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The Senior Civil Service in The Netherlands
Important developments in society and public opinion engender far-reaching changes in
central government. Political leaders and senior civil servants are leading the way. They
exercise considerable influence on culture and working methods, provide day-to-day
leadership, invest in talent and promote cross-border and future-oriented cooperation.
Besides, they are the change agents that execute government reform programmes.
The growing awareness of the key role that senior civil servants play in government
development has raised a broad attention for the quality at senior level for decades already.
In 1995 this has led to the establishment of the Senior Civil Service (SCS), or in Dutch ‘de
Algemene Bestuursdienst’ (‘ABD’). All managers at senior positions in the central
government became part of the SCS.
Together with the SCS, the Dutch office for the Senior Civil Service was founded. This is a
centralized unit concerned with all management development (MD) issues. The office for the
Senior Civil Service structurally invests in the quality of the Senior Civil Service. It does so
with consultation in recruitment and selection, development and education.
Over the past fifteen years, the role of the office has evolved
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from enhancing mobility in the top of government,
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via succession to crucial positions in the civil service,
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to being a strategic counterpart for the governmental top of departments concerning
management development and organisational development.
The office closely works together with MD partners at all ministries. Aim is to bring a broad
overview in selection processes at all levels of management development and talent
management, and to improve the quality of (joint) development programmes.
The ministries traditionally have their own development programmes, their own personnel
review process and their own recruitment and selection procedures. Various ministries work
together in clusters. Increasingly, agreements are made and objectives are set across central
government. In addition, there are centralised services, such as the Senior Civil Service
Review, the Senior Management Group, the Senior Civil Service Candidates Programme
(ADB-KP), the government trainee programme and the Civil Service Mobility Databank.
This paper gives an insight in the founding and development of the SCS in The Netherlands
and some issues that currently are on the agenda. It ends with a short glance into the future.
Founding and development of the Senior Civil Service
According to official lore, the idea of a Senior Civil Service (ABD) can be traced back to the
Second World War. During the occupation, the Dutch government in exile was based in
London, where it spent much of its time preparing the post-war administration. While there,
the Dutch politicians became quite taken with the British notion of a civil service. Several
decades later, enthusiastic ministers and high-ranking officials were still discussing the idea.
Rumour has it that politicians were afraid that allowing these officials to work together
beyond departmental lines would create a powerful new class of bureaucrats. ‘Politicians
want their officials potent, not powerful.’
After a few experimental initiatives in the 1980s, more detailed reports on administrative
reform were produced by several special advisory panels. The Wiegel committee suggested
that the current ministries in The Hague should be reduced to ‘core ministries’. Of the
proximately 100,000 people employed by the central government, fewer than 15,000 would
remain following this proposed reorganisation. The latter group, which would be responsible
for developing policy, would no longer work for a specific ministry, but for a Senior Civil
Service. The remaining officials would work for various autonomous government agencies.
In a report of their own, the secretaries-general expressed the belief that this proposal could
improve the operation and organisation of the civil service. The top officials pointed out that
the organisation and operation of the Dutch government was insufficiently tailored to
European questions and the major social issues of the day. They also argued for the creation
of a Senior Civil Service: ‘The idea that every part of central government should have its own
pool of ‘wise men’, its own legislative departments, its own counters and people to man
them, and its own auditors, betrays a narrowness of vision that is typical of
compartmentalised organisations.’
Founding of SCS in coalition agreement
In the coalition agreement of 1994, government agreed to work on establishing a Senior Civil
Service: ‘Officials will change jobs regularly and gain experience at different ministries. This
will promote cooperation within the public administration and cut down on unnecessary
bureaucracy.’ From that point on, the Dutch Senior Civil Service was a fact.
Up to that point, there was no effective system of career counselling, though some ministries
did have a management development (MD) programme of their own. No one was
responsible for the ongoing development of senior staff. Succession generally took place
according to the principle that the deputy is ‘heir to the throne’. The added value of the newly
founded SCS was in its systematic approach to the selection and development of the most
senior officials.
Corporate mobility
In the first years, the Office for the SCS emphasised the importance of corporate mobility at
senior level, aiming at three levels of development:
1. the personal and professional development of the managers,
2. the development of the organisations these managers lead
3. and – by interdepartmental synergy – the whole of the central government.
The office took care of filling vacancies and in a short time there was a list with every open
position. At that time filling vacancies was real handiwork. Few people took it upon
themselves to apply for a position.
