Wed 23 Mar 2016
Client: Government of Kuwait
Programme: Understanding the UK Civil Service
(Delivered in London, Spring 2016)
The client
In early 2016 Dods Training was approached to design and deliver a five-day programme on understanding the UK Civil Service for a delegation of senior civil servants from Kuwait. Dods Training had delivered a similar, highly regarded Programme in Autumn 2014 for a Kuwaiti delegation making us the natural partners for delivery of the project.
The problem
The senior delegation, comprised of individuals from the Civil Service Commission and various Government departments, wished to come to London and glean best practice from the UK Civil Service. The group were specifically interested in the management and coordination of the UK Civil Service, HR practice and new innovations in training and staff development. The delegation wanted a programme which would allow comparison between the UK and Kuwaiti systems, highlight best practice and offer a range of speakers and relevant case study examples.
Our actions
With a wealth of experience working with the UK Civil Service, Dods Training has an unrivalled network of expert training consultants specialising in HR and management within UK Government. The wider Dods group produces Civil Service World http://www.civilserviceworld.com/ and the Training team maintains strong links with serving and former Civil Servants. Calling on our vast network, we quickly devised a programme which would address all the training requirements and provide exposure to a variety of learning styles so all participants got the most from the event.
The end product was an interactive, bespoke, five-day training Programme providing an overview of the UK Civil Service and focusing specifically on how Civil Servants are recruited, promoted, trained and performance managed. Both former and serving civil servants as well as one former Minister who currently sits in the House of Lords, delivered the event.
Day one looked at current human resource strategy in the UK Civil Service. It considered the role of the Civil Service competency framework as well as current line management and employee engagement schemes in driving efficiency and effectiveness in the Service. On day two, the delegation looked more closely at the structure of UK Government and the interactions between Ministers and Civil Servants. Day three focused more specifically on performance and the optimisation of resources and featured expert guest speaker sessions from serving Civil Servants and a former Permanent Secretary. On day four, the delegation had the opportunity to undertake an orientation visit of Parliament and observe oral questions. The group then heard from two members of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee of the House of Commons about the role of the Committee and the importance of Parliamentary inquiry. On the final day of the Programme delegates turned their attention to reform and future working. Guest speakers from several Government departments shared their experiences of transformation, talent management and public sector reform. The group were encouraged to compare directly with their own experiences of the Kuwaiti system, allowing them to develop action plans of how they would incorporate new learning into their own roles.
Conclusions
The event was very well received. Participants stated that the overall training programme and trainers had been excellent and appreciated the opportunity to discuss openly with such senior experts.
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