TOWARDS PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT IN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT IN FINLAND Expert meeting October 6, 2003 PUMA/OECD Ministerial Ad

1. TOWARDS PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT IN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT IN FINLANDExpert meeting October 6, 2003PUMA/OECDMinisterial Adviser Ari Holopainen • BACKGROUND • KEY ELEMENTS OF THE FINNISH SYSTEM • CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS • DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY –2012 • VISION • TARGETS • STRATEGIC PROPOSALS • KEY ROLES AND COMPETENCIES OF SCSs • LESSONS LEARNED/DISCUSSION Ari Holopainen

2. BACKGROUND FINNISH GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION • 13 ministries and a large network of relatively independent agencies • The Finnish civil service comprises of 100 000 civil servants + 20 000 employees (5 % at Ministry level) • Number of senior civil servants is approx. 200 • Fundamental changes during 90’s: • results-based management system • new budgetary system • decentralised HRM • personnel reductions mainly through reorganisation Ari Holopainen

3. BACKGROUND EVALUATION • Deliberate, consensual and relatively unhurried approach to reform, high degree of continuity • Diversification, differences between state agencies • Managers have been developed systematically, but the impact has been uneven and insufficient • Need for performance targets for individual civil servants PERSONNEL POLICY LINE 2001- • The State Employer’s targets: • basis of clear values • competitiveness as an employer • new management climate • Proposal for a strategy for management development -2012 Ari Holopainen

4. KEY ELEMENTS OF THE FINNISH SYSTEM • No separate cadre of the senior civil service, only some special regulations: • establishing, transferring, abolishing public offices • termination of a civil service relationship • recruitment/dismissal • No cadre of political appointees (exc.) • Open/position system • permanent or fixed term appointments through open recruitment • formal appointments by the President of the Republic or the Council of State, otherwise selection is decentralised • no career system • State Employer’s Office/Ministry of Finance • the State’s general employer policy • the State’s joint personnel policy • training courses for senior civil servants, senior civil service pay determination Ari Holopainen

5. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS • Productivity: using the given resources as efficiently as possible • Recruitment of skilled managers and preparation of future managers • Adapting management to a networked information society • Leadership: “Management climate must have a clear emphasis on trust-based interaction, cooperation and skills in human relations” • The need for renewal Ari Holopainen

6. DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY – 2012 VISION ‘Professional management guarantees the productivity, well-being and constant renewal of government operating units. Systematic development of management ensures the availability of future leaders and their commitment to a common management culture.’ TARGETS • Professional and systematic development of managers. • Effective, versatile use of management resources. • Managers are management professionals. • Managers who retain their working capacity throughout their careers. • Development of common management competences and culture for central government. • Management duties in central government that are attractive and make the State a competitive employer. Ari Holopainen

7. DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY – 2012 STRATECIG PROPOSALS • SCS duties should be for a fixed term. • Personal management contracts should be drawn up for all top managers in central government. • Management should be developed on the basis of a common model. • The efficiency and leadership of managers should be assessed on the basis of a common framework. • The development, use and mobility of common managers resources should be improved. • Management in central government should be enhanced with joint development services. Ari Holopainen

8. LESSONS LEARNED/DISCUSSION • Management development must be linked to Government’s programme • Need to increase political resources (e.g. idea of new political state secretaries) - clear distinction between political leaders and professional managers • Tensions between the new managerial and the old legal administrative culture • Need to attract all the best candidates vs. the principle of administrative transparency • How to bring career elements to an open system • The role of SCSs: • experts or professional managers • SCSs between politicians and citizens (role in media) • How to maintain the unity of the civil service? • Decentralisation or recentralisation? • Gradual change or a big bang? Ari Holopainen

9. BASIC ROLES AND KEY COMPETENCIES OF SENIOR CIVIL SERVANTS (draft) Ari Holopainen