Governments everywhere are adopting more cost-oriented perspectives to reduce inefficiencies and improve productivity, motivated mainly by shrinking resources and demands for better public services from citizens. At the same time, the challenges faced by the public sector show that innovations in government services are needed. Managing talent within public-sector organizations can promote a culture of innovation, while establishing clear linkages between leadership and productivity gains.

As part of initiatives to help member countries improve public-sector productivity utilizing innovative leadership and talent management tools, the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) organized a workshop on Innovative Leadership and Talent Management for Public-sector Productivity in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2–6 October 2017 in cooperation with the National Productivity Secretariat.

In addition to the development of innovative leadership development blueprints by participants for workshop follow-up activities, the focus was on innovation, leadership, and talent management to enhance public-sector productivity and efficiency. Participants deliberated on how to cope with the increasing levels of volatility, complexity, and ambiguity in the external environments of public-sector organizations, which mean that business process models should be redefined.

The workshop also acquainted participants with talent management models that can help organizations retain and nurture leaders as a part of change management in the public-sector context. Appropriate strategies for talent management and retention can make public-sector organizations more relevant to society as a whole. The adoption of artificial intelligence and use of social media by public-sector agencies as effective platforms for recruiting and retaining talent were discussed.

The workshop was attended by 28 government officials from 13 APO member countries and facilitated by three international experts: Associate Professor Dr. Tim A. Mau, Department of Political Sciences, University of Guelph, Canada; Aura Serea, Chief of Talent Management, the KPI Institute, Australia; and Dr. John Antony Xavier, Principal Fellow (Professor of Practice) and Head, Strategic Centre for Public Policy, Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia Graduate School of Business.

Photos: NPS