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Remarks for Wayne G. Wouters for the National Managers’ Community Forum

March 2, 2010

Hello ladies and gentlemen and thank you Bev for your warm introduction. Thank you for inviting me to speak at your forum.

Let me start my comments today by noting that I find it an honour to be here. This is my first opportunity to speak to you, the manager community, as your clerk.

In my comments today, I want to touch on:

  • The importance of your role as managers,
  • Our current environment and the challenges and opportunities we collectively face
  • The Speech from the Throne, the Budget, and what they mean for the public service, and
  • Public service renewal, and what is next for our renewal efforts.

The Importance of the Manager Community

As most of you are likely aware, I am a firm believer in the importance of good management in our roles as public servants.

Each and every one of us, in our own ways, has made a commitment to serve Canadians and our country. The public service brings us together and provides us the opportunity to deliver on that personal commitment.

And, it is through good management and good managers that we capitalize and deliver collectively.

Managers have a critical role in our workplaces and in serving Canadians. Managers are like the thousands of volunteers at the 2010 winter Olympics.

You are the catalysts that help to translate goals into reality. You and your teams get the business of government done; you support the staff who deliver results for Canadians, and, your connection between senior managers and employees transforms strategic direction into action.

Moreover, your role you play is more profound than deliverables and the bottom line:

  • You are custodians of organizational culture and values.
  • You enable and lead employee engagement — people seek out and stay with good managers.
  • You connect the public service with stakeholders and the Canadians we serve.

Further, it is you who must prioritize the pressures we face daily,

  • balancing program, policy or service delivery,
  • with human resources management,
  • with rigorous reporting requirements,
  • supported by often out-dated back office systems that increase demands on your time and energy.

That is why public service renewal is important.

It is our way, as your senior leaders that we are working to better support you so you can support your employees in serving Canadians.

Public service renewal was launched in 2006 by my predecessor. Its goal is to ensure we have a public service that is:

  • vital and energized;
  • relevant;
  • equipped to meet challenges of our time; and
  • capable and confident in our ability to address them

And, we have made major strides in our efforts to achieve these goals. While there is still progress to be made, we now do integrated business and human resources planning.

Recruitment is now increasingly coordinated, with hiring managers and senior leaders playing active roles. Learning plans are now common practice, and much has been done on leadership development and talent management.

Finally, we made significant changes to our corporate approach to human resources.

We have streamlined and reduced central agency roles and we made deputy ministers primarily responsible for managing their people — not central agencies. We are better managed and better managers today because of our collective commitment to management excellence over the past five years.

Simply put, I am proud to be continuing and building on the work of our previous clerk.

I know we still have some distance to go but we can and should be proud of the progress we have made. Of course there are challenges ahead and I look to you to help us address them. I would like you to share the creative and innovative ways you are responding to the pressures you face. I want you to transfer your knowledge and talk about your best practices and experiences so we can all learn from them.

Perhaps the best place for you to do this is GCPEDIA. I also invite you to visit my just launched GCPEDIA page and share your views on the workplace there.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, GCPEDIA is essentially the government of Canada’s wiki. It is a collaborative networking website facilitated by web 2.0 technologies and incorporates face-book style directories. GCPEDIA integrates the results of two 2008 web 2.0 pilot projects from treasury board's chief information officer branch.

Since it was launched in October of 2008, GCPEDIA has attracted approximately 12,700 registered users. It has become a repository for 5,900 articles by public servants on a wide range of issues from public service renewal to information management.

I am encouraged by the level of activity that I see on GCPEDIA and the scope and breadth of exchange and dialogue it generates.

GCPEDIA and similar wikis are vital to the public service of today and tomorrow.

Before talking about next steps for renewal, let me say a few words first about our current environment, including the upcoming budget.

Our Current Environment

The public service of Canada operates in an increasingly complex and interconnected world:

Globalization and new technologies have an impact on practically every aspect of our operating environment. Issues such as pandemic preparedness, climate change, the financial and economic crises… All spill over departmental, national and international borders.

