… no more automatic proxy score 

Yangchen C Rinzin 

To enhance accountability and effectiveness among senior civil servants, at the P1 and executive level, the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) is developing a Senior Civil Service (SCS) Accountability Framework.

Civil servants in P1 and executive positions will have to develop a “Leadership Statement,” which means the RCSC and head of the agencies will have to develop individual performance targets under five themes that they will have to achieve.

The targets are business delivery, finance/efficiency, leadership capability, service delivery and collaborations. These targets will supplement the Annual Performance Agreement (APA).

The decision came after the Commission during the recent review found out that there were many issues raised against APA rating for those in P1 and executive level.

An official said that they were usually given the same proxy scores as the agency, as the current Government Performance Management system evaluates the individual’s objective performance through the agency/department’s performance score.

“This means if an agency scores 95 percent, they would be automatically rated outstanding,” the official said. “But there was feedback that the APA score was unfair and many also raised the issue of weak accountability through proxy scores.”

The official added that with the new Leadership Statement, this will not be the case, because they would now be assessed at the individual level. “The outcome of this will also improve public service delivery.”

The official added that leaders are the critical levers of positive change in an agency and are the prerequisite for an effective, enabling and learning organisation so, it was vital for the Commission to develop leadership statements.

Some civil servants shared that it was unfair because those below P1 level had to do all the work, but had to negotiate to get ratings like good, very good, outstanding and need improvement based on the achievement made in the APA.

“Sometimes, it so happened that we had to request someone to accept the “need improvement” ratings on turns,” a civil servant said. “We have to justify our scores while those in P1 and executives never have to do it.”

The RCSC has currently piloted the Leadership Statement with recently appointed/transferred executives and P1 management level officers who are working closely with the focal commissioners, RCSC.

The leadership statement will be reviewed bi-annually and assessed at the end of the performance appraisal period by their supervisors and RCSC.

“Piloting the Leadership Statement for the next three months will help us to learn and improve it before its full roll-out,” the official said.

It will be rolled out fully for all executives by July this year.