Vanguard Magazine

Reframing the Government's Marching Orders for C anada has a new budget state- ment, and with it came a con- firmation of what we have been hearing for a while. I particularly like the short- hand approach to the Public Service's directed change agenda as employed by Kathryn May in the 12 November edition of The Functionary. The first five of seven statements she offered are as follows: • "Take a few risks: One of Michael Sabia's marching orders." • "Heed the signals: Streamline. Simplify. Nod if you understand." • "Rule reduction: The internal rulebook is getting a makeover." • "Incentive to go: Suddenly, a chance to retire early with no penalty." • "From the outside in: 50 private-sector leaders will be brought in." One additional paragraph is also highlight- ed by May, taken from a letter distributed by Michael Sabia, the Clerk of the Privy Council, the day after the government's budget document was released: "The gov- ernment has defined its priorities. Our job is to relentlessly focus on them… simplify so that we can move faster… take a few risks to get things done… and act with a sense of personal accountability to deliver the results the country needs." 'Move fast- er to deliver results' seems to be the op- erative objective, by streamlining processes (removing the complexity debt), using a new rulebook and taking a few risks. A number of Special Operating Agen- cies have been created to address some of this government's priorities, one of which is the Defence Investment Agency (DIA) to address all major defence procurement projects over $100 million. I think it is safe to assume that these change orders ap- ply to the acquisition of weapons systems platforms going forward. It is useful to look at these strategies from the context of the DIA. It starts and ends with risk Every employee manages risk by follow- ing their employer's directions on what to do and how to do it. This protects their employer's reputation and financial well- being by achieving desired goals. In most democracies, there logically is a degree of risk aversion within governments, and that degree has been very high for Canada's weapons systems platform acquisitions. Sabia, who is the senior public servant, has clearly signaled that less risk-aversion is required in the federal government. Practitioners and observers have been begging for just such a change for many years. Experts say this direction should be accompanied by a document laying out what would change in the Treasury Board's risk management system. Heads of departments and government agen- cies should then release a comprehensive explanation of how the changes would be implemented and define the risk tolerance that would be acceptable going forward. But will that now occur? During my tenure, the Department of National Defence (DND) failed to provide clarity on risk tolerance, so it will be diffi- cult to ascertain what risks are now accept- able that were to be avoided before. Nor should we expect or want a Wild West ap- proach where a powerful gunslinger could risk the life of their institution. I suspect that Doug Guzman, the DIA's new CEO, will set the new risk standard after discuss- ing his proposal with the Prime Minister. To take a degree of risk is acceptable behaviour and baked into most organi- zational cultures, and so it has been with Canada's Public Service. Accompanying the government's culture of risk aversion is the ever-lurking blame game – there have been few safe spaces in the past, aside from those provided by leaders that com- mitted to 'always having your back'. With the DIA initially populated with person- nel from various departments who have been involved in complex military pro- curement projects, it will not be easy to change cultural gears by merely joining a new organization with a new boss. Nevertheless, nothing sends a stronger signal about risk tolerance than bosses ad- mitting – in a transparent and vulnerable manner – their risky decisions in terms of context and rationale. In doing so, they communicate their level of risk tolerance. The creation of the DIA is a great op- portunity to address this cultural concern. Guzman can issue his risk tolerance guid- ance and then openly discuss with his execu- tive leaders in town halls every risky decision that he makes or is aware of and endorses. If done well, the culture could change very quickly to one where he may need to gently apply the brakes on occasion. And if he has experience with complex projects, he will be aware of the need to employ advanced risk treatment techniques broadly, especially for those risky decisions – each risk tailored by adaptation going forward, and with a 'nu- clear option' exit strategy to avoid damag- ing the DIA's reputation. Other supporting strategies Two other somewhat risky strategies are highlighted above to achieve enhanced speed of delivery. The first is a new, and hopefully much thinner, rule book that should enable streamlined processes. The second is the announcement of an early- www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2025/JANUARY 2026 29 T H E LA S T W O R D B Y I A N M A C K Big Military Procurement "You don't learn to walk by following rules, you learn by doing and by falling over."– Richard Branson

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