Pandemics, natural disasters, rising inequality and threats to liberal democratic traditions are just some of the challenges that shape the operating context of contemporary public managers.

“Today’s public manager has to navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain environment, doing more with less and working across sectors,” says Former Victorian Public Service senior executive and Melbourne University Public Policy Fellow Maria Katsonis. “This has put a premium on skills such as collaboration, boundary spanning and political astuteness.”

As public services grow and adapt to meet challenges of the day, a culture of learning and development is central to government strategy to ensure its people are capable, future ready and able to deliver for communities across Australia.

Increasingly, we are seeing the concept of government ‘craft’ emerging across public services and education institutions. But what is government craft, and why is it important? Katsonis explains.

“Government craft comprises the foundation skills that public managers need to deliver outcomes for the community. These include understanding the legal and political environment, delivering robust policy and programs, financial acumen and values-based practice.”

Mastery of these foundation elements of government craft is essential for managers to do the strategic thinking required to meet the challenges governments face. However, delivering this knowledge in a transformative way requires new ways of thinking about professional development.

“Learning needs to be more flexible and accessible than traditional postgraduate education, but should maintain the same rigour and quality” says Professor John Howe, Director of Melbourne School of Government. “The best contemporary professional development for government needs to bring together practitioner insights and expert knowledge to ensure we are truly transforming people’s strategic and analytical capabilities in an applied way.

“Melbourne MicroCerts provide an innovative mode of online learning that delivers Master’s level content that is fully credentialed. Our Craft of Government MicroCerts are a significant opportunity to bring knowledge and insights to public managers and emerging leaders in a way that can transform capabilities and careers”, says Professor Howe. 

The Craft of Government series focuses on the key analytical skills needed to understand the complexities of public management through its courses:

• Government Budget Essentials.
• Rule of Law in Public Policymaking.
• Persuasion for Policymakers.
• Ethics and Integrity for Government Practice.

Katsonis further sees the Craft of Government series as providing public managers with the opportunity to personalise their learning. “Whether it’s upskilling, expanding their knowledge or taking the next step in their career, public managers will benefit from learning at their own pace and drawing on the live expertise of academics and industry practitioners.”

This new innovative approach allows the academic rigor of a university credentialled course to be successfully combined with the specific demands of an evolving public sector.

Craft of Government Melbourne MicroCert Series: Transform your policy approach across budgets, law, influence and ethics. Expert led, focused and 100% online. Start 26 April.