Jacob Martin is a respected senior public policy advisor who has played a significant role in the development of major policies and Cabinet documents in areas such as housing and community services and self-government relating to Indigenous peoples. . He leads a group of sixteen policy analysts and administrative staff. He has six years of experience in a government organization and a master's degree in public administration with a focus on public policy. When his director left the department two months ago to take another position, Jacob was promoted to director by his new executive director. Although Jacob has little management experience and is not yet completely comfortable with the idea of being a manager, he gets the job because of his knowledge of the field and ministry and his ability to develop briefings and presentations for senior management and stakeholders. He had not taken any practical management courses in his master's program in public administration and had not had the opportunity to pursue management training. Executive Director Huguette LeClair admires Jacob's ability to develop policy and work with Indigenous groups, as well as other groups within and outside the department. For her, her performance was impressive since it was extremely difficult to develop policies with diverse indigenous groups. A history of poor government action, provincial governments with their own programs and finally resistance from other federal departments, particularly Finance and the Treasury Board on spending, had undermined relations. As a senior policy advisor, Jacob had developed an approach to working collaboratively with other staff, superiors, colleagues from other parts of the department. other departments and with Indigenous groups. However, he was far from knowing what his management style was or what type of approach he should take to management roles. As a manager with sixteen employees, Jacob begins to recognize that he has made a huge transition and needs to learn what it means to be a manager. Unfortunately, like most new managers, he will learn on the job, amid significant challenges that involve new areas of expertise, such as managing relationships with superiors, developing a budget and resource allocation, management of staff performance issues, etc. Jacob Martin, as the new policy director, will need to quickly understand where the power lies within the department and what the top priorities are. Is it the minister who drives the agenda? Is it indigenous groups? What roles does the Deputy Minister assume --- advise on confidence policies to the Minister, the Prime minister and to what extent is his influence exercised? Is this initiative part of the overall agenda of the government and that of the Prime Minister? Is there consensus on the issue and a clear path forward, or are there major divergences of views between key stakeholders? As a director, especially a new one, Jacob must do his own power mapping and be prepared to determine his agenda and approach to these factors. The Policy, Research and Evaluation Group reports to a Director General of Policy, Research and Evaluation (Huguette LeClair) who, in turn, reports to the Department's Assistant Deputy Minister of Development of Aboriginal Affairs. The research group is primarily concerned with supporting claims-based research for First Nations lawyers and groups. The evaluation group is responsible for evaluating all ministrv programs. The evaluation group generally had extensive knowledge of the programs it evaluated. but it was rarely used in policy development. Similarly, the research group had very competent and experienced staff, but tended to produce its own products unrelated to the ministry's policy priorities. The ADM (Assistant Deputy Minister) Development is one of two ADMs who report to the Deputy Minister. The other ADM of Operations focuses on establishing the standards and budget for national programs that are implemented by seven regions, the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Colombia British. The regions work with hundreds of indigenous communities which represent almost a million inhabitants. As part of the DG's responsibilities, there is a federal-provincial group responsible for i1ssues affecting federal relations with the provincial and territorial governments. This group was led by a director who had a management style that Jacob hated. He was incredibly bossy. In fact, during staff meetings. he would sit at the table and all of his staff would sit outside the room and he would call people to the table and give them their assignments. Unfortunately, the federal-provincial issue was a constant problem for policy-making, particularly in the areas of education and social services. Jacob wasn't familiar with different types of management styles. but he knew what he didn't like and this manager was a great example of what he wasn't or couldn't be as a manager. administrator. Due to the frequent involvement of the federal-provincial group, Jacob had to find a way to work with this director, even though he tended to take charge of any file and then ignore the comments of the rest of the Directorate . The Director General, who comes from another ministry, has extensive experience in developing Cabinet documents and managing key relationships at political and bureaucratic levels to achieve a positive Cabinet outcome. She is considered to be an excellent candidate for a deputy minister position in the next 5 to 10 years. Huguette is an exceptionally capable manager and is very well connected in the government environment to central agencies, the Prime Minister's Office and other departments. It is strongly supported by the Assistant Deputy Minister - Development and the Deputy Minister. They understand that she will need to work closely with other departments, central agencies and the Prime Minister's Office as well as Indigenous groups, as well as the department's operational groups and regions to get the job done. She also recently conducted an extensive national tour of indigenous communities and it was rumored that these groups found her sensitive to their needs. direct and trustworthy. Some said she was really impressive and as a result they had started calling the DG directly when they had problems. Jacob has a good working relationship with the DG and ADM. both