The culture of work has changed, propelling flexible work patterns remote working and a renewed focus of work life balance to the forefront of a new cultural discussion about work.
Coupled with the need to fast track our mastery of new forms of communication technology at break neck speed, digital communications have become so important to us all to complete our working day. Mental health awareness and the importance of emotional intelligence combined with people skills has also emerged as a stalwart of good management. The promotion of mental health awareness in the workplace is viewed now as pivotal in creating healthy productive working environments.
There is a universal recognition that as the nation return back to the office, the workplace has to change. It needs to evolve in its promotion of well-being to avoid poor productivity and absenteeism. It has to support the new collective global mindset which stipulates that mental health matters. These are challenging times for managers already wrestling with other cultural movements.
Prior to the Pandemic having to lead multi-generational teams was the biggest challenge. The millennial generation represents the largest age group to emerge since the baby boom generation. Because of this, employers were making major adjustments. Millennials bring something very new to the civil service workforce. They are often well educated, skilled in technology, extremely self-confident and have plenty of energy. Mixed with high expectations and a preference to work in teams rather than alone, raises several fresh challenges to a traditional workplace culture. Younger workers mastery of digital communications, collective desire to be team based and creative spurns a renewed challenge for managers.
The last sixteen months has forced managers to have to embrace multiple changes to the workplace. With all this in mind, we are running a series of soft skills training courses geared toward civil servants. The Soft Skills for Civil Servants courses have been designed to support the policy and communication staff working within the civil service. The courses take account for the fact that very often staff are so focused on the projects that many neglect the development of their management skills. The courses are relevant to fast streamers, policy & communication staff with the following grade levels:
- Executive Officer (EO)
- Senior Executive Officer/Higher Executive Officer (SEO/HEO)
- Grades 6 and 7