Public servants have a well-deserved reputation for playing it safe.

In a culture where being called bold is not meant as a compliment, the rewards for sticking your neck out can be few, and the risks to reputation and career high if things go wrong.

But Public Service Commissioner Peter Woolcott argues this must change if the public service is to meet the future needs and expectations of the government and the public.

"Complex public sector challenges require a willingness to experiment with new approaches," Woolcott says, pointing to the need for innovation and collaboration in the way the APS operates, including drawing on and working with expertise in business and the community to make it happen.

Governments have experimented with ways to encourage public service innovation, such as idea "incubators" and DFAT's InnovationXchange.

But while the federal government is still digesting the Thodey Review of the APS, Woolcott is certain building an appetite for risk needs to be part of the story.

"The APS needs to engage more positively with risk to build capacity to innovate," he says, envisioning an organisation that embraces openness, collaboration and learning from errors to support innovative thinking and practices.

But achieving this is not going to be easy.

As Woolcott himself admits, "there remain a number of culturally ingrained attitudes to risk that stifle innovative practices".

Some of these have been laid bare in the latest State of the Service report from the Australian Public Service Commission.

The report, based on a census of 104,471 public servants, found that although more than 80 per cent saw it as part of their job to continually look for new ways of doing things, far fewer felt the agency would have their back if an attempt at innovation failed.

Just 25 per cent felt that "appropriate" risk-taking was rewarded by their agency. Almost 26 per cent thought it wasn't, and the remainder were undecided.

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Those arguing for change must also overcome significant disengagement from the issue. Asked how their agency views and values risk taking, almost half those responding to the census were non-committal.

The challenge is to encourage a risk-taking culture while simultaneously safeguarding public trust, ensuring the careful and considered management of limited public resources and not making mistakes that will rebound on the government.

Woolcott's suggestion is to "risk small".

"If you are going to make mistakes, don't make huge mistakes," he says.

"Be careful where you make mistakes because you are operating in an environment where the public and media can be pretty unforgiving, and that can embarrass ministers and the government."