CS succession planning failing

(CNS): Civil Service management has failed in its efforts at succession planning and is undermining the morale of government workers who are nearing the top of the profession by the way they are forced to act in top jobs for long periods but not given the substantive post. MLA Ezzard Miller said it was hard to justify why so many senior posts remain vacant for so long and why government was having such a difficult time filling critical posts.

Over the last year key positions such as the collector of customs, the chief fire officer, the education ministry’s CO post, the London office, the information commissioner and other important jobs have been occupied by civil servants acting in the role without being given the top job. The gallery of senior vacant posts has recently been compounded with the chief immigration officer being placed on required leave. This means that not only critical posts such as the chief fire officer’s job are vacant but both customs and immigration, the main revenue generating arms of government, are without confirmed bosses.

Although the civil service management has run open and competitive recruitment processes for many of the top jobs that remain vacant, they have gone through numerous rounds, with the customs top job being advertised some six times.

The North Side member told CNS that it was hard to fathom how the succession planning has gone so badly wrong in the civil service so that when a person at the top leaves or retires there is no one to step in.

Miller said it was undermining the morale of the deputies and the people who are second in command when they are placed in a role for over a year acting as the boss but are never appointed to the substantive post.

“Surely after three months, if the person is not good enough to be hired they shouldn’t be acting in the role for another nine months,” he noted. “How is it possible that we have so many important jobs vacant and government cannot find the right people? It should not take years to find the right candidate.”

In addition to the obvious problems of succession failure, Miller queried the qualifications being asked for and the salaries government is offering, suggesting that this must also be contributing to the fact that the right people cannot be found.

He questioned the need for some of the requirements at interview, in particular the request in many top jobs that candidates prepare an annual strategic plan for the office they are applying to run, which forms a significant part of the interview. Miller pointed out that for those candidates who have not served in the environment, it is virtually impossible to come up with a realistic strategic plan in such circumstances.

The MLA added that interview panels are increasingly overly concerned about the political leanings of potential candidates.

The North Side member also raised concerns about how those who should be stepping into the top jobs when they become vacant are being treated. He said when people are forced to act in a given role for such long periods without being appointed they become disheartened and discouraged. Miller said that if the succession planning was working properly, the deputies or others from the next tier of management would have been prepared, trained and ready for the jobs.

However, with so few of the people who have been acting getting the substantive posts and failing at the interviews, Miller said this illustrated serious problems in professional personnel development.

“This indicates that there is a lack of confidence building and preparation but it also indicates a fear of decisions,” he added.

Miller questioned whether the civil service management had become paralysed when it comes to decision-making, leaving them incapable of advancing as no one wanted to be accountable for what may prove to be the wrong choice.

The result, the MLA lamented, was increasing mediocrity in the civil service, with those who are capable being ground down by the inertia and the failure to act decisively, while those who are not able are holding the reins for too long.