Training for senior civil servants, openness and a shift from management towards leadership

How are senior civil servants trained in other countries? The French model, in which statutory and vocational training equally share 8% of the payroll, is also distinguished by its extensive Network of Public Service Schools (RESP) which are leading players.

There are a number of training scenarios for future senior executives and managers of national government departments which often mirror civil service systems, on one hand, as well as recruitment methods, or even internal promotion and functional mobility arrangements, on the other.  

A study conducted by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations for the EUPAN (European Union Public Administration Network) revealed that only eight European countries¹ have compulsory introductory training for top public managers. This figure is fairly stable but there has been an increase in the number of countries in which there is mandatory regular training for incumbent managers.

Most countries have a training organisation (school or institute) for senior civil service positions. Whether they provide introductory and/or in-service training, there are two distinct categories:

• In Mediterranean countries (Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal) with a strong career-based tradition, and also in Austria, Finland, Ireland, Poland and Slovenia, the organisational structure is fairly similar to France

• In Northern Europe and English-speaking countries, training schools work closely with special universities which share their research work. This is the case in Germany (Speyer), Belgium (Louvain), Canada (York), the Netherlands (Leiden), the United Kingdom (Oxford) and in Australia and New Zealand where there is a joint School of Government

In Estonia, Hungary and Switzerland, which are three countries with a position-based civil service, in-service training for top managers is still steered by the government but is delegated to the universities.

The conditions and content of training are changing to adjust to the ongoing reforms. National agencies are diversifying their training programmes to include mentoring (Austria, the Netherlands), peer consulting (Belgium, Malta, Scandinavian countries) and, especially, distance learning (a third of European countries) in order to mitigate concerns about being absent when holding a position of responsibility.

Work on leadership (with, for instance, modules focusing on team building in Finland and personal development in the United Kingdom), interpersonal skills and negotiating are the three fields which have progressed the most in training programmes for top managers. These are followed by digital technology and innovation, and then international relations.

In Germany, where many government departments are “employment and family” certified, all senior executives are fully aware of work-life balance arrangements.


¹ Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia.