Exam nerves, innovation and the A-Team

Day two at Civil Service Live

With a family history of civil servitude, including a grandfather who worked for Revenue and Customs for over 40 years, I'm particularly interested in seeing the Origins and Destinations exhibition, a walk through the history of the Civil Service - with the promise of an opportunity to take the 1855 entrance exam. And I'm not disappointed. A tube map style diagram outside shows the journey of each department; a great snapshot of how departments have changed over the years. Inside, the exhibition includes original desks from the Department for Education, and recruitment advertising through the ages.

A version of the exam is provided on laptops. I get a sudden bout of exam nerves seeing them surrounded by interested visitors (would a permanent secretary be stood behind me checking my answers and issuing my P45?!). Having resisted the urge to use the calculator on my mobile phone (we really do have it easy these days don't we?), I get through the rest with a score of 10 out of 12 - or 'Very Good' in Civil Service terms. I feel strangely proud...

Being the A-Team

I went along to find out more about creative innovation from Nick Jenkle from ‘we create' (ivalueinnovation@bis.gsi.gov.uk). He was introduced by CEO of the Better Regulation Executive Philip Rycroft, who reminded us, 'Innovation isn't easy... if it was we'd have been doing it for years.'
 
In a presentation that included a clip of the A-Team (I hope Nick is considering writing a book on using powerpoint effectively), Nick talked us through his experiences as an 'innovation consultant'. Initially feeling a bit cynical about what that might mean, his enthusiasm quickly had me thinking differently.
Using the A-Team Nick went on to illustrate the four archetypal leadership styles and advised us to use them to our advantage when working with others: the Captain (Hannibal), the Architect (Murdoch), the Peacemaker (Face) and the Champion (B.A.). The teenage work experience students attending the session were probably pretty puzzled at this point, but I was pleased to find I was like ‘screaming mad Murdoch’ from my favourite children’s TV show. Most of the other delegates were too it turns out. Very reassuring!

A digital Civil Service

I ended the day with a session led by Andrew Stott, director of digital engagement from the Cabinet Office, who talked us through the launch of Civil Pages, an idea that originated in Lions Lair at Civil Service 2008.

As Andrew put it, this is about ‘finding the right person, with the right information, at the right time’ across the Civil Service. His team’s research shows that we find it easier to collaborate with the private and third sectors than we do with other government departments.

While the project is still very much evolving, I was impressed to hear that the Civil Service can achieve something like this without ‘gold plating’ it and then pushing it on others. But the message from Andrew was clear: use it or lose it. Without registering on Civil Pages, Civil Wiki and the newly developed Civil Talk (a sort of internal Twitter site) and feeding back how you’re using it to Andrew’s team, it won’t continue. I left feeling it was time to get on there and see what it could do.