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# Navigating the layer of crazy
- URL: https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/public-sector-leadership-navigating-the-layer-of-crazy/
- Published: 2019-01-09T21:08:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-21T21:01:14.000Z
- Description: The public sector is a tough gig. Inside: tips to cope with the crazy.
- Author: Alicia McKay
- Tags: Public leadership, #wednesday-wisdom

Last year, I worked with an engineering team struggling to reconcile their work programme with the fickle demands of meddling politicians. We had a workshop on the complexity of public service and it was a good chat, but it got much better when their manager stood up, cleared his throat, and summarised it thus:

> “I think we just need to accept there’s a layer of crazy here, and move on.”

Perfection. 

There are three key ways that managing in the public sector is different to a private business. Together, these make up the "layer of crazy."

- **Transparency** – The level of media and public interest in your work is higher, upping the ante on your decisions.
- **Democracy –** You work with elected politicians who might have little operational or subject matter expertise.
- **Bureaucracy** – And lots of it. All that transparency and democracy needs process, policy, and paperwork to function.

Public sector management is a hard job. Professor Simon Collinson, pioneer of the Global Simplicity Index, found in 2012 that public sector agencies in the UK are 30% more complex than some of the world’s largest companies. Under these conditions, management theory lifted from the private sector doesn't always cut it. 

In [*From Strategy to Action*](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/strategy-to-action/), I canvass this frustration - why we persist in applying commercial ideas to non-commercial organisations, and how to make progress in this environment.

For our engineering team, the path forward is imperfect but practical:

- Think of your relationship with politicians and the media as an arranged marriage – not your ideal partnering, but you can learn to love them.
- Understand that politicians will take the flak for your recommendations, regardless of how logical or well-reasoned they are. Take the time to build engagement accordingly.
- Identify ways to leverage the input of politicians. For example – many local Councillors are well connected to the community, which can make them your greatest asset in testing ideas and building buy-in.

Good luck.