Human resources management in the public sector
The quality of leading and managing people in the government is now leveling up and is catching up with modern techniques and strategies in human resources and human capital leadership and management. As the National President of PMAP (People Management Association of the Philippines), I am currently helping the City Government of Cebu through City Administrator, Dr Lucille Mercado in training, coaching and mentoring department heads in how to ARM (Attract, Motivate and Retain) professionals to excel in public service. We are also helping the MCWD (Metro Cebu Water District) also in training the middle managers for excellence in serving customers. Soon, the province of Cebu, through Provincial Administrator, lawyer Mark Tolentino, will be given the same training.
This is our humble contribution to help the local government units and interested government agencies improve the service orientation, as well as the communication skills and the customer relations competence of our front liners. The people deserve no less than the world class quality of service delivery and it is high time for leaders of these institutions to really have a favorable impact and positive relations with the people we serve. This writer has had no less than 25 years of experience in big conglomerates like the San Miguel Corporation as director for Labor and Employee Relations, in Pepsi Cola Philippines as vice president for Human Resources and Corporate Affairs as well as in Petron/PNOC as Employee Relations director. I am sharing my vast experiences in the private sector to apply them in public service.
When government employees are treated well by their superiors, and when they are secured, happy, and fully developed, they will treat the customers, the people with excellence. This is what I learned from my more than 22 years as government officials. I was undersecretary of the Department of Labor and Employment and I was a diplomat as Labor Attache in Malaysia, Kuwait and Taiwan and in those years and experiences, somehow I have gained a rich reservoir of wisdom in managing people, in communication, in problem solving and in decision making. I started from the bottom, as a school janitor in Southwestern University, then as a Clerk of Court in the City of Cebu, while I was studying law at night. Thus, I am bringing to the training room not just theories from management gurus and text books but nuggets of actual work situations and real people problems.
The modules I am using are a balanced combination between law and human psychology, a balance between theories and actual experiences, a combination of classroom instruction and actual workshops and problem-solving, which are interactive and practical, with a lot of participation from the audience, interspersed by video clips and testimonies of tested management experts and academicians. This is available to all agencies of government that are interested. As president of PMAP, I made it sure that our organization will give awards to outstanding agencies that show excellence in public service and as well as in managing and leading people. Our organization will give accreditation to offices and agencies that manifest world class quality of service, similar to ISO and the Civil Service seal of excellence.
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