Podcast appearances and mentions of dan honig

Too often, when we think of public servants we think of paper shufflers and number crunches. But nurses, teachers and care workers as well as officers working in government departments - aren't doing it for the money! These public servants - bureaucrats - are driven by a sense of service, commitment and care that is so vital to support all of our lives.Dan Honig, from UCL (UK) and Georgetown (US) is one of the world's leading researchers on public service practice and he talks with us about what it takes for public servants to be supported to deliver a big mission of care and community support. Building on the research published in his recent book Mission-Driven Bureaucrats he talks about the difference between managing for compliance and support for mission driven work - and how important those systems are for shaping whether public servants can thrive in their work.Dan spoke to us from Washington DC and we also talked about how the current US context is affecting public servants and public service.You can find out more about Dan at this website: https://danhonig.info/, and find out about his latest book - Mission driven bureaucrats - https://danhonig.info/missiondrivenbureaucrats.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.socialOn X/Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsOn LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode Summary This week we're looking at how to improve public services. How can bureaucracies best be managed to deliver positive outcomes? Does compliance get in the way of building trust between citizens and governments? Episode Notes The state of public services is a pressing issue both in the UK and globally. News headlines are frequently dominated by stories of chronic failures and acute crises. In response, politicians often propose solutions involving more targets, tighter rules, and increased oversight. When confronted with challenges, their instinct is often to exert more control. A new book challenges this approach, suggesting that such responses may (at least in some cases) be counterproductive. It argues that bureaucrats can often perform at their best when they are trusted with greater autonomy, encouraged to develop and apply their own expertise, and supported in collaborating with colleagues toward a shared mission. Despite this, the book acknowledges that managing for empowerment comes with significant challenges. The book, Mission Driven Bureaucrats, is written by Dr. Dan Honig, Associate Professor of Public Policy in the UCL Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy, who joins us on the podcast today. Mentioned in this episode: Mission Driven Bureaucrats. Empowering People To Help Government Do Better, by Dan honig UCL's Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy offers a uniquely stimulating environment for the study of all fields of politics, including international relations, political theory, human rights, public policy-making and administration. The Department is recognised for its world-class research and policy impact, ranking among the top departments in the UK on both the 2021 Research Excellence Framework and the latest Guardian rankings. Show Contributors Dan Honig Alan Renwick Transcript link: https://ucl-uncovering-politics.simplecast.com/episodes/mission-driven-bureaucrats/transcript

The state of public services is a pressing issue both in the UK and globally. News headlines are frequently dominated by stories of chronic failures and acute crises. In response, politicians often propose solutions involving more targets, tighter rules, and increased oversight. When confronted with challenges, their instinct is often to exert more control.A new book challenges this approach, suggesting that such responses may (at least in some cases) be counterproductive. It argues that bureaucrats can often perform at their best when they are trusted with greater autonomy, encouraged to develop and apply their own expertise, and supported in collaborating with colleagues toward a shared mission. Despite this, the book acknowledges that managing for empowerment comes with significant challenges.The book, Mission Driven Bureaucrats, is written by Dr. Dan Honig, Associate Professor of Public Policy in the UCL Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy, who joins us on the podcast today. Mentioned in this episode:Mission Driven Bureaucrats. Empowering People To Help Government Do Better, by Dan honig UCL's Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy offers a uniquely stimulating environment for the study of all fields of politics, including international relations, political theory, human rights, public policy-making and administration. The Department is recognised for its world-class research and policy impact, ranking among the top departments in the UK on both the 2021 Research Excellence Framework and the latest Guardian rankings.

