Successful managers within the civil service will be leaders. You will need to be someone who can motivate and lead a team so that your team of civil servants can be productive. This article has been compiled to outline some of the key skills and traits a civil servant manager will need to be successful when leading their team.

Continue reading if this is you and you want to develop your career in the civil service further.

1. Leadership

Civil service managers should ensure that everything is running smoothly across all areas. They will be in charge of delegating tasks to employees, and they will need to know their team well so that they know how to delegate tasks and who can do them.

Leaders in the workplace need to be capable of developing strategies that can propel everyone forward.

Leaders will specialise in building relationships between themselves and the team. They will also encourage the team to build relationships with each other and solid communication is an integral part of a successful team.

Any civil service manager looking to build success in a team will need to improve communication across the board. This will involve face-to-face communication as well as digital communication. Look to improve the software used for communication and ensure that there is a culture of listening and talking.

2. Decision Making

Civil service managers usually get to become leaders in the workplace due to their decision-making skills.

There are various ways for civil service managers to develop their decision-making skills. They could have learned from years of experience in creating policies and operating as a civil servant.

Consider previous decisions you have had to make in the civil service world. This could be in your current role or an old one and evaluate the decisions you got wrong and the ones you got right. Learning from past experiences will serve you well and give you direction.

There are educational courses that can assist in the decision-making process when it comes to creating public policies. These courses teach key skills that will better prepare you for making informed decisions. The London School of Economics and Political Science has a Public Policy Analysis course that can help you boost your knowledge. This knowledge can assist with making more informed decisions when it comes to creating policies and operating as a civil servant in general. Understanding the factors that influence public policy is vital to help you analyse policy decisions and lead your team of public servants.

3. Problem Solving

Successful civil service managers need to be able to solve problems. This is partly related to decision-making skills but the difference here is that problem-solving is all about focusing on the solution. You can become better at problem-solving by changing some key aspects of your business life.

The first step you should take when solving a problem is to identify and understand what the problem is. Misunderstanding the problem will mean that the problem will not be solved and will set you back.

If you are not familiar with the problem, then you will need to engage in some research.

Many successful civil service managers solve problems by brainstorming creative solutions. This allows you to focus on a few different options rather than focus on one solution that may not work. Thinking about alternatives may also unlock ideas that you otherwise would not have considered.

Developing a problem-solving attitude will serve all managers and prospective managers in the civil service well. It is a key skill that will help civil service leaders achieve success and will also help a manager fix problems immediately.

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4. Inspiring

Civil service managers need to not only be able to be successful themselves, they also need to have a successful team of civil servants around them. A manager can achieve this by inspiring and motivating their team.

You will want to find the perfect employee for a role where possible. You should also try to find a dedicated worker who is unlikely to leave after a short time. If you need someone to help create policies, then you should search for civil servants who have done this before. A role that has employees coming in and out will mean the role isn’t performing at its full potential but there are employee retention strategies that you can employ to help keep your team happy and engaged.

An effective way to get accurate information is to look at the data. You can perform exit interviews to find out why an employee left and deal with that problem, but you may not get the full picture. Anonymous surveys could help you secure more accurate data. Ask open-ended questions that can help you get more insightful answers from your team of civil servants.

Conducting regular one-to-one meetings with the people you line manage can also help you find out what you need to do to improve their happiness in the role. This can help you figure out what they want to do next and help you create an action plan for them to follow.

On a day-to-day basis it will be your job to inspire and motivate the team. Try to create an engaging and fun work atmosphere that helps civil servants feel valued in the workplace. It may be beneficial to set daily and weekly goals to help give employees something to work towards. This can help them engage more with their workload and feel a sense of reward for completing it.

5. Creative

Creative managers are managers that often find success. There are plenty of different ways for managers to be creative. They should try to find fun and engaging ways to complete tasks while still being professional.

Look at examples of what other civil service managers have done. These could be examples of managers you know. You may also be able to find creative inspiration online when it comes to civil service management. Looking at examples of how others have operated will serve you well.

You should create an atmosphere that promotes creativity rather than just being creative yourself. If you have a workplace filled with creatives and creative ideas, you will find it easier to spread and have people engage with them.

Civil service managers will be able to find success if they follow the tips outlined throughout this article. Remember that every workplace is different and what works for one may not work for another. It may take some trying and testing to find a suitable way to make this happen. Build up your personal and professional skills to give yourself the best chance of success as a manager. Remember that there are relevant courses that can serve you well when it comes to public policy creation.

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