The Creative Bureaucracy
The oxymoron ‘creative’ versus ‘bureaucracy’ signals that not every public administrator is unimaginative. Indeed many have ideas, ingenuity, resourcefulness and flexibility, yet they might be constrained by rule systems, hierarchies and attitudes and so need to shift from a ‘no, because’ to a ‘yes, if’ culture.
The Creative Bureaucracy initiative aims to transform public sector institutions by fostering innovation, creativity, and adaptability in how governments and bureaucracies operate.
Its overall goal is to reimagine bureaucracy not as a barrier but as a platform for public innovation, where civil servants are seen as creative problem-solvers who help societies adapt to 21st-century challenges. This is crucial to ensure that public institutions maintain their relevance and role as a convenors and protectors of the common interest and public good.
We often think bureaucracies are rigid, slow, and rule-bound—but they can also be key agents of innovation if given the right environment and mindset. The initiative is about balancing structure with creativity, enabling civil servants to think beyond routine processes to solve complex social, environmental, and economic challenges. Importantly, it’s about turning creativity into action and doing things differently.
It is built on three pillars: Rethinking the incentives and regulations regime for today and tomorrow’s needs; creating a warm’ more open internal working environment and lastly connecting better with the outside worlds – the private sector, NGOs and research entities.
The central platform for the movement, showcasing global examples of innovation in government is the Creative Bureaucracy Festival held in Berlin every June. It helped give visibility to "creative bureaucrats"—civil servants working within the system to drive meaningful change. Over time the idea has gained momentum, influencing public sector innovation initiatives in cities and countries around the world and is now a global narrative. Charles is co-founder of the Festival with Sebastian Turner.
The 8th edition was in 2025 with over 2100 visitors. Other events happen in Prague and Australia/New Zealand. The mission is to bring civil servants and their allies together be they individuals or organisations who work alongside bureaucracies to help them become future-fit and to advance the common good.
Key themes of the Festival are:
Unlocking Talent in the Public Sector:
Bureaucracies are full of talented individuals whose potential is often limited by outdated systems.
A creative bureaucracy empowers people at all levels to contribute ideas and solutions.
Innovative Governance:
Encouraging collaborative governance and cross-sector partnerships.
Using co-creation and citizen participation in policymaking.
Rules as enablers, not constraints:
Rethinking regulations so they enable creativity instead of stifling it.
Address power dynamics, social norms and mindsets.
Without addressing those imbalances, we have little hope of securing healthy democracies and a thriving planetary future.
Culture Shift:
Moving from a culture of control and risk aversion to one of curiosity, experimentation, and trust.
Leadership and Empowerment:
Leaders should facilitate rather than dictate, creating environments where innovation can thrive.
Celebrating Creativity in Government:
Recognizing and sharing stories of public sector innovation globally through events like the Creative Bureaucracy Festival.
The history
The concept of the Creative Bureaucracy was first articulated by Charles in the late 1990s where a major contradiction became clear: while cities aimed to be innovative and dynamic, their public institutions—the bureaucracies—often remained rigid and outdated, limiting progress. Bureaucracies he felt could be both part of the problem and potentially the solution and began explicitly discussing the need to reinvent bureaucracy—to move away from the traditional, hierarchical, command-and-control models toward more flexible, responsive systems. It emphasized that rules, procedures, and structures could be redesigned to support innovation rather than block it.
Initially the idea was seen as a flippant provocation and took a while to take hold but two extensive studies of a complete public administration in Bilbao and Adelaide gave increasing credence to the notion.
In 2017, Charles co-authored the foundational book "The Creative Bureaucracy & its Radical Common Sense" with Margie Caust, who as a former senior civil servant played a significant role in understanding the institutions’ inner workings. This book formalized the theory and laid out principles for creating innovative public institutions and called for a reimagining of the public servant—from administrator to changemaker.
Diving Deeper
Common Ground Networks coordinates many research platforms and asked me to take Organization Studies Research Network. This was a good coincidence as we have been pleased with the development of the Creative Bureaucracy Festival, but felt there is much more detailed research work to be done to explore the impact of public innovation. I needed an academic and are out of the ether appeared Anke Gruendel, who directs the Lephana Transformation Lab. Together we have reframed the network and it will be officially renamed ‘Organization in Uncertain Worlds’ and we want to communicate good research in novel ways. Attached is the elevator speech
https://organization-studies.com/
https://cgnetworks.org/research-networks
From autumn 2025 onwards communications about the network will begin and then build up more publicly towards the first conference in Copenhagen on the 25h and 26h June 2026.
