Politicians to have their say on who should be new CEO

Friday 14 May 2021

States Members will be able to meet candidates vying to be the next Government CEO and feed back their comments to the appointments panel, it has been revealed.

For the first time, politicians and other groups directly affected by the appointment, such as senior civil servants, will have an opportunity to meet and greet those in the running to lead the 7,000 strong organisation.

However, States Members and other ‘stakeholders’ will not have a direct say in who replaces interim CEO Paul Martin, who in turn replaced Charlie Parker in March. 

That responsibility falls on an appointment panel of seven people, with Chief Minister John Le Fondré the only elected official on that body.

The new process was revealed by Mark Grimley, the Government’s head of HR, in a recent Scrutiny Panel hearing. 

Pictured: Mark Grimley, the Government’s Group Director of People and Corporate Services.

He said: “We are going to get a whole range of candidates. At the applications stage, we’ll be looking at the technical skills. From there, we will hone in and start to work on organisational fit. 

“Clearly, the organisational fit with the most senior officer sets the tone for the whole organisation and that is what the panel will be looking for. They will also be taking soundings throughout the process and there will be opportunities for elected members to meet with the candidates prior to the assessment to get feedback as well. 

“The fit isn’t just about leadership style, it is also the ability to work across a range of stakeholders. 

Those States Members will give feedback to the panel. There are a number of stakeholder groups that the candidates will meet; we will collect that information and feed it back to the overall panel. The voice of the stakeholder is very important in the process, in a way that I don’t think was done the first time.” 

Mr Grimley added headhunters were currently searching internationally for suitable candidates. 

“There are lots of Chief Executives out there and lots of different styles,” he said.

Pictured: Headhunters are searching internationally for candidates.

 “What we are looking at doing is consolidating the progress that’s been made already. There is a programme of work around OneGov, the hospital, our new office, the new model of care and education reform. 

“Those are in train, so it was important to say to the headhunters that we are not looking for someone to start again. We are looking for someone who understands the Island, who gets its context, and also understands about the delivery aspects of that. 

“The final part of that is the question of what style of leadership are we looking for. That been fed into the brief and we test will that in the interview process in a number of ways: we will have a technical interview, which will include questions about leadership, and there we be a psychometric test, and there will be questions in there, such as how do you react in certain situations. 

“And there will also be a number of tests around working with elected members, with the community etc. So it is built within the examination of the CEO, and it is a very similar process for recruiting the new Director-Generals we need as well.”

Recruitment for the CEO began in March, at the same time that former Richmond and Wandsworth CEO Mr Martin began his one-year contract.

The appointments panel is made up of:

• Chair Jane Burgess, who is a member of the UK Civil Service Commission;

• Dame Janet Paraskeva, Peter Charalambous and Helen Ruelle, who are all existing members of the Jersey Appointment Commission;

• Sue Fox, who leads HSBC in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man;

• Sir Neil McIntosh, who is an independent panel member and senior Scottish public administrator;

• and Chief Minister Senator Le Fondré.

Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed in late June, with the successful candidate starting by March 2022, initially working alongside Mr Martin.