of whom are excellent leaders and excellent at working with the Minister, Indigenous groups and other departments on policy. Unfortunately, the relationship between the SMA Development and the SMA Operations 1s tense. In fact, they barely speak to each other. The Operations SMA considers the Development SMA as a political dreamer without real experience in the field and in the ministry because he came from the Ministry of Employment and Immigration. He was an SMA at this ministry. He was appointed to this new ministry because of his great political innovation in his former ministry. The ADM Development views the ADM Operations as part of the old guard who simply wants to keep the programs as they are and focus on the plethora of operational issues with the many programs, such as education., social services, housing, community infrastructure, etc. The Operations ADM ran his group like a military operation with power centralized in his office. On the other hand, the SMA Development knew that a good policy implied extensive collaboration and creativity with the commitment of all levels of staff. The ADM Operations has a Director of Education reporting to him and some fairly innovative program officers who the evaluation group found very helpful in carryving out the evaluation. The Policy Group The policy group that Jacob leads also includes a number of policy areas, such as housing, self-government, education, socio-economic development and a number of rights issues related to migratory birds and hunting, fishing and trapping. In addition. the group is responsible for a unique project involving an agreement with the Crees of Northern Quebec. Given the enormous issues facing Indigenous communities, these policy issues are always evolving with issues constantly cropping up and often requiring immediate attention and much reporting with indigenous groups. In addition to the areas of law, there are operating programs in each of these areas managed by the ADM Operations and the department's five regional directors general. In Ottawa and the regions, there are directors of housing. education, social services and education as well as economic development. The Policy Group is a hive of constant activity and it is a challenge to balance the various demands of policy development with the heavy realities of legal 1ssues. However, in just a few months, Jacob adapted to the work by establishing high, medium and low priorities to guide the group's work and also streamlined some of the correspondence work with the groups to provide more flexibility for staff . He also strengthened relationships with his DG and the SMAs and gained credibility as a good director. As the new Director of Policy, if Jacob Martin is able to understand how decision-making flows come together, determine how a particular policy proposal fits into the agenda of the government, the minister and the deputy minister. then identifying opportunities to advance a political agenda will increase its chances of success. Of the 16 staff members, 4 are senior managers with extensive policy experience within the ministry; 8 others are junior policy officers reporting to each of the senior staff and covering a range of policy issues from hunting and fishing rights, to education, to self-government; and socio-economic development. In addition, 4 members of administrative staff support the director and senior managers. Every day there are important policy issues relating to all of these areas that need to be addressed, including letters to the Minister, briefing notes, meetings with Indigenous groups or other ministerial groups. Although the work environment is pleasant. it is also hectic and it is often very difficult to move past conflicts and arguments on key issues. One of the reasons Jacob was placed in his role was that he had demonstrated an ability to develop approaches that could improve the quality of life of Indigenous communities and was willing to develop innovative approaches in policy areas that could not be easily developed by operational managers. staff who had to manage the wvast conflict and resource challenges of working with Indigenous groups on a daily basis. Although the overall working environment is very positive, the policy group faces considerable tension with other branches of the ministry that focus on program delivery. such as housing, education and social services. . The Operations Branch provides overall direction for these programs, but they are implemented largely in five different geographic regions. Regional directors have the enormous responsibility of working with Indigenous groups and communities and managing program implementation. They usually face significant conflicts with these groups. One regional director noted that if you don't receive at least three resignation requests a year, you're probably not doing anything. In general, the Operations Branch and the regions have little respect for the lofty ideas that usually emanate from the policy group and innovations face considerable resistance from a combination of indigenous communities, regions as well as of the Operations Branch staff responsible for national programs. Jacob had faced this challenge once before. He had developed an innovative housing policy that aimed to increase community responsibility and incentives to maintain and expand the housing stock. In consulting with the regional housing directors, who reported to the ADM Operations through their regional director, he was told in no uncertain terms that the policy would not work because they would be placed in a position of allocating resources In depending on the performance of indigenous communities in housing management and they would not be able to maintain positive relations with a community that systematically failed to manage its program or to manage conflicts between communities to obtain funding. He did not continue the policy and the extremely poor record of substandard housing continued. The cabinet document As Jacob must learn to manage the group and deal with the full range of policy issues the group deals with, he faces an urgent challenge of developing a cabinet document on education. The government has a very weak program regarding Aboriginal people, but it believes this is one of the few areas where it can make a difference. Jacob was previously a senior