Hallgrímur Snorrason Management seminar on global assessment Session 8: Planning, programming and priority setting under budgetary restraints; human resource policy Yalta September

Managing demand – priority setting n NSI’s normally face larger demands than they can cope with comfortably – internally from government, businesses, educational and research institutions, externally from international institutions n Demand for statistics is characterized by: – Large number of subject matters – hence surveys – Large and costly sample surveys – Demand for a high frequency of surveys – Requests for a high level of detail and data on small areas n Special problem: Erratic demand from government for special services n Another problem: Demand from international organisations for special surveys

How to prioritize? What to prioritize? n Need to meet the large demand by prioritizing – selecting which statistics we shall produce, their frequency and level of detail n Prioritization has to be done in consultation with users, domestic and international n Need to observe basic statistical requirements such as national accounts n NSI’s must also observe the balance in their statistical production – balance between different users (government, businesses, education and research) and between different types of statistics (economic, social, environment) n NSI have or should have the best overview to prioritize

Consultation and cooperation on priority setting n Continuous dialogue with users (user groups, councils etc.) n Explain scarce capacity and other limitations n Seek cooperation in setting priorities n Coordinate demand from different users and align it with international requirements n Gain acceptance of the use of international definitions, classifications and practices and abandon special domestic standards n Seek cooperation with international agencies on demand and priorities

Need for planning n Planning is needed in order to – ensure that we use our scarce resources efficiently – ensure that we follow our priorities and meet our most important demand in a systematic way – ensure the smooth running of the statistical production and the NSI n Planning is an important tool for internal coordination and cooperation – For involvement of staff in the statistical activities – For communications between the different levels and across departments, divisions and boundaries

How to plan and coordinate n All NSIs have some kind of planning mechanism n The process of planning and coordination is often found or perceived to be inadequate –common complaints are e.g. – Lack of participation in the planning process – Lack of coordination in the planning – Lack of internal coordination within individual units – Lack of coordination between units – Unsatisfactory communication across boundaries (between units, between departments) – Little coordination in decision making – Bad distribution of financial and human resources

The process of planning n The planning process may depend on the size of the NSI but irrespective of size it is important to involve all professional staff in one way or another n Main priorities are set a top level but the planning of how to reach them must be based on a bottom-up approach n Practice for many years at Statistics Iceland – annual planning – first stage: involving all experts responsible for a given subject matter – second stage: heads of departments are obliged to consult their staff before submitting proposals to their directors n Annual planning reports from the experts and then heads of units – A brief report on the progress over the year – Plans for continued practices and production – Suggestions for changes, new statistics and abolition of outdated statistics and practices

Possible planning phase – Heads of units consult with their staff on the activities and plans of the unit – Heads of units submit plans for their activities to their divison directors (heads of departments) – Activities should be broken down into actions with quantifications for resources used n time in weeks or months n human resources (quantity, kind) n claims on IT n demand on effort from other departments – The plans should make it possible to quantify the total activities

Possible planning phase cont. – The planning should be supervised by division directors (heads of departments) and submitted by them to the DG and central management – The plans should be discussed by central management with feedback to/consultations with heads of units – After discussion the plans should be adopted by the DG and central management – The plans should be presented to the staff (through meetings, presentation on the internal website (intranet) – The plans should be published on the website of the NSI – The plans should be monitored and reported on on the website (e.g. quarterly, twice a year)

Staff involvement n Staff involvement in planning is important – For helping to ensure that we follow our plans and priorities and reach the objective for the statistical production at the required level of quality – To motivate staff and support job satisfaction n Staff involvement should be mobilized – For regular follow-up of the activity plans – By regular meetings of all relevant staff in each unit and meetings between division/department director and heads of units n Need for applying project management across boundaries n Central management must be responsive – By regular meetings (weekly, bi-weekly) with formal agenda based on proposals from division directors, formal decisions on actions and on follow-up, formal reporting to staff (also involving regional offices)

Human resource developments – some factors – Staff involvement in planning and coordination – Effective communication, e.g. by regular consultation, regular meetings (divisions, central management) and reporting – Effective information about the objectives and workings of the institution (about goals and norms, about activities in other parts of the institution and the statistical activity as a whole) – Recruitment policies (recruiting well educated and qualified staff) – Redefining and upgrading jobs from low skilled to high skilled ones, abolishing assistant and secretarial functions – Conducting regular staff and labour relations policies – Training

Training – a key factor in HR policies n Establishing/running a comprehensive training programme involving – Continuous training events – Regular courses and ad-hoc courses – Regular information sessions on developments and progress – Provisions for participation in extra-mural courses – Provisions for participation in general education – Provisions for participation in higher education – Provisions for participating in conferences etc. n Training program should be administered by a specific manager (unit) in consultation with managerial and staff representatives (training committee, “school board”)

Internal and external training - examples n Content of courses, examples – Specific technical courses (IT, databases, office tools, communication tools, website/tabulation tools) – Specific methodological courses (sampling, variance, editing, seasonal adjustment) – Courses in combined project management and subject matter – Internal or external, internal with external inputs – courses with heavy internal content found to work best at Statistics Iceland – Courses on statistical laws and codes of practice n Ideas for internal information sessions – Should be regular – e.g. monthly, bi-monthly – Require a head of unit or department to give a structured lecture on specific new developments, new methodologies, new data or data collection processes

Hallgrímur Snorrason – session 8 Thank you for your attention