Researcher’s 5 tips for municipalities failing to innovate – “This is what you should do instead”

Swedish municipalities risk getting stuck in old ruts when trying to solve segregation, climate change and other major societal challenges. So what is needed for municipalities to succeed in innovation?

– Municipal employees are used to stability, clear goals and quantitative measures. But innovation work is uncertain, unpredictable and sometimes chaotic, says Mattias Berglund, Mälardalen University.

In his everyday life he works as a municipal strategist, and in recent years he has been working part-time on his doctorate. In his dissertation, he studied innovation capacity in municipalities – and the tensions that can arise internally.

– Middle managers are extremely important in the innovation process. They drive collaboration across administrative boundaries and engage with both staff and citizens. Unfortunately, they are often left alone, without the support of senior management.

In the municipality studied, a structure for middle management cooperation was built. However, as the management did not maintain the ambition, the work became increasingly separated from regular activities.

– Top management also needs to maintain innovative ambitions over time, and actively work to spread lessons learned to other parts of the organization. Otherwise, it will be difficult to build innovation capacity.

Innovation requires courage

Thinking in new ways and living in uncertainty with a high degree of insecurity is a huge challenge for municipalities. Berglund says it’s human nature to want straight answers, but this is at odds with innovation work.

– It takes great courage for municipalities to increase their innovation capacity. They need to accept uncertainty instead of trying to reduce it to a simple solution.

When the municipality studied tested new forms of citizen dialogues, which proved successful, middle managers did not know how to proceed.

– One manager said:“I guess we have no choice but to keep going, because we can’t forget what we have learned.” This is an example of how the courage to continue in uncertainty can be crucial.

Tensions created

Formal decisions, procedures, perceptions and behaviors coexist in municipalities – creating tensions that cannot be resolved once and for all. The problem is often that tensions are rarely talked about – which can easily lead to frustration.

– One example is when managers deliver key figures, even though they themselves do not think there is any value in describing the results of their own activities. They would rather tell stories about how their work has affected residents. But since no one asked for this, they continued to present figures,” says Mattias Berglund.

– The result is that the organization reinforces a system it simultaneously perceives as inadequate.

Lack of clarity about what innovation is

A major challenge is that different actors within the municipality have very different definitions of innovation. For some it means radical changes, for others small everyday improvements.

– No one is wrong, but no one is right either. Without a common understanding, it will be difficult to work together.

– One administration may feel anxious about having to come up with something groundbreaking, while another is content with small steps. Then they talk past each other and risk having different requirements and expectations, which harms innovative ambitions,” explains Mattias Berglund.

Politicians must also

Another clear finding from the research is that elected representatives are often left out of innovation efforts, despite their crucial role.

– Saying “We have strengthened internal cooperation” may be the most important thing a municipality has done to combat gang crime, for example. For voters, however, it is a weak answer compared to saying “We have hired 20 people”.

– Politicians need to be involved and given the tools to understand the value of innovation and their own role in promoting it,” says Mattias.

Fragmentation is a reality

He points out that municipalities are not uniform organizations. Instead, they are made up of many administrations and logics that sometimes pull in different directions.

– It is not possible to say “This municipality has an innovation capacity”. Fragmentation and conflicting goals are part of the system. Only when you accept this can the innovative work begin,” says Mattias Berglund.

Contact mattias.berglund@mdu.se

More about the thesis
Mattias Berglund defends his thesis on October 17 at Mälardalen University Support for innovation – Balancing the paradox of innovation and democracy in municipalities.