner and controller. Planning and pre-determined milestones tend to make me feel better that we are making progress. However, this section helped me to see the value in action learning, especially for the complex issues I’m dealing with. Practicing these skills using my challenge allowed me to work through my questions/uncomfortableness in a non-threating way. And the reflection periods showed me how much progress we were making!”
“The Iteration process brings structure to finding solutions to problems, providing the opportunity to always try again without any feeling of failure.”
“The idea that not all solutions have to be game-changing because incremental progress is still progress and there a way to sell that to your constituency. Mind blowing!”
“The course’s approach to teaching “leadership” was also very interesting in the way that it de-emphasized the “heroic” aspects of the leaders in favor of leading through team building and mutual acceptance of risk in pursuit of important goals.”
“The concepts around teams and specifically why they either succeed or fail. It was so helpful to see that my approach to teaming my entire career has been all wrong!”
Visit the course website and apply now!