Striving toward a Quality Public Service; At Your Service Bermuda.  "To be sustainable, the Government and the Civil Service must strive to improve the quality of service, focusing on the results expected by the public"

 

I have held the view for a very long time that it takes a certain calibre of individual to choose to work for the Government; particularly those individuals, who early in their Government careers, make a conscious decision to become career Civil Servants. Because, in essence, to decide to be a career civil servant, in my view, translates into the notion that you have deliberately decided, in partnership with your colleagues, to work for yourself for the benefit of your country.  There are over 6,000 Government employees, and approximately 1,800 of these are classified as Civil Servants. They work in 10 Ministries and Departments of the Government, and their all-encompassing Mission Statement is: "At Your Service Bermuda".

            As part of my responsibilities for matters internal to the operations of the Civil Service, I continually encourage all members of the Civil Service to work for themselves - in partnership with their colleagues - for the benefit of this great country.   At the end of the exercise, together - we will be able to declare - definitively and assuredly - that we are proud of the quality of our service; we are proud to be labelled a civil servant; and we are proud that, in theory and in practice, we are genuinely: At Your Service, Bermuda.

            If we are to sustain a viable and effective public service, and indeed maintain a quality public service, we must re-affirm our role and core function, which is to provide an open and impartial civil service, which must always put the people's interests first. We must re-affirm and demonstrate on a continual basis the value of the public service, stressing integrity, objectivity and accountability.  We must continue to promote and encourage effective management, utilizing appropriate mechanisms, which expressly reflect the Government's policies and priorities.   We must ensure that our employees are trained and developed and provided the tools to get the job done.  There are challenges and opportunities to these ideals, including the changing of mindsets. Changing the mindset - within and outside the Civil Service - that Civil Servants cannot be fired; changing the mindset outside the Civil Service, that Civil Servants are lazy and unproductive.  Changing the perception that honest appraisals within the Civil Service are un-obtainable. And changing the mindset that accountability is non-existent. The opportunities to changing these mindsets include improving the public image of the Civil Service. To accomplish this, the vision and goal must be to project a public service that demonstrates a performance culture; a performance culture which is constantly seeking ways to improve the delivery of public services within a well-developed corporate planning framework; a performance culture that is transparent, that is fair, that is just and that is ethical. 

            Effective leadership is critical. Training and development of our human resources is essential.  Effective succession planning is crucial.  Clear communication of goals, targets and expectations is vital; and we must certainly continue to improve our ability to motivate and properly equip civil servants so that they are able to meet their goals, targets and expectations.  Accountability at all levels is imperative; and reward for high performance and outstanding achievement must be the norm. 

            I can report that over the last two years the Civil Service has been moving towards this kind of meaningful change.   The silo-based mentality is being dismantled, and replaced with a more collaborative approach, as we focus on operating as a corporate joined-up body, so that we may deliver our services effectively, courteously, timely, impartially and professionally.  As we strive towards maintaining a quality public service, we must stay focused, have tough conversations and make tough decisions.

            Against this backdrop, we must value our employees; treat them with dignity and respect; listen to - and when practical - act upon their recommendations. We must also improve our internal communication with our employees, and reward them for outstanding performance

As part of my responsibilities for matters internal to the operations of the Civil Service, I continually encourage all members of the Civil Service to work for themselves - in partnership with their colleagues - for the benefit of this great country.

            At the end of the exercise, together - we will be able to declare - definitively and assuredly - that we are proud of the quality of our service; we are proud to be labelled a civil servant; and we are proud that, in theory and in practice, we are genuinely: At Your Service, Bermuda.