Today’s state administration clearly recognises the importance of training of civil servants, supporting learning as an inevitable part of the organisational culture. Ever since 2004, when the Civil servants training strategy was adopted and since the adoption of the Civil Service Act in 2005, new forms of education and training have been introduced into Croatian public administration.

Only in the course of last year, the Civil Service Training Centre developed and implemented more than 60 different programmes attended by more than 6,000 participants. This year new activities are being introduced and one of them is specialised management training programme for civil servants.

Today modern managers face a need for competences and skills in wide variety of fields. The Management training programme for civil servants thus represents a combination of workshops aimed at development of general knowledge and practical work on specific cases. A particular accent is put on active involvement of all the participants and on the exchange of their experiences and knowledge.

The management programme has been developed in cooperation with the experts form Danish School of Public Administration (DSPA) and it has been partly financed by the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the programme of bilateral assistance aimed at institution building for the period 2005-2007. The DSPA has been running a similar training programme for public service managers and has acquired a lot of valuable experience in that area.

The programme is divided into three parts (semesters) and will go on for about one year. In the first semester the participants will attend a series of seven workshops (lasting 1 to 2 days) covering different management areas.

In the second semester the participants will be divided into groups depending on their interest and/or field of work. They are expected to select a case (from „the real life“) and work on a case study with assistance of a trainer. At the end of the second semester, the participants have to hand in a paper based on the conclusions of their case study. The third semester includes individual and group conclusions on the final papers. The programme will end with a conference on a current topic and the participants will receive diplomas.

The purpose of this programme is to enable the participants to master and develop knowledge, skills and competencies which are considered important for the management.

There is no intention to teach them and impose „the best practice“ upon anyone. The idea is to enable the managers in civil service to develop their own style, thus improving their organisations and the entire public administration.

Modules are these:

Leadership and Management Styles The foreseen duration is 1.5 days. The objective is to encourage the participants to recognise their own leadership and management styles and to discover the areas where they want to improve their competencies. Dynamic and interactive approach, including personal tests on leadership and management features. Presentation of various theories, styles, personalities and charisma, leadership and management styles in different situations.

Public Policy Development

The foreseen duration is 1. 5 days of training, continued through practical work in the second semester. The purpose is to develop management skills related to the creation and development of public policy. The workshop includes various phases of public policies, from the situation analysis and setting priorities, analysis of the needed resources and competencies, over alternative policy solutions, cost estimation, to the final phase, presentation and communication of the selected solution.

Strategic Planning and Management

The foreseen duration is 2 days, which can be continued in the second semester. The purpose is to strengthen organisational competencies of the managers by applying strategic planning techniques in everyday work. What is strategic planning and what does it consist of, what are the benefits, the role of financial planning, what it strategic analysis, setting goals, mission, vision and values, how to manage the strategic planning process, these are all parts of this workshop.

Human Resources Management and Development

The foreseen duration is 2 days, which can be continued in the second semester. The purpose of this workshop is to learn how to use knowledge and skills related to human resources management. The purpose is also to introduce the strategic role of human resources into the public administration reform. The topics covered are organisation culture and values, employee motivation, change and conflict management, key competencies of managers and experiences of EU countries in HRM in public administration.

Financial Management, Audit and Control

The foreseen duration is 1.5 days, which can be continued in the second semester. The purpose of this workshop is to learn how to manage the budget and about the audit procedures. In this workshop you will learn what is budget and how to make financial plan, what are priorities of fiscal policy, about the role of internal audit, state audit, how to plan and run EU projects.

Personal Development

The foreseen duration is 2 days. The participants should become aware and develop personal competencies needed for a more efficient management and a better communication within organisation. Beside group activities individual work is foreseen related to presentation skills, running successful meetings, time management and work delegation.

Croatian Public Administration in the Future

A one-day discussion on current topics in state administration. Participation of state officials  and independent experts as guest speakers on the topics such as the future of Croatia and the impact of foreign policy procedures on the civil service, such as the modernisation of public administration.

Initial presentation of new programme for civil service managers was held on March 28, 2008 in Hotel International in Zagreb.

The first three groups (20 participants per group) started on April 17, 2008.

For further information please contact:
Ms Adela Golub, Central State Administration Office