Opening Address by Minister Billy Kelleher, T.D., at the NCPP Annual Partnership Conference

“Participatory Leadership: Delivering a World-Class Public Service”.

I am delighted to be here today (Thursday 26^th June 2008) to open the Annual Partnership Conference 2008. The theme of this year’s event is “Participatory Leadership: Delivering a World-Class Public Service” and it is a valuable opportunity to discuss some of the important issues raised by the recent OECD review of the Irish Public Service.

Public Service Renewal

Since the launch of the Strategic Management Initiative almost fourteen years ago significant progress has been made in the change and modernisation of the Public Service. The recent OECD report records as much. During that time our public services have been extended in many areas and have evolved considerably in a number of areas including the delivery of quality customer services, regulatory reform, financial management, and human resource management.

The publication of the OECD Review of the Irish Public Service ‘Towards an Integrated Public Service’ is an important landmark in the renewal effort. This Review has the potential to place Ireland at the forefront of new ways of thinking regarding management and delivery of public services. The OECD Review recognises the value of the many reforms taken place to date, it confirms the strengths of the current system.

There are three reasons in particular why I think the OECD Review is useful:

• First, it widens the focus to the broader Public Service and agencies where many of our front line services are delivered;
• Second, it has been undertaken by a highly credible and skilled team of international experts and peer reviewers;
• Third, the report has come as we face into challenging economic times and at a time when, now more than ever, we will be relying on the creativity and commitment of our Public Servants to contribute to our national development.

I should say that I am not a fan of the phrase "Public Service Reform" as it seems to imply a criticism of individual civil and public servants. My experience of the public service is a very positive one. Indeed, a consistent trend in customer surveys is that those people who have had contact with the Public Service rate it more highly than those who have not had recent contact. I believe that when we come to talk about change and modernisation, we need to ensure that people's defences are not raised unnecessarily by implying a failure on the part of individuals.

For this reason, I prefer to think in terms of systems change and improvements in procedures, management techniques and organising principles. Yes, we may also need changes in work practices at an individual and collective level. However, we must remember that many, if not all, public servants are operating within the confines of legacy systems. It takes leadership to bring Public Servants out of those legacy systems and into a new set of working arrangements. That is why today's conference is particularly timely.

Contribution of the Public Service

Although it is difficult to quantify precisely, I think it is beyond dispute that the Public Service has made a significant contribution to the economic and social development of Ireland to date. The OECD report suggests as much. This contribution has been made in a number of ways:

• the talent and commitment of individual public servants whether at the front line of service delivery in hospital wards, public offices or in the community;
• the quality of our responses to immediate challenges, for example the threat of foot and mouth disease or the management of our Presidency of the European Union ;
• the negotiating skills of those public servants involved in national and international arena, including North-South institutions and in the European Union;
• the strong traditions of impartiality, integrity and prudential management of the public purse which have served us well since the inception of the State.

Good leadership has also played its part but perhaps this leadership has not been as evenly distributed and as evident as one might wish to see right across the Public Service. The OECD report addresses a number of aspects of the leadership challenge including establishment of the concept of a Senior Public Service. Such a centrally coordinated initiative would be useful as it would help to share best practice from across the system. In the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, for example, the Secretary General has put in place a very progressive and comprehensive Leadership Development Programme for Assistant Principals and Principal Officers. This is being further complemented by a mentoring programme for middle ranking officials, particularly focusing on the need to ensure a higher female representation in management and leadership roles.

These are important measures because, in my view, it is important to ensure that we unlock the leadership talent that lies at all levels within our Public Service organisations. In my experience, there are often people in the lower and middle tiers of organisations who are key influencers. These colleagues can make a huge difference to the success or failure of particular initiatives. We need to tap into their experience, their capabilities and their own brand of leadership to ensure buy in for the kind of system-wide renewal that we are now seeking.

The Performance Management and Development Systems that are being put in and developed further in the Public Service are useful tools in this regard. By taking a competency-based approach, it should be possible to fine tune and build up the behaviours and skills that we need to ensure a steady supply of creative leaders into the future. In passing, I should note that I recently launched a series of best practice guides which were produced by IBEC, including one very useful guide on Performance Management. While geared for the private sector, they were extremely well produced and useful books and it strikes me that there must be very useful learning points that could be shared in this - and other areas of Human Resource management - between the private and public sectors. Perhaps this is something that could be explored further in the context of Partnership.

Meeting the challenges ahead

The OECD report looks at the challenges that lie ahead - the disconnects that exist and the changes that need to be made to ensure that the Public Service continues to adapt. The agenda for change is not a static one. It needs to be regularly reviewed and adapted as needs and demands change.

Government recognises this and has initiated a number of measures, including :

• the efficiency reviews of public service organisations - including agencies - which are being overseen by the Minister for Finance (and which are likely to feature more prominently in all our lives in the coming months);
• the programme of organisational reviews - to examine the capability of individual Departments and Agencies to meet their current service delivery requirements and to deal effectively with future changes in direction and new challenges.
• the appointment of a Task Force to take up the agenda established by the OECD's report and to advise Government on implementation issues;

Social Partnership

Of course, the implementation of the public service modernisation agenda has been, and continues to be, undertaken within the context of Social Partnership. This has provided an important framework in the past to ensure the continued co-operation with change and modernisation initiatives and improvements in productivity.

Towards 2016 highlights particular commitments to change in areas such as more open recruitment at middle and senior grades, flexibility of work practices through better team-working and integration of services and stronger competition in recruitment and promotion procedures to ensure that the Public Service can attract, motivate and harness the best of our public service talent. Delivery of these commitments - and more besides - will be needed if we are to meet the ambitious but much needed agenda of change that will make real differences to ordinary people on the ground.

The background against which delivery of commitments is required is somewhat unsettled. The Public Service pay element of Towards 2016 expires in September. We are heading into a challenging period for Social Partnership. Its strengths are likely to be tested to the full.

As you know, talks about the pay element of Towards 2016 are now underway and I hope that a satisfactory agreement can be reached. The Government’s aim is to achieve a sustainable agreement compatible with improving competitiveness and productivity. Pay developments in the period immediately ahead - across the public and private sectors - must reflect the more challenging economic and competitiveness outlook that we now face. An agreement will have to take account of the economic and budgetary realities and cannot undermine our competitive position relative to our main trading partners.

One of the core strengths of Social Partnership has been its strong foundation in realism regarding the nature of the competitive challenge for Ireland. The Social Partners must continue to strive for a balance between the competing issues facing the Irish labour market and the economy. Consumers and markets need certainty and confidence. In order to maintain the social progress and cohesion we have achieved to date, it is vital that a fair and balanced agreement is reached.

The Government will do everything it can to facilitate a renewed consensus and my Department is playing an active role in that regard. Even if that consensus is not immediately achievable, the Government's priority will be to ensure that the economy in general, and the labour market in particular, remain flexible, competitive and fair.

Conclusion

To conclude, I think we all recognise that our workplaces and our wider environment are changing and that appropriate policies and practices must be in place to accommodate those changes. Leadership is required. Leadership that unlocks talent and secures commitment at all levels. Leadership that provides equal opportunities, accommodates diversity and appreciates the changing nature of the workforce and the marketplace. Leadership that builds organisations which are - in the words of the NCPP’s recent campaign - “open to change, open to partnership”. And this applies to the Public Service as much as any private sector company - perhaps even more so in these newly challenging times.

I would again thank the NCPP for bringing together the experts and practitioners in this area in today’s interesting line up, and I wish you all well in your dialogue and debate this morning.

ENDS/LA286