The Civil Service College today held the inaugural sharing session of the Heads of Department (HoD) Fellowship, which aims to strengthen leadership mindset and enhance departmental management capabilities.

Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki, Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung, and about 140 Permanent Secretaries, HoDs and their deputies from 63 bureaus and departments attended.

Mr Chan and Mrs Yeung encouraged HoDs to practise proactive leadership by establishing effective management teams and operating systems, as well as fostering a positive culture of continuous improvement in order to boost the governance effectiveness of departments.

Mr Chan said HoDs are not only policy implementers and the ultimate parties accountable for departmental performance, but also helmsmen of departments and shapers of organisational culture during his opening remarks.

He added that HoDs should demonstrate proactive leadership daily, understand operational realities and potential problems, and establish effective feedback mechanisms.

The Chief Secretary also urged HoDs to ensure that manpower deployment and financial resources are aligned with policy objectives, and take full accountability for their departments' overall performance.

Furthermore, Mr Chan noted that the success of the HoD Accountability System lies not only in the number of investigations activated, but also in the continuous enhancement of departments' execution capabilities through the proactive leadership of HoDs. Such enhancement upgrades policy execution, raises governance standards, and delivers tangible benefits to the public, he said. 

Mrs Yeung, meanwhile, pointed out that civil servants’ performance is the key to improving governance. She said HoDs must personally lead human resource management, ensuring that such strategies are closely tied to their departments' overall work objectives and development needs.

She noted that the Civil Service Bureau has been actively strengthening relevant measures, including implementing the Performance Appraisal Enhancement Scheme for Civil Servants (Phase 1) in October this year, to more accurately reflect and differentiate civil servants’ work performance.

The Civil Service College has also been actively cultivating a culture within the civil service that values training, and launched a scheme last month to set out continuous learning requirements for civil servants.