Expansion of SCS
Shortly after, suggestions were made to expand the sphere of activity of the SCS. To
improve the way the government apparatus functions, the tasks of the SCS had to be
broadened substantially and the government’s goal was that this part of the civil service
should fall under the direct responsibility of the prime minister.
Expanding the SCS was taken up early in the new millennium. In 2002, all managers with an
integrated responsibility for personnel and resources were part of the Service. The SCS grew
to include some 800 senior managers: directors, director-generals and secretary-generals of
all ministries.
The idea of placing the SCS under direct responsibility of the prime minister’s office has
never been implemented. The minister for the Interior remains responsible for the SCS,
although the debate about the service’s position within the government hierarchy flares up at
regular intervals.
The main argument in favour of keeping the SCS under the Minister of the Interior is that his
ministry is responsible for the quality of personnel and management in the civil service, and
thus for its most senior officials as well. Others feel that the civil service should be run like a
corporation, arguing that it will only be possible to coordinate policy and achieve unity by
placing senior officials directly under the prime minister.
Merit based and open system of appointments
The Dutch system of appointments in the senior civil service can be characterized as “merit
based” and “open”. All appointments in the senior civil service take place on specific and
concrete quality criteria. These quality criteria are based on competences and experience in
certain fields.
Political affiliations or membership of a political party are never a criterion. The required
qualities are defined prior to opening vacancies and they are widely communicated through
the internet. Every Dutch citizen is entitled to apply for a position in the senior civil service.
Broader social discontent in the beginning of the millennium had an effect on the upper
echelons of the civil service. Director General for the Senior Civil Service Jan Willem Weck:
‘If the public still sees the administration as an exclusive clique of people mainly concerned
with giving each other cushy jobs, the civil service is going to suffer. Our reaction shouldn’t
be to say that the public is mistaken, but rather to take that criticism to heart and let it inspire
us to increase the openness that we at the SCS have always advocated.’
Annual SCS review
In the pioneering and expanding years of the SCS, the boundaries between ministries had
faded considerably. Then the Office for the SCS started focusing on a next priority:
succession to crucial positions in the civil service. One of the instruments to serve this goal is
the annual SCS review, in which the development of individual SCS members and up-and
coming talent is examined by each ministry in the light of the organisation’s needs.
The secretary-general of each ministry discusses the results yearly – at an individual level –
with the director-general of the SCS. Various steps are then suggested, in consultation with
the SCS manager in question. These steps may include promotion, a horizontal transfer,
training, coaching or a posting outside the civil service or to an autonomous government
organisation.
The SCS review is a concrete example of how the civil service puts management
development into practice. It tailors development activities to specific target groups and forms
the basis (together with knowledge about managers outside the civil service) for the SCS’s
selection recommendations.
Senior Management Group
Since 2006, the secretaries-general, directors-general, inspectors-general and a number of
other equivalent positions make up the Senior Management Group within the Senior Civil
Service. The members of this group are employed by the Ministry of the Interior and
Kingdom Relations. The SCS Office is responsible for performing the employer’s duties.
The procedure for filling senior management group vacancies includes requesting advice
from the Senior Civil Service senior management pre-selection committee. In addition, the
Director-General for the Senior Civil Service attends the quarterly monitoring meeting, in
which the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Prime Minister and both Deputy
Prime Ministers discuss senior management inflow, promotions and outflow.
In 2009 a model was created to facilitate and accelerate the flexible deployment of senior
management staff to demanding temporary assignments and projects.
SCS-Interim
In 2005 a pool of interim managers was formed at the highest level: the SCS interim pool.
Reason was to retain knowledge and limit the costs associated with hiring external
candidates.
By placing highly qualified personnel where they are needed, the administration is
responding to the need for flexibility, caused by constantly shifting external demands. From
the manager’s perspective, it is a valuable experience to be engaged in a period of interim
management or project management.
The trend towards greater flexibility in the civil service is blurring the boundaries between
interim assignments and line positions in the central government. In response to this trend,
the SCS Office is strengthening the connection between SCS-Interim and other management
development activities since early 2009. SCS-Interim makes a significant contribution to the
quality of flexible management.
EU appointments
The SCS Office coordinates and promotes the placement of Dutch nationals in senior and
lower ranking positions within the institutions of the European Union. Structured and personal
attention is given to the inflow of managers in senior positions and at entry level (successful
competition candidates and trainees).
