(A series of Summits have been designed to engage civil servants and stakeholders in the development of a Strategic Plan for the Cayman Islands Civil Service. On Monday, October 12th, 2015 the Deputy Governor hosted the first Strategic Summit in Cayman Brac.)
Sitting on the plane on the return flight last night I couldn’t help but smile. A sense of pride filled me as I thought about what had been accomplished over the course of the day. To see civil servants at all levels of the service and from across the service working together to reimagine the civil service was proof that we are on the right track.
When we set out on this journey I was clear that I wanted the development of this strategic plan to engage individuals from across our civil service and at all levels of the civil service, as well as internal and external stakeholders. However, I wasn’t clear as to how the project team would pull that off. To see the collaborative development of our strategic plan in action and to participate in that process was quite amazing.
In my role as the Head of the Civil Service I found great value in hearing, from civil servants and our stakeholders, about the times when we are exceptional. Working in my small group, exploring those moments to understand what we were doing then so that we know what to do more of, turned out not only to be a positive way to identify solutions but it was also a productive way of doing so.
One of the highlights of the day for me was seeing civil servants get excited about strategic planning. It was incredible to watch civil servants begin the drafting process for the strategic plan as they conducted research through interviews, engaged with each other in small groups and then presented group findings to the larger group. I can remember the smile on my face and the tremendous pride that I felt as I watched our civil servants shape the future of our civil service. What an exciting journey!
Franz Manderson, Deputy Governor