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Last updated: 9 March 2006
Supporting Ministers, Upholding the Values
Part three: Promoting effective relationships
The 2003–04 State of the Service report found that ‘substantial proportions of relevant employees (i.e. those who have had direct contact with Ministers and/or their advisers in the past year) were unsure of whether their agency had specified protocols in place to guide employees’ interactions with Ministers’ offices.48 Agencies expecting that APS employees will adhere to their policies and procedures, will need to ensure that these are effectively promoted amongst their employees, and provide further staff training and development. In many cases, agencies will also find that it is effective to document these policies and procedures as agency-specific protocols.
3.1 Good practice documentation
Clear protocols on policies and procedures support a close relationship of trust and mutual respect between senior managers and Ministers and their advisers. Better documentation is a first step toward greater employee awareness of the application of the APS Values and increased familiarity among Ministerial staff with the obligations applying to the actions of public servants. This in turn is associated with greater confidence in balancing the APS Values. The 2003–04 State of the Service report found that ‘one of the main reasons for the high levels of uncertainty about agency protocols is the lack of documentation, making it difficult for employees to access relevant information.’49
Documenting policies is not about writing everything down. Indeed, this can be counterproductive, weighing down the relationship in process. It can also be difficult to spell out the nuances of more sensitive examples. It is about documenting key principles realistically, concisely, in ways that assist employees to apply them, with relevant examples to make them meaningful. It is also about accessibility, so that APS employees can find them when they are needed.
The document or guide also needs to be owned by an area to maintain it. This area can then be the champion of the broader objectives of the agency’s protocols, a network contact point, trainer, and expert for quick on-the-spot advice. Such an arrangement gives life, flexibility and additional usefulness to black letter documentation. In most agencies this custodian is likely to be the Ministerial liaison area.
Good practice can be documenting important principles and policies related to interactions with Ministers’ offices and preparing written agency protocols for employees in sensitive situations and in situations that arise infrequently.
Good practice can be ensuring that all employees likely to come into contact with Ministers or their advisers are familiar with these documents and where they can be found.
Good practice can be designating an area such as a Ministerial liaison group to be the champion of the broader objectives of the principles, policies and agency protocols governing interactions with Ministers and their advisers. This includes, but is not limited to, the provision of training and expert advice. It also means being strategic about keeping the relationship animated and productive.
3.2 Good practice in training, development and briefings
Documented agency guidance will be no help to APS employees if they are not aware of it. The 2002–03 State of the Service report concluded that ‘policies or protocols for interactions with Ministers and their offices need to be better promulgated amongst employees, particularly given the large numbers who do in fact deal with the offices’.50
A strong message that came out of the Australian Public Service Commission’s evaluation is that there needs to be greater attention to orientation, training and development of employees that will enhance their capacity to serve Ministers effectively and consistent with the APS Values. Even where guidance is documented, the evaluation underpinning this guide suggests that relatively little information is actually incorporated in training or orientation material. This kind of knowledge tends to be assumed, particularly for employees above the APS levels 1–6.
In reality, however, each agency often has its own procedures and policies, different workflow management systems, and a different statutory operating environment. Furthermore, an increasing number of employees are being recruited from outside the APS, and it is not at all unusual for a person’s first job in the APS to be as an Executive Level 1 or 2 or at the Senior Executive Service level (one in four of the Senior Executive Service are engaged from outside the APS). Training in general principles and agency-specific arrangements around interacting with Ministers and their advisers should begin as soon as possible after employees arrive at the agency.
Good practice can be an agency requirement that induction processes at all levels provide explicit guidance on relations with Ministers’ offices. The Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, for example, addresses all inductees in that department on the relationship between the Department and the Prime Minister’s Office. Information may be integrated into induction seminars and orientation, or it may be communicated by experienced staff acting as mentors to new arrivals. The provision of such information should include, but not be limited to, written material.
The Australian Public Service Commission is introducing orientation programmes for newly engaged and newly promoted Executive Level and Senior Executive Service employees as part of its response to the Integrated Leadership Strategy.51 These are being designed to complement agency-specific activity, and include some guidance on working with both Ministers and the Parliament. The Commission intends to develop a training programme to support this good practice guide for existing employees. The aim of this training is to provide broad principles and to enable agencies to tailor the principles-based training to suit their own agency-specific guidance.
