Tell Employees How Transformation Will Affect Them – Minister Williams urges Public Sector Heads

Minister with responsibility for Information and the Public Sector, Senator Arthur Williams, has urged Permanent Secretaries and public sector heads to let employees know the impact that government’s transformation changes will have on them and their work.

He was speaking this morning (November 7), at the opening of the first in a series of workshopsat the Management Institute of National Development (MIND) in Kingston.

The workshops are intended to strengthen change-management teams – called Inter Disciplinary Transformation Teams (IDTTs) – at the four lead ministries of government’s transformation programme.

“These teams will be central to the changes that are taking place in all organisations, and they are supposed to convey such changes to all their colleagues right across the organisations. I suggest to you that communication is vital to achieving success in transforming the public sector and therefore Permanent Secretaries, heads of agencies, managers and supervisors must communicate effectively the elements of the transformation process and its impact on people, on processes and on products."

A total of 100 public sector employees who serve on IDTTs will participate in the four, three-day workshops to be held in November and December.  The IDTTs are chaired by Permanent Secretaries or heads of agencies, and have a broad based representation of staff including union representatives, and are supported by Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Human Resource Development (HRD) and communications specialists.

Among the communication best-practices being promoted by the course are: not being selective in sharing relevant information; using different methods to communicate; non-reliance on the bureaucratic structure to communicate effectively; and being clear and factual when responding to communication needs.

The lead Ministries of government’s transformation activities are: Office of the Prime Minister; Cabinet Office; Ministry of Housing, Environment, Land and Local Government; and the Ministry of Finance and Planning.

The workshops are expected to: enable participants to develop a strategy that will lead from vision to results; ensure employees are supported and treated with respect; identify the systems that impact transformation and how to influence those systems towards strategic goals.