Civil Service in the news
Gus meets senior women
Despite the current economic issues dominating his week, Gus managed to get out and meet senior women from the Civil Service, wider public and private sectors. Gus is clear that improving diversity is one of his main corporate priorities for the Civil Service, and he was keen to hear what the women thought about the current turbulent times in the banking sector. They discussed the role that public and private sectors leaders would need to play in meeting some the challenges that will result from the unprecedented economic situation.
On Wednesday 8 October Gus was honoured to be the first man to address the Senior Women in Public Leadership Group. The group has been meeting for more than four years and its members are women in senior positions in Local Authorities, Government Departments, the Third Sector and the private sector. The initial idea for the group came from Kate Priestley in her role as Chair of the Leadership Centre for Local Government and the meetings are hosted by Baroness Jill Pitkeathley at the House of Lords.
On Thursday 9 October Gus spoke to female civil servants at the re-launch of the Senior Women’s Network. The meeting was hosted by the network’s champion Helen Ghosh, permanent secretary for DEFRA.
Gus used these meetings to explain that the Civil Service, and other sectors, will need to continue to adapt to the changes in the wider world. The economy was an obvious example of how global relationships were already important but other factors, such as ageing populations and new technologies would also shape priorities and change the way people worked in future. The Civil Service, Gus predicted, would need to get better at working across boundaries and developing skills in collaboration and negotiation.
