Say the word ‘bureaucracy’ to yourself and what comes into your mind: impassable red tape, excessive paperwork and frustratingly slow procedures? Yet this is far from the full picture. In its origins the idea of bureaucracy was invented on good principles – a theory of management, based on transparency and equal treatment of all even if it does not always feel like that in practice. When functioning well, bureaucracies can operate seamlessly – a flow of processes that enable resources to be used effectively, decisions to be taken effortlessly, and citizens to feel seen and empowered. We take the enabling structures, often invisible, as a given in well-functioning private sector organisations; public sector structures and organising methods when working at their best reveal that beautiful potential too. For this talk we’re joined by Dr Sharone April, a trained organisational sociologist and leader of the inter-ministerial task force for digital transformation in local government at Israel’s Ministry of Interior. She explains why she loves bureaucracy through the lens of several uplifting examples. And you should come to love bureaucracy, too!
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Why I Love Bureaucracy
Sharone April
Manager of the Inter-Governmental team of Digital Transformation for Local Government / Israel Government
Leads the governmental task force for digital transformation in local government, an inter-ministerial team from the Ministry of Interior, and the National Digital Initiative. Previously as the chief digital officer in the Ministry of Interior, Sharone was responsible for the digital transformation of the ministry vis-à-vis local government and for improving the service provided by the central government to the local authorities.
Between 2015-2018 she managed the Jerusalem innovation team by Bloomberg Philanthropies. This senior advisory team worked with the mayor and city executive management on strategic urban challenges.
Beginning in 2010, Sharone worked as a senior strategic organizational consultant at Points9, a subsidiary of Lotem Strategies Group, and ran the public sector division of the company.
Between 2004-2009, she lead the private client unit at Deltathree, a VoIP company, where she ran customer service, support, and sales teams in Israel and India.
She holds a BA in Business Administration and Psychology, an MA in Organizational Sociology and has completed her doctorate on the topic of urban collaborative innovation in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Hebrew University in 2020