Public Value Leadership: Strategic Triangle, Authorising Environment and Co-Production – Barcelona, 14–18 Dec 2026

Programme overview

Introduction:

Public value leadership asks what a government agency actually adds to society, not only whether it spends its budget and meets its targets. Many public organisations run programmes that satisfy internal metrics yet lose citizen trust, political backing or the capacity to deliver. This Core Concept course equips senior public servants to act as strategic public managers: defining the value a programme should create, securing legitimacy from the authorising environment and building the operational capacity to deliver. Participants produce a Public Value Proposition and Strategic Triangle Analysis for a case public programme.

Course Objectives:

• Articulate the public value a programme or agency is meant to create and distinguish it from outputs, activity and private value
• Assess an initiative against the three corners of the strategic triangle: public value, legitimacy and support, and operational capacity
• Map the authorising environment of an agency and plan how to build and sustain support from elected or appointed leadership, oversight bodies and citizens
• Select public value measures, including a public value scorecard, that capture outcomes, trust and fairness alongside efficiency
• Mobilise capacity beyond the agency through inter-agency networks, partners and co-production with citizens under tight resource limits
• Construct a Public Value Proposition and Strategic Triangle Analysis that can guide reform decisions for a public programme

Target Audience:

• Senior public servants who head departments, agencies or major public programmes and answer for their results
• Government executives who advise ministers, boards or appointed leaders and translate their mandate into agency strategy
• Directors of strategy and transformation units who shape reform and innovation agendas across government
• Executives of public bodies and state-owned service providers who balance public mandates with operational and budget pressure
• Senior leaders of inter-agency programmes and partnerships who coordinate delivery across organisational boundaries

Course Outline:

Day 1: Public Value as the Purpose of Public Management

• Public Value Versus Private Value: What Citizens and Taxpayers Expect From Government
• Paradigm Shift From New Public Management to New Public Service and Public Value Management
• The Strategic Public Manager Role: From Administrator to Value Creator
• Outputs, Outcomes and Social Results Distinction in Government Programmes
• Public Value Health Check of the Participant's Own Agency or Programme

Day 2: The Strategic Triangle and the Authorising Environment

• Moore Strategic Triangle: Public Value, Legitimacy and Support, Operational Capacity
• Authorising Environment Mapping: Legislators, Oversight Bodies, Media, Unions and Citizens
• Stakeholder Power and Stance Grid for Mandate Holders and Veto Players
• Operational Capacity Review: Value Chain, Staff, Resources and Co-Producers
• Triangle Alignment Diagnostics: Spotting Gaps Between Value, Support and Capacity

Day 3: Defining, Measuring and Accounting for Public Value

• Public Value Proposition Statement: Beneficiaries, Outcomes and Distributive Fairness
• Public Value Scorecard: Assessing How a Strategy Creates or Destroys Value
• Public Value Accounting: Collective Benefits, Social Costs and Use of State Authority
• Trust, Equity and Procedural Fairness Indicators for Intangible Results
• Public Accountability Reporting to Legislatures, Oversight Bodies and the Public

Day 4: Political-Administrative Interface, Networks and Co-Production

• Political-Administrative Alignment: Roles, Boundaries and Mandate Interpretation With Ministers and Boards
• Managing Upwards: Briefing Protocols and Advice When Priorities Conflict
• Inter-Agency Network Leadership: Joined-Up Governance and Shared Outcome Agreements
• Co-Production Typology: Co-Design, Co-Delivery, Co-Management, Co-Governance and Co-Assessment
• Scarce Resource Choices: Prioritisation, Service Redesign and Reform Risk Under Budget Constraint

Day 5: Case Work and the Public Value Proposition

• Community Health Prevention Programme Case: Legitimacy and Capacity Gaps
• Municipal Waste Services Reform Case: Co-Production and Network Delivery
• Public Value Proposition Drafting for a Case Public Programme
• Strategic Triangle Analysis and Reform Roadmap for the Case Programme
• Senior Panel Challenge and Proposition Defence

Skills You Will Gain:

• Public Value Framing
• Strategic Triangle Analysis
• Authorising Environment Management
• Political Mandate Interpretation
• Public Value Measurement
• Inter-Agency Network Leadership
• Citizen Co-Production Design
• Public Sector Reform Leadership

Why Attend This Course:

• Leave with a Public Value Proposition and Strategic Triangle Analysis for a public programme that can be tested against your own agency's priorities
• Gain a shared language for discussing value, legitimacy and capacity with ministers, boards and oversight bodies
• Learn to show citizens and legislators what a programme achieves beyond spending and activity counts
• Test reform choices on health and municipal service cases with senior peers from other governments and public bodies

Conclusion:

Public organisations earn their mandate by creating value that citizens and their representatives recognise. The week moves from public value as the purpose of public management, through the strategic triangle and the authorising environment, to defining, measuring and accounting for public value, then to the political-administrative interface, inter-agency networks, co-production and choices under scarce resources. The final day applies these ideas to public service cases and produces a Public Value Proposition and Strategic Triangle Analysis ready for senior review.