The EU-coordinator at the office is also involved with enhancing the awareness and
knowledge of the EU in the Dutch Civil Service, by organising EU-traineeships and EU
master classes.
Candidates Programme
The Senior Civil Service Candidates Programme has been providing development training
for tomorrow’s top managers since 2002. Every year a diverse group of 25 to 30 talented
managers from all over central government take part.
The programme is a joint investment by the ministries and the SCS Office.
SCS Candidates programme – a journey into leadership
The SCS Candidates programme represents a journey. This imagery reflects the
programme’s focus on change. The journey is about moving forward, observing your
surroundings and meeting new people and cultures. Homecoming, processing your
experiences and making new plans are all part of the journey, too. And in each phase there
are moments when decisions need to be made. The traveller learns from the experience.
The ultimate goal of the journey is to seed central government with leaders who have the
capacity to inspire their staff at every level in the organisation, leaders who can deliver
responsible and useful work, while stimulating the personal development of their staff.
Managers who are able to inspire confidence that the policies they implement will be
grounded in reality and the decisions they make will be appropriate to the situation. Leaders
with an international orientation, who are able to shape and implement a policy response to
political and social issues.
‘Know yourself, know your profession, know the world.’
The programme is based on a three-pronged approach: personal development (know
yourself), professional knowledge (know your field) and the position of a government
manager in society (know the world). These themes provide the substance for the sections
of the programme: the individual, collective and work-experience components.
The candidates learn primarily from experience, as they are exposed to a variety of new
challenges. The interplay of learning experiences and professional practice is very
important. The SCS Office takes the view that managers learn best by experience. The
candidates are encouraged to learn to read situations and reflect on their own actions.
Current issues
Politicians and civil servants working together
Investment in talent is increasingly being regarded as a strategic priority for achieving
objectives and developing the quality of central government. This is reflected in the growing
level of interaction between politicians and civil servants on management development.
In recent years the collaboration in this area was improved further through such instruments
as structured consultations between the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, the
Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and the Director-General for the Senior Civil
Service.
Downsizing and modernising
One of the major challenges that political leaders and senior civil servants are facing now is
managing change processes in a turbulent and demanding context. This change is both
qualitative demands and a further cutback in civil servants.
All government ministries have to downsize. Efforts have been focused on making
organisations more flexible, implementing horizontal working methods and applying the
philosophy of The New Way of Working (‘Any time, any place’). In addition, far-reaching
forms of cooperation have been put into place in various domains: HRM expertise centres,
shared service centres for HRH and facilities management, ICT centres etc. Each of the
ministries is undergoing longer-term change processes too.
To achieve qualitative growth and quantitative reductions simultaneously, it is essential to
implement successful change processes aimed at identifying synergies in cross-boundary
partnerships throughout the public sector as a whole and in public-private partnerships. It is
crucial for management to take the lead in these efforts by taking personal responsibility in a
broad context and by organising and utilising an effective and diverse network of
stakeholders and professionals for each complex of issues.
Expertise and flexibility
At every level of central government there is a greater emphasis on flexible deployment of
human resources. Of course, this raises questions about whether substantive and practical
knowledge can be preserved as flexibility increases. For years, the SCS Office has
endeavoured to maintain a proper balance of flexibility and expertise when putting
management teams together. It also seeks to strike the right balance between tradition and
innovation, weaving together years of experience and new influences from outside. This has
drawn attention to the value of diversity and the essential elements of the civil service
profession – an understanding of democratic values and the rule of law, integrity awareness
and political and administrative sensitivity.
Scarcity of talent
Demographic changes will lead to a shortage of highly educated workers in the labour
market. Surveys repeatedly show that central government is one of the most popular
employers in the Netherlands. We are set to lose a great deal of potential and experience
now the baby boomer generation approaches retirement age and young people are denied
opportunities for career advancement because short-term responses are at odds with longterm interests. The SCS Office continues to encourage the ministries to take a long-term
view in their management development programmes.
Diversity and inclusiveness
To ensure that central government continues to develop, it is of enormous strategic
importance to reach out to all available managerial talent. This means that as the diversity of
the labour market increases, central government will have to ensure that it is an attractive
employer for people from a host of different backgrounds. Management faces the challenge
of building teams that demonstrate the ‘power of diversity’ and allow everyone, whatever
their background, to work in a culture of inclusiveness – a culture where there is interest in
and respect for diversity of thought and action.