Questions for agency leadership and human resource managers to consider include:
- Are new employees at more senior levels (APS 6 upwards) getting appropriate induction when they join your agency?
- What are the key messages you want to get across in induction regarding interactions with Ministers’ offices?
- Are these messages embedded in the existing induction programme? If not, how will you introduce them? If the induction programme is crowded with material, is there other less important material that needs to be moved out into other forums?
- Is clear direction provided to new employees about the means of accessing more detailed guidance?
More generally, relations with Ministers and their offices are likely to be managed better, consistent with the APS Values and Code of Conduct and any agency policies and practices, if there is a culture of open discussion within the agency that can shape the approach employees take in particular situations, and give confidence that they will exercise good judgement consistent with the APS Values. A strong leadership role must be played by senior managers in this respect. Engagement with the Minister and advisers on these issues is also highly desirable.
It can be good practice for managers to create opportunities for mentoring and one- to-one training that canvasses relations with Ministers and working closely with the Minister’s office.
Questions for agency leadership to consider include:
- What mentoring and planned one-to-one training or development frameworks are in place in your agency?
- Is mentoring in your agency available for employees who deal with Ministers’ offices, and those who in their next job might be dealing with Ministers’ offices?
- Have you considered preparing resources that bring together managers’ experiences in dealing with Ministers’ offices for use in mentoring and one-to-one training by managers across your agency?
Gaining first-hand experience of agencies’ dealings with Ministers’ offices can be an important way in which employees both develop good relationships with the office, and learn about balancing the APS Values in these interactions. Participants in the evaluation underpinning this guide told us that consideration should be given to more people attending meetings with Ministers.
Good practice can be encouraging senior managers to take relevant line employees to meetings with Ministers and/or their advisers, provided this is agreed with the Minister’s office.
Good practice can be considering a short rotation for graduate trainees or other junior employees with strong potential, assisting an experienced Departmental Liaison Officer in a Minister’s office.
Feedback is vital to the development of the next generation of public servants. Some feedback comes through the evaluation forms many agencies attach at the end of their briefs, and this is often passed to line areas. Line managers can also learn very useful lessons from experiences such as attending meetings with Ministers and their staff . However, senior managers also have access to a broader range of sources and can draw on those to provide feedback to their staff .
Good practice can be having a feedback form or section at the end of briefs going to Ministers’ offices. Agencies can do two things with the feedback received:
- They can record and analyse that feedback centrally, so that agencies can develop an overall picture of how often Ministers’ offices are providing feedback and look at trends in that information.
- Feedback can be transmitted back to all the employees involved in preparation of particular briefs, so they get some idea of how the Minister’s office views their efforts.
In cases where the feedback is negative, managers should ensure this is handled sensitively, with discussions with employees about the reasons for the feedback, and what might be done to improve briefs (and their assessments) in future.
It can be good practice for managers to debrief employees after meetings with the Minister’s office, to give them feedback on material they have prepared for the meeting, possible future directions and priorities, and other relevant matters arising during the course of the meeting itself.
When an agency is introducing new internal policy documents concerning interactions with Ministers’ offices, it can be worthwhile having a communication plan that identifies who needs to receive the message in the documents and how the agency is going to ensure the message reaches its target.
Questions for agency leadership and Ministerial liaison areas to consider include:
- Does your agency have a communication plan for policies and procedures that support employees in their interactions with Ministers’ offices?
- How are you getting the message to your employees?
- What steps has your agency taken to assess whether employees are being informed of relevant policies and procedures?
48 Australian Public Service Commission, State of the Service Report 2003–04, 2004, Chapter 3, <http://www.apsc.gov.au>
49 Australian Public Service Commission, State of the Service Report 2003–04, 2004, p. 38, <http://www.apsc.gov.au>
50 Australian Public Service Commission, State of the Service Report 2002–03, 2003, p. 42, <http://www.apsc.gov.au>
