One year in Government

One Year in Government ...

The Government's first year has been a big disappointment. No vision, no purpose, no narrative, no strategy, no plan. Not even a properly defined mission. Only cross-departmental programmes (called 'missions', with few meaningful milestones) and a general focus of driving GDP growth of any kind - good (e.g. improving overall wellbeing) or not (extraction at the expense of wellbeing of people and planet) - leaving the country at the mercy of malign actors and highly influential lobby groups.

And the key question is 'are the Government trying to do things the wrong way around'?

"Trying to boost growth to improve wellbeing? Instead of improving wellbeing to boost growth? We are currently languishing at the bottom of international league tables when it comes to mental health, wellbeing and human flourishing, and we're a negative outlier when it comes to 'drive and motivation'.

Drive and motivation causally drives innovation, productivity improvement, and economic growth. Statistics show only 10% of the UK workforce are currently engaged/motivated by the work they do, and many have given up altogether. Conversely in world class purposeful organizations over 70% are motivated and purposefully engaged. That's a step change in drive, motivation, and engagement of over 600%. Given this, should we now focus on becoming purposeful, and increase drive, motivation, and wellbeing … the key drivers of economic growth?"

I've raised this, including at Labour ‘listening’ events. Sadly the current Labour Government does not appear to be listening to its MPs, its members, or its citizens. As a result this Government is steadily losing any trust afforded to it, and opinion polls increasingly reflect this. Unless the Government changes radically, and soon, they'll be punished in future elections. To successfully turn things around the Government will need to listen very carefully now, and become purposeful.

A purposeful focus on wellbeing relies on the engagement of all people in society so solutions are well grounded in reality. Co-produced solutions that work. Solutions that effectively address the multiplicity of crises faced, and offer a natural antidote to populist policies proposing simple solutions to complex problems that will never work.

To turns things around will require Purposeful Government - a trusted Purpose Driven Government with a clear sense of purpose, a motivational/engaging vision, and a robust set of co-produced policies/plans capable of bringing it about. Solutions are out there. The Government just needs to listen, engage, and trust its citizens. If the Government starts to do this then maybe citizens might once again trust them.

David Clift

Purposeful Ambassador®

Founder, Good Turns, Gen P, and Purposeful Enterprises

Co-developer of Purposeful Britain and a Purposeful World

^†Purposeful Government™, Purpose Driven Government™, Purposeful MP™, Purposeful PM™, Purposeful Council™, Purposeful Councillor™, Purposeful Mayor™, Purposeful Citizens™, Purposeful Democracy™, Purposeful Britain™, Purposeful World™, Purposeful Ambassador™, Purposeful Leaders™, Purposeful Wellbeing™, Purposeful Economics™, Purposeful Storytelling™, Purposeful News™, Purposeful Education™, Gen P™, Good Turns™ etc are all recognised/registered trademarks.