The political leadership and senior civil servants are committed to expanding diversity across
central government. Evidence from other organisations shows that commitment at senior
levels is the key to a culture of diversity and inclusiveness: targets help, but an increased
awareness of diversity is the key factor when it comes to organising and utilising the wide
range of qualities that a diverse workforce has.
The key role that managers play in maintaining a sufficient and diverse pool of talented and
experienced individuals can be seen in the following areas:
1. recruitment and selection of newcomers
2. evaluation and selection for promotions
3. prevention of undesired outflow
4. organisation and utilisation of available diversity
5. management of diverse teams and fostering of a culture of inclusiveness.
This is why the SCS Office is so focused on raising awareness among managers and
increasing their expertise in the area of talent management and diversity.
With the programme ‘Greater Quality through Diversity’, the ministries and the SCS Office
aim to increase the share of women and people with a bicultural background in the Senior
Civil Service.
25 % women in the Senior Civil Service
The share of women in the Senior Civil Service (including the senior management group) has
grown considerably between 2000 and 2009: from 9% to 25%. The share of women in the
Senior Civil Service is expected to rise to 35% in the next ten years: a relatively large number
of men will reach retirement age and the ratio of men to women is more evenly balanced in
the younger age categories. Over the past five years, 49% of those who have completed the
SCS Candidates Programme are women. This will ensure that there is a pool of talented
women managers who are ready to take on Senior Civil Service positions.
Harnessing the talents of older managers
In 2008 a programme has been launched to ensure that the Senior Civil Service can deploy
the talents and experience of managers in the latter stages of their careers. Older
experienced managers can be assigned to special, temporary projects outside the line
organisation and the programme facilitates part-time working. In this way, the public sector
can continue to benefit from their vast knowledge and experience. This approach also helps
meet the increasing need for greater flexibility and less external hiring.
Academy for senior public management
Management development consultants at the SCS Office and the ministries provide tailored
career guidance, training, courses, coaching and peer consultation for managers in Senior
Civil Service positions. The 2009 SCS Review uncovered a need for harmonisation and
clearer points of departure.
At the request of the Board of Secretaries-General, the Director-General for the Senior Civil
Service commissioned a feasibility study in autumn 2009 of an academy for high-level public
management (pay scales 17 and higher) to ensure that professionalism in the upper
echelons of public management is systematically and continuously maintained, modernised
and improved. A start-up curriculum is being developed in collaboration with members of the
target group and authoritative experts.
Learning paths ‘from novice to master’
The Programme for Management Learning Path fosters cross-boundary cooperation in
management development at every level in central government. The goal of the programme
is to give aspiring and practising managers and professionals the tools they need to direct
their own career in the public service and to assist them in perfecting their management skills
in the service of an evolving organisation. A talent infrastructure that transcends boundaries,
broad access to specialised development courses and clarity about the qualities that need to
be cultivated are essential.
Essentials Programme
The Essentials Programme, a component of the Program for Management Learning Paths,
focuses on the set of specific skills that are crucial to civil service professionals, such as an
understanding of democratic values and the rule of law, integrity awareness and political and
administrative sensitivity.
At the beginning of 2009, the Board of Secretaries-General (SGO) ordered the SCS Office to
develop an Essentials Programme for new civil servants in pay scales 10 to 14. The SGO
aims to provide a uniform introduction programme for everyone who joins the civil service at
central government level. In 2009 the programme was set up with three different national
academies: the Academy for Legislation, the National Academy for Finance and Economics
and the Academy for Government Communications.
Leadership Programme for External Entrants
In 2009 the first cohort of eleven managers recruited from outside central government started
the new Leadership Programme for External Entrants (SCS-PLEX). This programme quickly
familiarises managers from outside the civil service with the political and administrative
environment so that they can function successfully within it
Portfolio management
Portfolio management is a method of sharing information about individuals. It involves
compiling personal portfolios containing factual information and objective descriptions of an
individual’s qualities, achievements and potential.
Various ministries and SCS-Interim are already working with portfolios. On the basis of their
experience, the decision has been taken to implement portfolio management throughout
central government. The basic elements of a portfolio are an up-to-date CV, a 360 degree
feedback survey or an assessment, career recommendations (including a review) and an
‘ambition document’.
