Manitoba Civil Service Commission
CSC Annual Report 2006-2007
Highlights
Renewal Initiatives
Diversity and Employment Equity Initiatives
Sutainable Development Initiatives
Civil Service Renewal Strategy
The Civil Service Renewal Strategy is the most comprehensive, collaborative and sustained effort that has been undertaken to identify and resolve human resource issues.
As previously reported, the strategy has evolved from a means to address pending turnover because of retirements to a comprehensive and on-going plan that is revitalizing the civil service. The unprecedented attention on people matters continued to increase in 2006–2007. The goals of the strategy and the operational priorities of the Commission converged as there was recognition that advancing one would advance the other.
The goals of the Civil Service Renewal Strategy, as announced in October 2003,continue to be:
- Renewal - working for the Government of Manitoba is a rewarding and attractive career;
- Sustainability – good service is maintained despite turnover and change;
- Diversity – greater representation exists at all levels in the civil service;
- Clarity – accountability for people development and leadership is clear.
The nine-member Deputy Minister Advisory Committee on Human Resources, chaired by the Civil Service Commissioner, guides the implementation of the strategy. In the past three years, the committee has initiated more than 300 actions that have contributed to keeping and attracting the talent needed to protect and enhance service to the public. In 2006–2007 the committee focused its attention on three (3) outcomes: building leadership capacity, increasing diversity, and modernizing human resource management and governance.
Among the significant outcomes in 2006–2007 are the following:
Leadership Development Initiative
This program for high potential managers and professionals includes a series of learning and work opportunities intended to encourage the retention and advancement of leaders, and to reduce the impact of turnover of retiring senior personnel.
A central component of the initiative is the Manitoba Strategy/Leadership Program, an intense week-long training and education event that is designed specifically to meet the needs of this civil service. The program is facilitated by leading university personnel and other subject matter experts. Participants are required to fulfill a service-in-return obligation, to share their learning with their department, to provide career guidance or mentoring, and to participate in mutually beneficial renewal-related activities as identified by the Civil Service Commission. Through Career Advisory Panels, participants gain career advice from executive managers, advice that is specifically relevant to their government employment.
Offerings of the Manitoba Strategy/Leadership Program were increased in 2006–2007. As a beneficial consequence, the number of people who have had the opportunity to attend increased to 215, two and a half times more than the total for the previous two years.
New Professionals Network
The New Professionals Network has gained appreciative recognition from other provincial governments. The network promotes information sharing, relationship building and development among those professionals who have recently joined the Manitoba Civil Service, thus encouraging their commitment and retention. Of particular significance is the fact that the 150 members also actively participate in the design and administration of the network, making it both more relevant to them and more sustainable.
Women’s Leadership Program
In 2006–2007 the Women’s Leadership Program completed a successful 30-participant pilot and became an on-going program. The number of participants will double in 2007–2008. In addition, the program will be made available to more regions of the province.
The purpose of the program is to help women in the civil service achieve their full leadership potential. It supports the employment equity goal of increasing the number of qualified women in higher positions. Any female employee is eligible to participate, provided she aspires to be in a leadership role and is not currently a senior manager. The program has five components: orientation, networking, coaching, career planning and skill development.
Leadership @ All Levels
Leadership @ All Levels is a skill-based development guide or “road map” designed for any employee who aspires to be a supervisor, manager or executive, or who wants to improve upon the leadership skills that are required in their current work. Like the Women’s Leadership Program, it successfully completed a pilot stage with 110 employees and their supervisors participating. It is now an on-going program.
Participants in Leadership @ All Levels complete a self-assessment to confirm their leadership strengths. Following a conversation with their supervisor that centers on development needs and interests, the participant prepares a plan tying their career goals with the priorities of their department. Like other related programs offered by the Civil Service Commission, employees are challenged to take responsibility for their development and in return are provided with the support to continually learn.
The Internship and Placement Programs
The many existing programs that have been attracting new, young and diverse employee populations into the civil service were reviewed, revised and, in some case, expanded. These programs have succeeded in attracting exceptionally talented individuals while providing them with the intense orientation and work experience that makes them productive contributors from the beginning of their employment. These programs are: the Management Internship Program (MIP), the Financial Management Development Program (FMDP), the Aboriginal Management Development Program (AMDP), the Aboriginal Public Administration Program (APAP), the Persons with Disabilities Career Assistance Program, and the Career Gateway Program for Visible Minorities.
The Respectful Workplace Policy and the Values and Ethics Guide
The Respectful Workplace Policy is the new corporate policy that describes the responsibilities all employees have for ensuring a civil work environment. The Values and Ethics Guide is also new. It confirms the four core values most important to government employees: act in the public interest, act with integrity, act with respect for others, and act with skill and dedication. The guide describes what employees can do to ensure their actions are consistent with the values.
One thousand (1000) managers and supervisors were orientated to the new policy and guide in an unprecedented and continuing effort to inform every leader in the civil service of these essential human resource directives.
The Learning Policy
The Learning Policy continues to be introduced. It is an important encouragement for every employee to take responsibility for their own development and to take advantage of available learning opportunities that are personally and organizationally beneficial. Those opportunities include work experience, relationship building, formal training and self-directed education.
Corporate Human Resource Action Plan
A plan was developed in 2006-2007 that will modernize human resource management practice in the Manitoba Civil Service. The plan, which will be implemented in 2007–2008, has three goals: improved governance with respect to the delivery of human resource management, transactional reform and shared services. Each goal has a set of specific outcomes to be completed. Collectively, these goals mean that, once achieved, there will be an even more effective human resource community to ensure greater efficiency in staffing, classification and development practices. A group of Deputy Ministers will be responsible for each goal and will be assisted by teams of human resource directors and consultants.
Consulting and Training Services
The Civil Service Commission continued to sponsor, through Organization and Staff Development, consulting and training services that strengthen good human resource practice, encourage a renewed and representative civil service, and promote the best use of employee talent. Organization and Staff Development, a Special Operating Agency within the Civil Service Commission, delivered 683 training workshops or in-department development events in 2006–2007, of which 94 were fully sponsored by the Commission. Of the 8,737 employees that participated, the Commission fully sponsored 1,230 employees. A sample of subjects covered in the workshops and events is: human resource management skills for managers, communicating with Aboriginal people, cultural diversity, employing workers with disabilities, and staffing skills for managers and human resource professionals.
