Presentation by Claudia Torres-Bartyzel, Poland, given at the SIGMA workshop on Competency frameworks for senior civil servants, taking place in Podgorica 30 March 2016.

1. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Institutionalizing Senior
Civil Service
The Polish Experience
Claudia Torres-Bartyzel, Poland
Podgorica, March 30th, 2016

2. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Civil Service challenge
To put the right person in the right place
fostering
The people’s trust in the government
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3. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Civil Service challenges
• Ground principles:
 Legality,
 Impartiality,
 Political neutrality,
 Efficiency.
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4. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Polish CS ground rules
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF
POLAND
OF 2nd APRIL, 1997
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5. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Polish CS ground rules
Art. 60
Polish citizens enjoying full public rights shall
have a right of access to the public service based
on the principle of equality.
Art. 153
A corps of civil servants shall operate in the
organs of government administration in order to
ensure a professional, diligent, impartial and
politically neutral discharge of the State's
obligations.
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6. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Montenegro CS ground rules
The Law on Civil Servants and State Employees
Art. 5
Civil servant and state employee shall perform
the tasks in compliance with the Constitution,
laws, other regulations and general acts.
Civil servant and state employee shall be
responsible for legality, expertise, and efficiency
of their work.
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7. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Montenegro CS ground rules
The Law on Civil Servants and State Employees
Art. 9
Civil servant and state employee shall perform the tasks in
politically neutral and impartial manner, in accordance with
public interest.
Art. 10
Civil servant and state employee shall enter employment on
the basis of public announcement.
Job positions of civil servants and state employees shall be
accessible to all candidates under equal terms.
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8. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Institutionalize
Collins dictionary:
To make or become an institution
Cambridge dictionary:
To make something become a part of a
particular society, system or organization
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9. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Institutionalization
Wikipedia.org
• Refers to the process of embedding some
conception (for example a belief, norm, social
role, particular value or mode of behaviour)
within an organization, social system, or society as
a whole.
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10. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Montenegro Senior Civil Service
Art. 20
Tasks of senior management staff shall refer to: work
coordination, management and organization of work in one
or more organizational units or areas of work; establishing
relations and cooperation with other state authorities, bodies
of local self-government, economy, non-governmental
organizations and citizens, and decision-making on most
complex professional matters
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11. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Senior Civil Service
• Values:
impartiality, professionalism, diligence, efficiency,
political neutrality.
• Mission:
management, decision making, coordination,
relations, cooperation.
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12. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
SSC institutionalization
• Legal
• Organizational
• Cultural:
 Values,
 Vision, mission,
 Norms,
 Social roles,
 Modes of behaviour.
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13. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
The Polish CS
• Civil Service Laws (or serious amendments):
 1922
 1996
 1998
 2006
 2008
 2015
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14. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
The Polish CS
The scope:
Governmental administration
(ministries, central offices, vojvodships
and their institutions and bodies)
1400 institutions
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15. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
The Polish CS
14
-
100.0
200.0
300.0
400.0
500.0
600.0
700.0
800.0
900.0
1,000.0
Widely understood public
administration by GUS (incl.
soldiers and police)
Public administration by GUS
(excl. soldiers and police)
Local administration Civil Service Corps
958.2
636.3
252.2
122.0

16. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Polish CS - employment by type
of office
15
12,352
11,085
8,733
14,883
8,578
3,671
37,997
5,017
16,856
1,253
Ministries
Central offices
Voivodeship Offices
Voivodeship unified adm.
Poviat unified adm.
Tax Chambers
Tax offices
Tax control offices
Datached adm.
Foreign service

17. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Polish CS - employment by
groups of positions
16
1,582
1,813
9,212
26,156
57,963
21,368
2,332
Senior positions
Middle management positions
Coordinating positions
Independent positions
Specialist positions
Supporting positions
Foreign service

18. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Cultural Institutionalization
(the Polish experience)
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19. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
HRM institutionalization
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20. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Competences
• Are a combination of knowledge, skills,
abilities, predispositions and behaviours
enabling the effective delivery of tasks
• They translate into the ability of efficient
execution of duties or achievement of desired
tangible results
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21. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Competences
A common denominator for a modern HRM:
 Recruitment and selection,
 Performance assessment,
 Training and development,
 Career paths and promotions,
 Talent management,
 Succession.
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22. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Competences Framework
• Model that broadly defines the scheme for
‘excellent’ performance within an organisation
or sector.
• Generally the framework will consist of a
number of competences, which can be
generically applied to a broad number of roles
within the organisation or sector.
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23. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Poland:
The competences framework
• Project “Processes, goals and competences”
• Duration: 2013 - 2015
• Budget: 5 000 000 Euro
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24. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Competence Framework for Polish
CS
Professionali
sm and
effectiveness
Commitment
and
development
Public
interest
The client in
the centre of
interest
Prospective
thinking
Responsibility
and efficiency
in the
accomplishme
nt of goals and
tasks
Commitment to
development
and
improvement
aiming at the
progress of the
institution
Care for the
wellbeing of
the Polish
society, the
service
mission and
the public
service ethos
Proficiency in
servicing the
external and
internal Clients
Ability and will
to anticipate,
provide
prognosis and
implementation
of change
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25. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Legend
mandatory General
competence
Specialist
competence
Managerial
competence
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26. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Essential competences
Professionali
sm and
effectiveness
Commitment
and
development
Public
interest
The client in
the centre of
interest
Prospective
thinking
Goal
orientation
Vocational
development
Coping with
crisis
situation
Positive
attitude
towards
client
Analytical
thinking
Reliability
and
punctuality
self-reliance
and initiative
Decision-
making and
responsibility
Effective
communicati
on skills
Strategic
planning and
thinking
IT skills creativity Cooperation
skills
Personnel
management
Negotiation
skills
Resources
management
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27. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
New Competences
Professionali
sm and
effectiveness
Commitment
and
development
Public
interest
The client in
the centre of
interest
Prospective
thinking
Self-
organization
of work
Creating a
motivating
working
environment
Identification
with the
mission of
the office
Service
orientation
Openness
towards
change
Project
management
Knowledge
sharing
Civil service
ethos
Stress
management
skills
Systemic
thinking
Enforcement
of obligations
Developing
the
organization
Cost
awareness
Problem
solving
leadership
Interdisciplin
arity
Relations
formation
Assertivenes
s
Change
management
Information
management
Distance
cooperation
Drawing
conclusions
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28. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Competency levels
• E - strategic
• D - expert
• C - competent
• B - basic
• A - not autonomous
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29. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Definition of levels
• E – strategic - excellency in mastering the
competence which is used on a daily basis. The
employee performs complex tasks demanding
advance knowledge, solves complex problems and
makes high responsibility/risk/impact decisions;
• D – expert - spontaneous, regular use of
competency allowing to good goal achievement.
The employee performs complicated tasks,
decides on solutions and independently makes
decisions within his scope of responsibility;
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30. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Behavioural definition
• For each competence the competency levels
are being defined by work-place observed
behaviour i.e.:
 Reliability and punctuality - A: doesn’t know
primary and trustworthy sources of information;
exploits unreliable information sources; careless
and untimely task completion; chaotic
performance; completes tasks without checking,
with numerous errors; repeats errors; his work is
often of low quality.
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31. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Competence profile
Level of employment Executive managerial
Post name Director General
Description Highest managerial post in the Civil Service.
Oversight of the work of the institution and
responsibility for its performance
Personnel-, resources-, process- and change-
management for the Ministry. Oversight of the
operation of all departments. Overall
responsibility for the Ministry operation and the
achievement of goals
Competences: Goal orientation - E
Vocational development - E
Identification with offices’ mission - E
Positive client attitude - E
Openness to change - E
Resources management - E
Cost awareness - E
Leadership - E
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32. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Competences Framework
• KEEP IT SIMPLE
In order to keep a framework simple it must
concentrate on the things that will be common to all
roles across the organisation or sector
• DO IT TOGETHER
Do not let it to be an expert exercise
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33. AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Thank you
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