Public service needs staff to go the last mile: Some of the hardest challenges in public service delivery are about motivation and behaviors. Getting to high performance in the water sector is not only about infrastructure investments, policies, or technical capacity – it depends just as much on the personal behaviors of those at the customer interface, the “edge” of the bureaucracy. When staff in a public service organization are demotivated, service delivery suffers, regardless of the quality of senior management, the organization's infrastructure investments, or its strategy. Conversely, when an organization is able to motivate its staff, it can deliver not only improved performance and quality of public service delivery but can also positively transform work culture in the long term. Field Level Leadership is a change-management approach with demonstrated track record of achieving such change in public sector water agencies for more than 15 years.
What is it? Field-Level Leadership (FLL) is an approach of multi-agent leadership that has been developed for public-sector agencies, with the goal of creating a networked group of change leaders at each level of the organization. It has a growing record of success in: (i) mobilizing staff across the ranks of public agencies; and (ii) helping them translate their motivation into systemic and significant performance improvements at the organization level.
Where does it come from? The FLL approach was developed in the early 2000s by a group of public servants in the Government of Tamil Nadu in Southern India. The Chennai-based Centre of Excellence for Change Management (CEC), in collaboration with the World Bank, has further improved and systematized the FLL approach over the last 15 years. Several public utilities, irrigation agencies and similar organizations of different domains have implemented FLL programs with significant impact on their performance, both within and beyond World Bank-financed projects in Asia and Africa.
How does it work? An FLL Program engages the entire staff of the participating organization in groups of 25-30. Staff attend 4-day workshops that are conducted by their own peers and in their local language. They reflect jointly on their personal values, the inner drivers of behavior, and contrast these with their actual behaviors at work. In discussing any dissonance between the two they articulate a refreshed purpose and make commitments to self-selected goals of positive change to be achieved in the subsequent 90 days. Throughout these workshops, groups of Early Adopters emerge, setting off a positive “spiral of change”. As these Early Adopters connect with each other and build peer-to-peer networks, the success of their self-designed improvement initiatives spreads the message that change is desirable and possible. As more staff join this dynamic, the social norm within the organization changes from apathy to engagement, with resultant shifts in performance.
Who conducts the program? Implementation of FLL is led by the organization’s own staff - not by outside consultants or leadership experts. Through a twinning program, an initial group of 10-15 people from within the organization are trained as FLL Coaches. This training is delivered by their peers from another public agency that has successfully implemented its own FLL program earlier. The newly trained Coaches then develop an FLL workshop curriculum for their own organization and conduct FLL workshops for their colleagues. The FLL Delivery Network brings together the public water agencies that can provide the FLL Coaches training.
A more detailed description of a typical FLL program is included in the Guide “FLL: Transforming Service Delivery” (World Bank: 2025).
Performance of Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage (TWAD) Board, based on community surveys in 100 villages, India (Assessment Period: Dec 2005-Jan 2006)
An evaluation conducted by UNICEF in 2006 showed that the TWAD Board staff who underwent the FLL program interacted with the communities in a remarkably different manner from those in the control areas. They demonstrated more positive behavior (as reported by women and SC1 households) and were more engaged with the communities in discussing problems and exploring possible solutions. These staff also made a special effort to spread awareness among women and SC* households. Their insistence on maintaining records of water pumping hours, water supply hours and electricity meter readings, and their efforts to discuss water costs and tariffs and to link these to costs of water supply, served to spread the awareness of these important aspects of water supply. Detailed discussions by these staff helped raise awareness of the need for water conservation and collecting water tariffs.
*SC: Scheduled Caste, referring to traditionally marginalized and disadvantaged communities in India
Performance of the Tamil Nadu Integrated Agriculture Modernization and Waterbodies Restoration and Modernization (IAMWARM) Project, based on community surveys in 150 villages, India (Assessment Period: Nov 2014-Jan 2015)
An evaluation carried out for the IAMWARM project between 2014 and 2015 examined the roll-out and effects of the FLL approach. The impacts were assessed through a combination of three approaches:
(i) internal monitoring data (compiled by the Project Implementation Unit), (ii) community surveys (conducted by an external consultant - Institute of Sustainable Development, Chennai, in collaboration with Pragmatix Research, New Delhi), and (iii) collection of anecdotes and vignettes (conducted by International Water and Sanitation Centre/IRC, The Hague). The project monitored the key performance indicators related to investments in modernization of irrigation systems, agriculture intensification, and crop diversification. Independent surveys were designed to capture community perspectives on the attitude and behaviors of the project officers in treatment (Villages served by staff not undergoing FLL) and control areas (Villages served by staff undergoing FLL). Results showed an important change in satisfaction shown by villagers regarding the behaviour and frequency of visits after the staff dealing with them had been through the FLL process.
