Government bring in plan to get CEO ‘seen’ more

Monday 27 January 2020

Where is Charlie Parker? Well, the States Chief is most likely to be out and about visiting his employees nowadays, after a new 'visibility plan' was drawn up to ensure he is seen more.

Among the ideas for bridging the gap between the island's most senior civil servant and States workers were Q&A sessions and planned strolls through buildings and offices.

Mr Parker isn't the only one involved, however. The plans also make provisions for Directors General to get to know those who work for their departments.

The addition of 'visibility' initiatives to senior leaders' agendas emerged in a recently-published report on Government Communications, looking back at past achievements and previewing their upcoming campaigns in 2020.

One of the Communication Unit’s ‘highlights’ of last year documented in the report was that they “implemented internal visibility plans for the CEO and senior leaders to create opportunities for better engagement between leaders and employees".

Asked by Express to elaborate on these plans, a government spokesperson explained the strategy's aim was to create "regular opportunities, in different formats, for our Chief Executive and senior leaders to engage with colleagues and answer their questions."

They added that this takes the form of various different “activities”, including: 

• “Meet the Chief visits, where the Chief Executive regularly visits Government of Jersey colleagues and teams, and also arms-length organisations, in their places of work;
• Ask the Chief events, where groups of colleagues come to sessions held at different Government of Jersey locations to ask the Chief Executive and Directors General anything they wish;
• Site floor walks, where the Chief Executive and other Directors General walk through offices and other buildings to spend time talking to colleagues."

The spokesperson added: “The purpose is to give colleagues who might not otherwise see senior leaders the opportunity to meet them, and for senior leaders to hear from colleagues in person and answer any questions they may have. This is standard good practice for any employer.”