In a new episode of Leading Questions, Richard Johnstone, the executive editor of Global Government Forum, interviews Dr Dan Honig, professor of public policy at University College London and Georgetown University, about his new book, Mission Driven Bureaucrats. Subtitled Empowering People To Help Government Do Better, Honig's book explores how civil servants can be empowered to drive better government performance. Honig argues that many public sector organisations are too focused on compliance – what he describes as an attempt to keep those who might want to do ill from doing it. Such an approach wears down public servants, leaving those who are driven to make a difference frustrated by the obstacles and compliance rules they face. This highly topical interview comes as the new UK government aims to focus on five key missions. Honig provides insight on how to realise progress on what he calls these grand missions, as well as using missions as a means to clearly state public service purposes – be that fighting fires, providing care or being the best internal auditor. Honig says that empowering civil servants is vital to achieving all these missions, giving civil servants both autonomy and support as a team to deliver. Listen in full to hear about how to make mission delivery happen in government – from strategies to drive change like implementing ‘green tape rules' to the role of leadership. And if you have questions about how to make mission-driven change happen in government, please contact richard.johnstone@globalgovernmentforum.com – and we will ask Dan for his tips on adopting a mission approach in government. Mentioned in this conversation: Find out more about Dan's book: Mission Driven Bureaucrats: Empowering People To Help Government Do Better Making Government Work: Exclusive Global Government Forum research reveals five pillars of a modern civil service History has been made, paving the way for major public service reform in South Africa

Season finale!  It is my great pleasure to welcome back a person I have very much enjoyed speaking with earlier— Dan Honig, an Associate Professor of Public Policy at University College London and Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy (@rambletastic). His latest book is Mission Driven Bureaucrats: Empowering People To Help Government Do Better. Mission-driven bureaucrats, according to Dan, are individuals who work within the bureaucracy with a genuine desire to serve their organization's mission of helping citizens. They perform their jobs out of a strong belief in their purpose, rather than being driven by a set of rules or incentives that compel them to act in specific ways. But what are the historical roots of the term "mission," and how can mission-driven bureaucrats thrive? The book argues that the key to better government lies in empowerment and trust, rather than stricter controls and more rigorous oversight.  Key highlightsIntroduction – 00:24Mission driven bureaucrats – 04:04Managers like Ted Lasso – 18:21Managing for empowerment versus managing for compliance – 25:12Demotivated and unmotivated bureaucrats – 37:46Characteristics of efficient bureaucracies around the world – 35:06New public management and the centrality of citizens – 43:52 HostDan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Spotify YouTube Subscribe:https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.comhttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

How can we improve government capacity and public services? In “Mission-Driven Bureaucrats”, Dan Honig argues that civil servants are often deeply committed, yet hobbled by strict rule books. Trapped by top-down strictures, civil servants may even become disillusioned. Unable to help, they quit. Government ministries can be so much more effective if motivated civil servants actually have the autonomy to be creative, independent, and fix local problems. How do we know this? 4 million individual observations, along with in-depth case research in Detroit, Senegal, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Liberia. We discuss: What do most efforts to improve public management get wrong? How does management style affect recruitment and effectiveness? How can managers build cultures where workers feel empowered? Get the book: https://danhonig.info/missiondrivenbureaucrats

Voices in Bioethics staff member Abigail Anderson interviews Dan Honig, MA, owner of Happy Valley Meat Company, which is focused on increasing access to ethically raised meat from family farms. Discussion includes the process of founding Happy Valley Meat Company, the importance of ethically sourced meat to the environment and the public, and Dan’s recommendations…

How can you best deliver effective public services? Is it better to exert top-down control over the work of bureaucrats on the ground – through targets, monitoring, and prescribed procedures – so that slacking or corruption or inconsistency can be prevented? Or can more be achieved if you free up bureaucrats to work out their own approaches, utilizing their practical knowledge and allowing their desire to do a good job to flourish?Our colleague Dr Dan Honig, who is Associate Professor of Public Policy here in the UCL Department of Political Science, argues that we have tended to get the balance wrong, with too much top-down control and not enough freedom on the ground. In two books – one of them published in 2018 by Oxford University Press and the other on its way – Dan sets out the case for a new approach.And his work is making waves not just in academia. At the end of 2021 he was announced by Apolitical as one of its hundred most influential academics in government in the world. Mentioned in this article:Navigation by Judgment. Why and When Top-Down Management of Foreign Aid Doesn't WorkDr Dan Honig is named as one of 100 most influential academics in government by Apolitical

