To enhance engagement in the workplace and to enable managers to help the subordinates enhance their performance, Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) is conducting a series of action learning workshop.
The on-going action learning workshop will give division heads and principals in managerial roles coaching skills.
The three-day workshop is expected to help develop the necessary ‘skill-set’ to all civil servants in managerial positions especially P1 and above, through the combination of theory and practice such as role play, series of videos, reflections, question and answer sessions, and coaching algerba.
About 828 principals, drungpas, dzongrabs and heads of regional offices of ministries from 16 dzongkhags, two thromdes, and principals from Thimphu thromde have attended the workshop.
RCSC Chairperson, Dasho Karma Tshiteem said that in most organisations, people at the division head level, who are responsible for dealing with the largest number of direct reports, have little knowledge about how to go about supervising and conversing with their employees for better performance. “We tend to focus on the results but do very little about helping employees, who ultimately are responsible for the results.”
RCSC designed the training for people heading divisions so that they will have the skill-set necessary to address issues faced by colleagues. To keep the subordinates engaged and performing well, the training includes skills needed to hold periodic conversations with all the people reporting to the heads.
Dasho Karma Tshiteem said that the coaching skills – a skill-set, which helps superiors engage with their subordinates to enhance their performance – was missing or not developed in a systematic manner.
He said that supervisors were also facing difficulties in using the recently introduced Performance Management System called Managing for Excellence (MaX), as they do not engage with their subordinates on a continuous basis. “Yet, this is critical for better performance and upholding meritocracy since it is the norm in any organisation that there will be some high performers, that majority will be consistent performers and only a few will be low performers, and that managers or supervisors have to be able to classify employees accordingly.”
MaX system requires organisations to put employees under different performance categories based on their performance.
Dasho Karma Tshiteem said that division head positions would have to undergo these workshops to get the skill-set. “RCSC expects that as a result, the workplace environment and culture will be more open to feedback, foster stronger teamwork and greater performance,” he said. “RCSC is confident that if each and every one starts practising this as part of their managerial responsibility, they will create a positive workplace charged by engaged employees and good results will be inevitable for their organisations.”
The practice of coaching will also be included in the “Leadership Feedback System” of RCSC to ensure that superiors engage with their subordinates.
The workshop started in the dzongkhags two weeks ago and would start in Thimphu from August 14.
Karma Cheki