education policy officer. Another senior policy advisor, Patricia Quinn, replaced him in education when Jacob was promoted to principal. Patricia is a strong policy advisor, with 7 years of experience, but has had most of her experience in the area of economic development. She doesn't have as much experience as Jacob in developing the cabinet document and time is running out. Jacob struggles with the temptation to simply resume writing the paper during a week of isolation, which he is probably quite capable of doing. He knows that if he does not deliver the draft Cabinet document, he will lose some credibility and fail to meet a key expectation of his job. Interestingly, the evaluation group led by Ron Brown has just completed an evaluation of education policy and programs which was recently submitted to senior management. The evaluation involved discussions with Indigenous groups across the country, including a dozen communities as well as program directors regionally and in Ottawa. The assessment's diagnosis was considered excellent by all key groups in the ministry, including operations, but the news was grim. Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars, the education system and programs were failing. Dropout rates were horrendous and Aboriginal youth, even if they were able to enter the workforce, were unprepared. The assessment did not make policy recommendations, but noted that indigenous communities were facing major problems managing schools for very small, remote communities. This included attracting and retaining teachers as well as investing in buildings. He also noted that successful communities had a strong family commitment to education, a higher employment rate than the average for Indigenous communities, and agreements with provinces for students to attend nearby high schools when appropriate. is geographically possible. Many were also close to larger cities where they could tap into those communities and find employment. A very positive development is that more and more Aboriginal people are attending federally funded university and the number of graduates is accelerating, both in number and as a proportion of the total Aboriginal population. Although the evaluation was excellent, there was no consensus within the department on the direction to take to improve performance. There was also an acute awareness that other initiatives had failed miserably at considerable cost. It 1s also evident that there are large differences between indigenous groups in policy depending on the region of the country. the provinces they are in and the development of the community. Most of the ministry's policy proposals are vigorously opposed by some indigenous groups for various reasons. In this particular case, there is a large difference between the groups in British Columbia and southern Ontario and those in the Prairie provinces and, to a lesser extent, Quebec and Nova Scotia/New Brunswick. The policy challenge is that with a very young population, i.e. around 350% under the age of 15, education is a key opportunity to help indigenous communities advance and develop economically or participate to the economy. This 1s why the Prime Minister sees this issue as one of the few areas where Canada can help Indigenous people progress. Unfortunately, the quality of schools is not adequate and for over a thousand small communities, it is simply not possible to have schools in every First Nation in terms of cost or programs. One of the proposals is to better connect indigenous people to the provincial school system while maintaining some specific education focused on heritage and language. Another proposal is to take advantage of job opportunities in the resources sector and develop specific training programs related to mining, logging, oil and gas as well as jobs in fields such as equipment operators , etc. However, to be eligible for some of the community college programs, natives must at least complete high school, even if it is a more applied program. Groups in the Prairie provinces, as well as Quebec and Nova Scotia/New Brunswick, see the proposals as an abandonment of federal responsibility for Indigenous people and an erosion of management of schools on Indigenous lands. Others in British Columbia, southern Ontario and Quebec believe this requires change and, with additional funding, will support the direction. There 1s little chance of consensus between the groups. Jacob is also very aware that in the last ten years two major education policy reforms have failed due to resistance and divisions between groups Indigenous people, as well as opposition from central agencies, such as Finance and the Treasury Board, which convinced Cabinet that the additional $1 billion in spending was unlikely to have a real impact. He doesn't want to have a policy failure during his first months on the job, especially one that is so visible and significant. In previous policy proposals, Jacob found that the policy proposals were linked to the general agenda of the ministry, as derived from the minister, the deputy minister (DM) and the general program of government. To do his job well, Jacob will need to understand the overall dynamics of the department and interface with Indigenous groups. It may be enough for a Cabinet document to gain the support of the minister, but the policy will also need to fit the agenda of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It will also be critical to assess whether the government is sufficiently committed to a new policy when the almost inevitable backlash from Indigenous groups who do not support the policy or resistance from central agencies emerges regarding new spending. He also knew that it would not be easy to navigate through the various conflicts in the ministry. Jacob has a meeting with his Director General in a week and he has been asked to explain how he will prepare the Cabinet document with his team and how he would like to work with the CEO and others to accomplish this priority. The DG would also like to be updated on how he is transitioning into his management role and how he intends to approach the management of his group Questions about potential cases Jacob Martin: Policy Director. 1. What are the challenges Jacob faces as a first-time manager? 2. What should he do? What should his agenda be? 3. What should he not do