I'm hoping to hear what this community has to say about.....

as you have said “theatre”….

Amanda

here is a thought…

there is a general perception that the civil servant is fundamentally resistant to "change" (I assume that will do as a short form of "transformation").

In my work with the civil service (local government, police, NGOs and central govt depts) one comment I frequently hear is that the problem isn’t a resistance to change but a constant requirement to change;

~every time the media pick up a new flavour of the month our political masters change the goalposts

~every time the leading party in power has a change of leadership/reshuffle, the goalposts change again

~every time we get to the point in the year when the finance department/treasury suddenly tell us that we have either overspent the budget or "gotta spend it quick before the end of the financial year", then everything changes

~every time there is a cock up everything changes several times; initially when we stop doing it (to prevent a repeat), then as a piecemeal response to the leaks from the public enquiry, then as a wholesale change in response to the enquiry’s formal recommendations and then as a response to the bloodletting as the "culprits" are identified and moved.

~every time we go from "business as usual" to "election fever" mode everything changes again.

~every time there is a new elected governement who want to appear to be a "new broom" we all get new targets and new mission statements

Life in the civil service is a constant matter of transformation……..but is it actually "good" transformation?

Rus

2 Responses

russlater says:

February 10, 2010 at 7:15 am

as you have said “theatre”….

Amanda

here is a thought…

there is a general perception that the civil servant is fundamentally resistant to "change" (I assume that will do as a short form of "transformation").

In my work with the civil service (local government, police, NGOs and central govt depts) one comment I frequently hear is that the problem isn’t a resistance to change but a constant requirement to change;

~every time the media pick up a new flavour of the month our political masters change the goalposts

~every time the leading party in power has a change of leadership/reshuffle, the goalposts change again

~every time we get to the point in the year when the finance department/treasury suddenly tell us that we have either overspent the budget or "gotta spend it quick before the end of the financial year", then everything changes

~every time there is a cock up everything changes several times; initially when we stop doing it (to prevent a repeat), then as a piecemeal response to the leaks from the public enquiry, then as a wholesale change in response to the enquiry’s formal recommendations and then as a response to the bloodletting as the "culprits" are identified and moved.

~every time we go from "business as usual" to "election fever" mode everything changes again.

~every time there is a new elected governement who want to appear to be a "new broom" we all get new targets and new mission statements

Life in the civil service is a constant matter of transformation……..but is it actually "good" transformation?

Rus
User deleted says:

February 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Transformation of Local Government

I am a Trainer living in the North East.

I used to run training sessions for staff at The Government Office for the North East. They were always well received and I was told were appropriate and effective.

After the Gershon Report, the purchase of training services was centralised somewhere else in the UK.

I no longer get opportunities to work for the Government Office for the North East