Performance of Dar es Salaam Water and Sanitation Company (DAWASCO, now DAWASA), based on community surveys in 50 mtaas, Tanzania (Assessment Period: April 2017 - June 2017)
DAWASA achieved its best-ever Non-Revenue Water (NRW) performance in the 12 months following the implementation of FLL, when the monthly NRW decreased to as low as 30%. This improvement was achieved primarily by improved metering, billing, and collections by staff.
*Swahili Term used by DAWASCO for urban administrative units
Tamil Nadu Integrated Agriculture Modernization and Waterbodies Restoration and Modernization (IAMWARM) Project ($577 million; 2007-2015; 8 agencies)
Community Survey Results: "How often did project officials visit the area?"
Tamil Nadu Integrated Agriculture Modernization and Waterbodies Restoration and Modernization (IAMWARM) Project ($577 million; 2007-2015; 8 agencies)
Community Survey Results: “Did the project officials behave in a thoughtful and respectful manner?”
Within six months, we saw: Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in one of the branches dropped from 39% to 34%; Increase in billing of 30% in one branch; and Revenue increases of 23% in one and 47% in the other branch. I am not the only one to have been impressed. So too was the Government of Ethiopia as well as the City Administration of Addis Ababa. We have now established an FLL training center, to train staff from one of our federal ministries, other Ethiopian water utilities, and to share expertise with other organizations in Africa who want to apply FLL.
The response to FLL training and roll-out was very positive. Some senior managers participated in the process and one of them even became an FLL Coach. Moreover, all rank-and-file staff from DAWASA and selected branches of DAWASCO joined, including those on the front lines. This innovative approach anchored the desired changes in many hearts across the organization, not just in the heads of a few senior managers. A safe space was created where the staff could support each other in self-reflection and explore solutions to long-standing problems.
The FLL Delivery Network currently brings together three organizations that are collaborating in delivering FLL Programs to public agencies operating in the water sector.
- CEC (Centre of Excellence for Change Management) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
- AAWSA (Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
- GWP Med (Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean), the FLL Anchor Organization, in Athens, Greece.
At present, CEC and AAWSA bring the expertise for designing and delivering FLL programs, through their public-sector staff who have themselves been part of successful FLL programs before and who can therefore speak authentically about the challenges and opportunities of public service. GWP Med has joined the FLL Delivery Network based on its experience in supporting and facilitating partnerships and in delivering capacity building interventions with international public sector clients. The FLL Delivery Network is expected to grow as more public agencies like AAWSA are becoming ready to share their FLL expertise and experience with their peer agencies in other countries.
A “whole-of-company” approach. In contrast to typical leadership trainings that focus on a set of pre-selected candidates as future leaders, FLL targets the entire staff of the organization and doesn’t make any a priori assumptions about people’s future leadership potential. Staff participate in FLL workshops in groups of 25-30 at a time, in which they collectively consider their personal values and develop ideas to improve the organization in ways that align with their values. Each workshop brings together participants from different functions, hierarchical levels, and geographies. From these workshops, groups of Early Adopters emerge who push forward changes and remain motivated, even when they face resistance. Their change initiatives cumulatively lead to tangible improvements in process and output and are entirely staff-driven. They provide testament to the fact that things can improve each time files are sorted, water tanks are repaired, or citizens supported, and a positive change spirit spreads to other staff.
A change process of moderate length and moderate cost. The changes introduced by an FLL process can be seen within six months of starting, and full benefits are seen within a year. The organization determines the speed of the roll-out and can also choose to implement FLL in a phased approach. Costs range between US$80,000 to US$120,000, depending on the size of the organization.
A Safe Space: In FLL, it is essential that the real problems facing an organization are discussed. To permit this, the FLL workshops are made into physical and metaphorical Safe Spaces, where all participants, no matter what their rank or background, are encouraged to share what they feel without fear of retribution.
A global network for peer-to-peer learning: FLL is implemented in an organization by an initially-small group of its staff who are trained as FLL Coaches. The training of these coaches is not provided by any professional leadership experts or consultants, but by a group of peers in another public organization that has successfully implemented an FLL program of its own. While the FLL methodology is based on well-established approaches in change management, organizational psychology, and sociology, it also builds on a strong resonance as public servants across geographic boundaries share their common struggles and hopes, and devise solutions to address similar challenges.
For further inquiries about the FLL program and how it may work for you, please contact:
GWP-MED: anthi@gwpmed.org
AAWSA: gm_board@aawsa.gov.et
World Bank Experience with FLL Programs: spahuja@worldbank.org