Our aging demographics affect the labour market as a whole, as well as public policy and program and service delivery.

We are a diverse country. In the 2006 census, Canadians reported more than 200 ethnic origins. That gives us a huge competitive advantage in the world – diplomatically and economically.

Let’s continue to build a public service that is more inclusive so we can optimize the talent of all Canadians.

And the public service environment itself presents a number of challenges.

  • We live today in a 24/7 media environment.
  • Blackberries have had a dramatic impact on our ability to try to maintain a healthy worklife-family balance, particularly for managers.
  • We face public demands for transparency and accountability unparalled 20 years ago.

In response to these trends, the nature of the political —public service relationship is evolving. And,

  • the changes that are influencing our relationship with the political level are not isolated to Canada … other Westminster democracies are facing the same challenges.
  • In Canada, however, our situation has been made more challenging by successive minority governments.
  • A focus on the short term has made it more difficult to do medium and long-term planning.

In addition to these operational pressures, our tools have not kept pace with technological change. Some information technology platforms have been with us for more than 30 years. Our back-office systems are in serious need of upgrades to allow us to do our jobs well and efficiently.

In short, each and every one of us is being challenged to:

  • Adjust to a more complex political environment;
  • respond to a more demanding media and parliamentary environment;
  • manage our way through major shifts in demographics and our staffing environment;
  • all while supporting our day jobs with technological systems and business processes that need to be modernized.

No small task at all.

However, Canada’s public service has demonstrated repeatedly that it can and will respond positively and successfully to the challenges and opportunities it faces.

  • The Olympic and Paralympics games.
  • Haiti.
  • H1N1.
  • The EAP.

We have proven time and time again that we can and will deliver!!

The SFT and the Budget

This brings me to the SFT and the Budget.

As a result of the worldwide global recession and the need to provide stimulus to the Canadian economy, the government is facing a budget deficit. Now that the economy is showing signs of recovery, the government has signaled that it will be moving decisively to address the deficit.

The Speech from the Throne and federal budget that will be delivered in the next few days will provide the roadmap for doing this - including restraint in the growth of direct program expenditures.

Many of you will ask how restraint will fit with public service renewal. Does fiscal restraint mean an end to public service renewal?

On the contrary, fiscal restraint measures will provide further impetus to public service renewal -- the two go hand in hand.

  • For both, we need to look at how we do business and to become more innovative.
  • For both we need to ask ourselves whether we are taking advantage of the expertise and experience each of us brings, our networks and other resources that are now at our fingertips.

Our workplace and workplace possibilities are transforming -- we need to capitalize on this to changes the way we work.

This is how we will renew the public service.

Renewal is more Important than Ever

Against the backdrop of the coming budget, I will state here today, unequivocally, that public service renewal is now more important than ever.

Public service renewal is among my top priorities.

It is about our responsibilities as managers and stewards of the public service. It is about

  • ensuring the longevity and long term success of the public service;
  • attracting the best and the brightest minds possible;
  • and building a public service where everyone belongs.

Workplace and workforce renewal is central to:

  • remaining competitive as an employer;
  • providing our employees the tools they need to do the best job possible;
  • and ensuring outstanding service to Canadians.

Put simply, renewal is really about doing better together.

It is a lot like building a championship team. You need to

  • bring your players together;
  • ensure that everyone has a role and contribution to make;
  • and give them the support and tools they need to succeed.

This is what all good managers do. And, part of my job, is to support you so that you can do your job.

Through renewal we can and will create a more modern and inclusive public service.

What's Next?

So what’s next for renewal?

As your clerk, I plan to build and expand on our success to date. I want to create a workforce where everyone can find their niche, where public servants of all ages and backgrounds can make a valuable contribution.

Renewal is not about new graduates, or mid-career individuals or public servants in the twilight of their careers. It is about everyone.

I would like to place more emphasis on workplace renewal. Renewing the workplace is about improving the way we work and how we work with others.