In this episode we are looking at a new piece of research - Flight to Safety: COVID-Induced Changes in the Intensity of Status Quo Preference and Voting Behavior.This paper focusses on some important questions around covid. How do emotions and particularly anxiety, shape or influence voters preferences? How does anxiety resulting from this unforeseen external force, covid, or manufactured for political gain, influence democratic politics and elections? Are voters inherently risk averse during periods of uncertainty? And how did covid induce a flight to safety among voters?Joining host Professor Jennifer Hudson is Dan Honig, Associate Professor of Public Policy here at the Department of Political Science who has been exploring all of these questions and more.

In an excellent book on how aid agencies manage foreign aid projects, Dan Honig argues that tight top-down controls and a focus on target-setting and metrics often lead aid projects astray. If one navigates from the top, one may achieve more management control, more oversight, and more standardized behavior. But this may be at the cost of flexibility and adaptability. By contrast, if one empowers those closest to the ground, and focuses on what field agents can see and learn, we may apply so-called “soft information” that will in turn allow for more flexibility. Managing large organizations is not easy. And most politicians and bureaucrats struggle to find the right balance between when to control and when to let go. In the book Navigation by Judgment: Why and When Top-Down Control of Foreign Aid Doesn't Work, Dan Honig argues that a misplaced sense of what it means to “succeed” encourages many aid agencies to get the balance wrong.Dan Honig is an assistant professor of international development at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is currently a visiting fellow at Leiden University’s Institute of Political Science, and a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development. He was previously special assistant, then advisor, to successive Ministers of Finance in Liberia and ran a local nonprofit in East Timor focused on helping post-conflict youth realize the power of their own ideas.Dan is busy completing his next book on “Mission-Driven Bureaucrats”, which explores the relationship between motivation, management practice, organizational mission, and performance in the public service.   Actually Navigating byJudgment: Towards aNew Paradigm of DonorAccountability Where theCurrent System Doesn’t Work (policy paper, Centre for Global Development)Managing Better: What All of Us Can Do to Encourage AidSuccess (CGD Brief, Center for Global Development)"Making Good On Donors' Desire to Do Development Differently", Third World Quarterly 39:1, 68-84 (Honig & Gulrajani, 2018)."Information, Power, & Location:  World Bank Staff Decentralization and Aid Project Success”, Governance 33:4, 749-769. (2020)The Limits of Accounting-Based Accountability in Education (and Far Beyond): Why More Accounting Will Rarely Solve Accountability Problems (Honig & Pritchett, working paper, Center for Global Development)Dan Honig on TwitterDan Banik and In Pursuit of Development on Twitterhttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/ 

Learn more about Dan Honig's research and contributions to the field of international  development, and stay tuned for his forthcoming book titled 'Mission-Driven Bureaucrats'. Read  Patchwork Leviathan: Pockets of Bureaucratic Effectiveness in Developing States by Erin Metz McDonnell.Read South Sudan's Capability Trap: Building a State with Disruptive Innovation by Greg Larson, Peter Biar Ajak, and Lant Pritchett. Read The Limits of Accounting-Based Accountability in Education (and Far Beyond): Why More Accounting Will Rarely Solve Accountability Problems by Dan Honig and Lant Pritchett.Read Account-based accountability and Aid Effectiveness by Lant Pritchett.Read The Effect of Increased Autonomy vs. Performance Pay on Procurement Officers’ Performance in Pakistan by Oriana Bandiera, Michael Best, Adnan Khan, and Andrea Prat. 

