Online Reporter
Sikhumbuzo Moyo
PUBLIC service employees have been called upon to embrace a new culture of change within their workplaces and move away from silo mentality work ethic.
The call was made by the Service Commission secretary Mrs Sibusisiwe Zembe when she officially opened a two week Culture change transformation train the trainer programme being attended by selected change agents from various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at Elangeni Training Institute in Bulawayo.
She said the training was a direct response to the mandate of Vision 2030 and the recently launched National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2).
“Vision 2030 and NDS2 are not just documents, they are a blueprint for national metamorphosis, change. We are changing as we move to Vision 2030 but they are certain steps that we must go through in order for us to reach that destination and the programme we are gathered here for is part of that change process,” said Mrs Zembe.
She said in order for the vision to be fully realized there is need for more than policy adjustments or new systems, but instead what was required is a transformation at the very core of how the public service operates and transformation of the work culture.
“Let us be clear about what we are confronting here, culture is not an abstract concept but is an invisible yet definitive architecture of every Ministry,
Department and Agency (MDA). It is that unwritten code that determines whether we embrace innovation or cling to routine, the way we were doing things before, whether we collaborate across silos or protect our turfs,” said Mrs Zembe.
She said it was now time for the public service to move away from working in silos by taking a leaf from the Second Republic’s whole of Government approach, adding that they must not just work as a particular Ministry or Department but instead must work together in realising the national vision.
At the end of it all, Mrs Zembe said, public service employees we must see that citizens are put at the centre of everything that they do because the change process must benefit the citizens.
“The current architecture in too many instances is designed for a different era. We must now deliberately and collectively build a new one, we must move from a culture of compliance to that of ownership and excellency,” said Mrs Zembe.
derick.khumalo