We have not made as much progress here as we have in the other areas.

The prime minister’s advisory committee on public service, chaired by David Emmerson and Paul Tellier, released its fourth report in late February. The report, entitled “A Relevant and Connected Public Service,” contains some good ideas.

Among the recommendations that I consider most important, and especially to you as managers, are the need to:

  • Support strong leadership through rigorous talent management and succession planning;
  • Reduce churn and establish continuity in senior leadership positions; and
  • Adopt a systematic approach to tapping into broad based external expertise through
    • collaboration and exchanges with universities,
    • think-tanks,
    • other levels of government,
    • the private sector and citizens.
  • And last but not least, take full advantage of collaborative technologies in order to facilitate interaction with citizens, partners and stakeholders.

I have taken these recommendations to heart and will to my best to act on them.

I too will give special attention to this area in my Annual Report to the Prime Minister, which will be released by the end of this month.

Renewing the workplace will facilitate the integration of systems, policies and technology needed to better support you as managers.

The adoption of collaborative tools such as wikis will enable greater creativity, collaboration and innovation. Wikis and other forms of social media are being used extensively by

  • provincial government,
  • the private sector, and
  • non-governmental organizations

to solicit, generate and develop ideas that are leading to novel approaches and innovative policy development and service delivery.

Using a wiki internal to PCO, we recently launched an innovation campaign within the Privy Council Office asking the simple question “how do we make PCO a better place to work?”

I have been both encouraged and impressed by the results. As of yesterday afternoon we had 103 ideas presented by employees and 1135 votes!

That’s about a 30% employee engagement rate …which is not bad at all. The average is about 10-12%!

What is most encouraging is the dialogue and engagement. Engagement is the key to trust. Trust is the key to innovation.

Public servants at all levels should be supported for exploring new ideas and new ways of doing business. We do need to manage risk but not to the point where we are not prepared to take any at all.

I have made mistakes though the course of my career. Mistakes are a natural part of growing and learning.

Do not be afraid of making errors. Instead take them as learning opportunities. Share your experiences, good and bad, with your colleagues and those around you.

Don’t wait to be designated a mentor or coach – just become one. Each one of you has the potential to do so. Empower those you work with ---- it is a great feeling!

Networks are catalysts for working horizontally and building critical mass around good ideas. And it falls to you and your staff to invest in strong relationships and partnerships and engagement.

At the same time, the Treasury Board Secretariat needs to continue to work with departments on streamlining the web of rules.

As we move forward in these areas, let us continue to maintain the foundations of good management including:

  • Strong public service values and ethics
  • Results and performance based management
  • A commitment to people.

I know that many of you are seeking greater support to develop your leadership and people management skills. In response, I have called on deputy heads to ensure that you are fully equipped to manage for results and to manage performance.

The national managers’ community has created a performance management working group. And the Canada School of Public Service recently developed the Performance Management for Managers curriculum.

You will have many opportunities to share best practices in people management with one another here at the forum – I encourage you to do so.

Canada and the World

This is a big year for Canada. We just concluded our duties as host of the very successful 2010 winter Olympic Games.

We are about begin our responsibilities as hosts of the 2010 Paralympics Games. Both events offer wonderful opportunities for Canada to demonstrate our leadership.

This summer we have invited the world to attend the G8 and G20 summits. We have an opportunity to build on the success of the prime minister’s visits to India, China and South Korea in December of 2009.

This is an ideal time for us to enhance and expand existing markets, and develop and establish new ones. And strengthen our relationship, particularly, with the United States.

Courtesy of the incredible 2010 Olympic buzz, we have an ideal platform to generate interest in Canada around tourism, investment and education.

In closing, I challenge you to:

  • Continue to strive for excellence in all that you do,
  • and inspire your teams to deliver better services to Canadians and the highest quality advice to government.

Your deputy heads will work with you and support you and I will be supportive too.

I invite you again to visit my just launched GCPEDIA page and share your views on the workplace there.

I thank you for your interest and participation