Senior Civil Service Survival Kit

I am currently compiling this guidance for those moving into senior positions for the first time.  It is basically an anthology of what I was told (or what I wish I had been told) (and what I learned from my mistakes) when embarking on my senior civil service career.  It contains advice from a wide range of very experienced officials - though some of the advice is so frank that it could never be included in formal training material.

Please do tell me whether you find it helpful, and please do not hesitate to suggest ways in which it might be improved.

The handbook currently has eight sections, most of which may be downloaded for free, to be read at home. Here are the current contents:

Part 1 - Understanding Organisations

This part of the handbook considers the culture of larger organisations (including the Civil Service itself) whose senior executives so often behave behave in unpredictable, illogical and unethical ways.

Chapter1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - Principal-Agent Theory explains how large areas of organisations are often run in the interest of local employees, not their shareholders or other stakeholders.  
Chapter 3 - The MacWhirr Syndrome (aka the Prevention Paradox) explains why front line staff will often neglect to make sensible, practical and achievable plans for fear of being criticised for displaying insufficient zeal, excessive caution and unnecessary delay.  
Chapter 4 - An examination of organisational ethics notes that senior leaders are often allowed - or even expected -  to have 'dirty hands'.
Chapter 5 - Herd behaviour, groupthink, shared information bias and cognitive dissonance are surprisingly common, and exacerbate the culture and tensions that are typical of most large organisations.  
Chapter 6 - The legal environment - Fiduciary duty, company law, corporate social responsibility.

You can click here to download a free PDF to read or print at home. 

Part 2 - Speaking Truth to Power

This part explains why it is hard to get Ministers and senior officials to accept unwelcome advice, and offers advice on how to get them to listen to your advice and act on it.

Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - The Problem - Why is it so difficult to speak truth to power?
Chapter 3 - Is it easier to speak truth to power in the public or private sectors?
Chapter 4 - Nine tricks and techniques
Chapter 5 - What happens when truth is not told?

You can currently buy Speaking Truth to Power as an inexpensive paperback from Politicos, from Amazon or as a Kindle eBook. 

Part 3 - Leadership and Management

Part 3 offers practical, real world leadership and management advice.  It includes a number of useful draft interview questions, personal responsibility plans, and staff surveys.

Chapter 1.  Introduction
Chapter 2.  Recruitment  and Interviews
Chapter 3.  Performance Management and Appraisal
                  inc. Bullying, Harassment & Performance Management
Chapter 4.  Leadership
Chapter 5.  Values
                  inc. the need for 'Chronic Unease'
Chapter 6.  Management
Chapter 7.  Strategy
Chapter 8.  Aims, Objectives, Planning and Measurement
Chapter 9.  Building Successful Teams
Chapter 10.  Negotiations
Chapter 11.  Time Management
Chapter 12.  Whose Problem Is It?
Chapter 13.  Managing Difficult Relationships (Transactional Analysis)

You can click here to download a free PDF to read or print at home. 

Part 4 - Managing Crises

Part 4 describes what you should do when normal politics, and normal policy development, are no longer appropriate.

Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - Plan and prepare - "Prepare for the worst and hope for the best" - and ensure you will have the necessary powers
Chapter 3 - The initial response.  Natural disasters and other crises require rapid responses which involve making difficult judgements.   Both ministers and civil servants are going to behave rather differently.  
Chapter 4 - Then get organised.  The pace of decision-making is going to be much faster than you have been used to; the mechanics of your relationship with each other are going to be rather different and, very importantly, you are going to have to take more decisions on less information than you have been used to. 
Chapter 5 - ... and Consult
Chapter 6 -  COBR(A)
Chapter 7 - This is not politics as normal.  You do the best you can, but you may not be taking the right decision - and you are not going to know that as you take it.  You have to live with that and just get on.
Chapter 8 - Communications
Chapter 9 - Further Reading

Click here to download a free PDF to read or print at home. 

Part 5 - An Introduction to Regulation

[Not yet available]

Part 6 - Competition Policy

Competition is a key driver of innovation, productivity and the efficient functioning of the modern economy.  Governments therefore try to encourage competition - between businesses, between schools, between civil servants; and so on.  But unrestrained competition can impose unacceptable costs on society, and in particular on the vulnerable.  This part of the handbook explores this question and offers a beginners guide to competition law.

Chapter 1 - You can have too much competition
Chapter 2 - Mergers
Chapter 3 - Abuse of Dominance
Chapter 4 - Cartels
Chapter 5 - Utility Regulation
Chapter 6 - Market Investigations

Click here to download a free PDF to read or print at home. 

Part 7 - Consultation

Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - The Law
Chapter 3 - Effective Consultation
Chapter 4 - Experts
Chapter 5 - The 'Valley of Death' between Policy and Delivery
Chapter 6 - Non-Experts may be Over-Confident
Chapter 7 - Consulting the Public
Chapter 8 - Research
Chapter 9 - Regulatory Decision Making

Click here to download a free PDF to read or print at home. 

Part 8 - Understanding the European Union

Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - Lobbying and Informal Contacts
Chapter 3 - Negotiating
Chapter 4 - 'Competence' - EU Impact on UK Policies
Chapter 5 - Institutions and Structure
Chapter 6 - EU Legislation
Chapter 7 - Comitology, Transposition & Key Dates

Click here to download a free PDF to read or print at home. 

 

Martin Stanley