How did Dan Honig, a Jewish vegetarian from New Jersey, end up working at a pig slaughterhouse in Missouri? And how did he take what he learned there and solve one of the biggest problems in the meat industry with his company Happy Valley Meat? This episode is sponsored by Wine Access. Wine Access has a podcast, Wine Access Unfiltered. Start listening to this great podcast now at wineaccess.com/podcast. Or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. This episode is also sponsored by Purple Mattress. Go to Purple.com/passion10 and use promo code passion10. For a limited time you'll get 10% off any order of $200 or more. This episode is also sponsored by The New Yorker. For a limited time you can get 12 weeks of The New Yorker for just $6. Plus, listeners will receive an exclusive tote bag for free. Just visit NewYorker.com/passion . The Passion Economy has a newsletter! Go to passioneconomy.com to sign up - for free! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Without much of a health budget, Senegal is being championed for controlling the novel coronavirus. From early-detection mobile kits to 3D printed ventilators, the West African nation is demonstrating a possible model in curbing COVID-19, relying on their experience of managing the Ebola outbreak.In this episode: Nicolas Haque (@nicolashaque), Al Jazeera journalist in Dakar, Senegal. Anta James, a regional representative for Catholic Relief Services. Dan Honig (@rambletastic), assistant professor at John Hopkins University. Shannon Underwood, an immigration attorney in Dakar, Senegal.For more:In Pictures: Life in Dakar during coronavirus pandemicSenegal: Social distancing, hand-washing difficult amid povertySenegal: 10-minute coronavirus test may be on its way - for $1Connect with The Take: Twitter (@AJTheTake), Instagram (@ajthetake) and Facebook (@TheTakePod).

No Ounce Wasted Radio Show Dan Honig owns Happy Valley Meat Company, which sources ethically raised meat, direct from small northeast farmers. They work to make the wholesale meat business more human and efficient, allowing each part of the chain to focus on their specialty. Dan Honig is the owner of Happy Valle Meat Co. and an advocate for sustainable meat systems. https://www.happyvalleymeat.com/  dan@happyvalleymeat.com ~ More About No Ounce Wasted ~  Profit margin perils, mental health crises, employee challenges. Being a butcher is so much more than cutting meat. No Ounce Wasted is a safe space for butchers to share their successes and woes, so that we can all learn and grow together. Join host Bryan Mayer, butcher, educator and Team USA World Butcher Competition member, as he has honest conversations about staying sharp in the meat business. https://www.thebutchersguild.org/NOW The Butchers Guild Member Community – https://www.facebook.com/groups/290306161876773/ Butchers of America – The Butchers Guild Team USA – https://www.facebook.com/Butchers-of-America-The-Butchers-Guild-Team-USA-256752331467954/     To get more of  No Ounce Wasted, be sure to visit the archives page for replays of all the shows here: https://www.inspiredchoicesnetwork.com/podcast/no-ounce-wasted/  

We have a sprawling conversation with Dan Honig, who helps us understand what's happening in West Africa and at his temporary Comfy COVID Country Cottage in Madison, Virginia. What does it take to not only make space for bureaucrats to want to rock the boat for the sake of the people, but to also reform and reimagine institution that keep the boat headed on the right course: justice.

People are often quick to call Thailand ‘developing’ or even ‘third world’ - but what do those terms even mean? We decided to find out.  Ed interviews Dan Honig, a professor of international development at Johns Hopkins University. After explaining Dan’s unique educational background and world travels, the guys dig into some basic questions about the Thai economy. Right off the bat, Dan notes that when compared to the entire world, it is not accurate to consider Thailand poor. Instead, it would probably be categorized as ‘upper middle income’. But that describes Thailand as a whole - what about other indices like inequality, development, or poverty? Dan discusses different ways of measuring these things and notes that Thailand has a very low poverty rate, with most Thais generally having access to health care and education. But the extreme gap between the one percent at the top in Thailand and everybody else impacts the political situation, and in Dan’s mind definitely is a problem.  Last, the guys riff on the oddness of having salaries that put them in the top one or two percent in the world, but at the same time feeling ‘disadvantaged’ in some way. In the end, it’s only traveling and seeing the way most people live that lead to really appreciating what you have. Something listeners of the Bangkok Podcast should know already. :) As always, the podcast will continue to be 100% funded by listeners just like you who get some special swag from us. And we’ll keep our Facebook, Twitter, and LINE accounts active so you can send us comments, questions, or whatever you want to share.

