1. Leadership Development Initiatives in the Estonian Civil Service: Experiences and Lessons Learned
Eve Limbach, Mariann Veisson
Department of Public Service
State Chancellery of the Republic of Estonia
11-12 September 2006, HRWG Helsinki

2. The Starting Point 2004 13 years of independence
Member of EU and NATO since 2004
public servants
52% in the age of 21 – 40
Public Service Act (2006) outdated
Responsibility for public service development divided between different institutions

3. New Challenges
Need to improve the quality of public service management
Shift from the last 13 years of change towards more sustainable development
Need to attract and retain the best
August 2004 – May 2005: The Competency Framework of Estonian Senior Civil Service developed

4. The Competency Framework
- as a tool to support selection and (self-) development of top executives to ensure the achievement of state´s strategic objectives
Target group top managers:
Chancellors (Secretaries-General) of the Ministries
Vice-Chancellors of the Ministries
Directors General of Boards and Inspectorates
County Governors

5. Competency Framework
1. Credibility: serves the nation, respects public service ethics, respects the rule of law
2. Having a vision: creates vision, explains strategic choices, sets objectives
3. Innovation: develops his/her skills, develops the organisation and implements innovations
4. Leadership: builds and encourages the team, develops co-operation networks
5. Outcome orientation: makes decisions and takes responsibility, achieves results, uses public property reasonably, follows and develops the law
* The competencies are each described by 2-4 activity indicators on the scale of extraordinary, good and poor

6. Critical Moments Credibility of the framework
Besides external consultants, 3-5 members of each executive group were involved in the project team
Principles of implementation
Voluntary or compulsory?
State Chancellery as a responsible institution for developing the framework and coordinating implementation

7. Evaluation Main principles:
Evaluation of competencies conducted annually
Self-evaluation, superior and 5 colleagues
E-Competence Centre as comfortable environment
Results used only for development
Main challenges:
How to motivate?
How to build trust?

10. Outcomes of First Evaluation
65% of target group involved
Most active participation from colleagues
Importance of the commitment of a leader
The value of comments
Results as indicators of both individual competencies and overall situation in the organisation
‘Credibility’ and ‘Having a vision’

11. Development activities
Well educated and well informed
Permanent shortage of time
High self-esteem and high demands
Different backgrounds
Lack of concrete expectations, both from the target group and their immediate superiors

12. New position
Rotation
Working
as an expert
Master classes
Training
programs
Mentorship
Renewal
of Portfolio
Master Classes
Next
evaluation
Training Programs
Compilation of
Portfolio
Mentorship
Evaluation of
competencies
Leaves the service
New SCS

13. Planned development activities in 2005/2006
Program for Secretaries General: “Global Development Trends and Future Estonia”
Strategic leadership program for county governors
6 master classes
Individual consulting

14. Next Steps Individual approach as much as possible
More systematic approach in development:
- “Junior” Program
- “Senior” Program
- Series of master classes

15. Challenges How to provide added value for senior CS-s?
How to guarantee sustainability of our work?
How to find programs of desired quality?
How to achieve commitment of the target group?

16. For further information, please contact:
Thank you/kiitos!
For further information, please contact:
Eve Limbach, tel. (372) ,
Mariann Veisson, tel. (372) ,
Department of Public Service, Estonian State Chancellery