It's a coup! Ken Opalo and Dan Honig - Assistant Professors of International Development - have seized my podcast! They discuss brilliant new work by Dr George Kwaku Ofosu, Postdoctoral Research Associate at Washington University in St Louis: "Do Fairer Elections Increase the Responsiveness of Politicians?", forthcoming in the American Political Science Review. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/do-fairer-elections-increase-the-responsiveness-of-politicians/26AA077459ACA822C4E20A9903E64691#.XVbd_1sosiQ.twitter. Read more about his work here: https://www.georgeofosu.com/ And Tugba Bozcaga, PhD candidate at MIT. Read her paper here: https://t.co/ruc5W88M5s?amp=1 And learn more about her work her: https://www.tugbabozcaga.com/

Should aid programs micromanage their work? Or should they leave staff on the ground the space to decide for themselves? In this presentation Dan Honig will speak to the key findings of his book, Navigation by Judgment, an in-depth attempt at answering these questions. Dan’s book draws on a novel database of more than 14,000 discrete development projects across nine agencies, and eight qualitative studies. He contends that tight controls and narrow focus on reaching pre-set targets can prevent frontline aid workers from using their skills to solve problems on the ground, undermining the performance of foreign aid. He suggests that pressure to demonstrate results can undermine performance, particularly in unpredictable environments where performance is difficult to measure. Dan Honig is an Assistant Professor of International Development at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on the relationship between organisational structure, management practice, and performance in developing country governments and organisations that provide foreign aid.

In "Navigation by Judgment", Dr Dan Honig demonstrates that greater autonomy for front-line staff improves performance in aid agencies. In this podcast, Dan provides practical "how to" guidance for aid agencies looking to encourage and enable local autonomy. He suggests - Learning from front line staff, understanding their constraints; - Recognising that within the formal rules, there is still room for manoeuvre; - Celebrating good practices (of navigation by judgement); - Start talking to bosses, they may actually be really supportive; - Trust your staff. In short, "there's a lot of wiggle room, start wiggling!". We do hope you enjoy this episode. To get in touch, email dhonig@jhu.edu, danhonig.info/

Dan Honig is the owner of the Happy Valley Meat Company. Dan i son a mission to forge a direct connection between chefs and farmers to improve the lives of the people and animals that feed us. It's a great mission and Harry and Dan cover a lot of ground about how and why Dan started the company, where you can find their meat and how you can do your part to make sure we're all happy. Check out their new mushroom burger that uses mushrooms from farms near their meat farms, to improve the flavor and texture of their burgers while lowering the cost of great meat. Feast Yr Ears is powered by Simplecast

Which improves aid effectiveness: setting targets and monitoring delivery, or enhancing autonomy for frontline workers? Dr. Dan Honig explores this question using a database of 14,000 development projects and eight qualitative studies. We discuss his methods, findings, and implications. I do hope you enjoy it. Check out the book: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/navigation-by-judgment-9780190672454?cc=gb&lang=en&

Building State Capability Program Director Salimah Samji interviews Dan Honig, author of the recently published book “Navigation by judgement – why and when top down management of foreign aid doesn’t work”. Honig talks about the motivation for writing the book, the research process behind it and about what surprised him the most when researching about different management styles at various foreign aid organizations. www.cid.harvard.edu Get "Navigation by Judgment" on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2jlaNVI

In his new book, "Navigation by Judgment: Why and When Top-Down Control of Foreign Aid Doesn’t Work," Dan Honig presents an empirically grounded argument for the value of implementation led by the judgment of field staff, particularly when tasks are difficult to measure and country environments are unpredictable. In this roundtable discussion, Honig will present his key findings and their implications for major aid organizations. Nilmini Rubin and Larry Garber, experienced development practitioners, will respond with comments and reflections.