In 2009 the SCS Office began a pilot project with a small number of individuals who were
given priority status as a result of the Senior Civil Service Review and with candidates who
participated in the selection procedure for the 2009 Senior Civil Service Candidates
Programme. The pilot has been evaluated. The SCS Office will expand its use of portfolio
management in 2010.
Senior Civil Service admission criteria
Three experience requirements have been added to the profile for Senior Civil Service
management positions to help guide potential Senior Civil Service managers along the
career development path:
1. Experience in several contexts
For example, at several ministries, large municipalities, autonomous administrative
authorities or outside government, in order to develop a way of thinking that takes
social developments and central government as a whole as its starting point.
2. Experience in more than one unit of an organisation
For example, in policy, implementation, support, supervision or inspection, in order to
develop an understanding of cooperation within the chain.
3. International experience
To provide a deeper grounding in the European policymaking process and
international cooperation.
These criteria were first applied in 2009 as guidelines for assessing suitability for Senior Civil
Service positions. From 2011 onward, they are mandatory for anyone aspiring to a Senior
Civil Service position. This means that the ministries and the SCS Office have a
responsibility to give managerial talent opportunities to build up the experience required.
The SCS Office's priorities
The SCS Office has prepared its internal organisation to offer better and more consistent
support to the development of central government management in a context shaped by farreaching changes. The focus of attention is on the employer’s role played by members of the
senior management group and on advising on recruitment, selection and development for
managers in strategic positions (directors, director-generals, secretary-generals ; scales 1719).
The SCS Office’s priorities for service provision to this target group are to increase the
flexibility of the senior management group, integrate SCS-Interim into mainstream
management development activities, make further improvements to the Senior Civil Service
Review and expand the development programme for each career phase.
The SCS Office will continue to play an initiatory and connective role in the interministerial
network of MD professionals, in order to ensure that talented individuals in every
development phase throughout central government enjoy the scope and direction they need
to progress from novice to master.
The SCS Office provides intensive development programmes for managers from outside
central government who take up Senior Civil Service positions and managers who have the
potential to progress to Senior Civil Service positions in the near future: the Senior Civil
Service Leadership Programme for External Entrants (SCS-PLEX) and the Senior Civil
Service Candidates Programme (ADB-KP).
Public Management in 2015
The greatest challenge for the public service towards 2025 is to adjust old structures and
paradigms to the new complexity of society. Fading borders make all local and national
issues part of greater regional and global flows. New technologies keep accelerating the
evolution of societies. All domains of public issues are getting closely interrelated. And the
ancient hierarchy of responsibilities will dissolve into shared responsibilities in multilateral
partnerships.
This challenge goes beyond policy-making and implementing it in society. It goes beyond
leaving public affairs to the efficient ordening mechanisms of the free market. This challenge
is about organising networks of parties and individuals involved, and opening up the full
potential of these networks to reach common goals.
Public leaders in these stretched and diverse networks will be the unifying and inspiring
directors in creative group dynamics. They will understand the broad context and far horizons
of systemic development. They will organise all knowledge and information required to deal
with an issue. They will invite a diversity of perspectives into a matter, and empathically read
situations from all these perspectives. They will proactively organise counter opinions and
stimulate a learning attitude towards conflicts. They will be able to let initiatives and ideas
emerge freely from networks and teams, bringing them well into balance with an adequate
level of planning and control. And they will animate the highest sense of meaning and a
shared identity for all people striving for a common public goal.
Focus on group dynamics
In management development as well as in daily management, the focus on group dynamics
will be leading. For all public issues and every political assignment, the first task in strategic
management development will be to organise well balanced, diverse management teams ‘on
the job’, rather than filling in individual vacancies on fixed positions in fixed organisations.
Every management team should make a perfect match with the essential characteristics of
the context of a public issue, the network involved and the phase of development.
Also in training, coaching and peer consultation the attention will be broadened from
individual development to group dynamics. Currently, the whole management team already
is included in the Leadership Programme for External Entrants (PLEX). That is a first step
towards a broader repertoire of activities that will stimulate a structured reflection on how to
function and develop as a team.
Space for diverse learning paths
At individual level, management development will face the challenge to provide talents with
the possibility to develop along diverse and broad learning paths. This requires the
cooperation of all organisations serving the public interest. The fight for talents may create
local optimums; the cooperation in talent development will create an optimum for the whole
of the public service.
Both the convergence in strategic management development for the top and the divergence
in learning paths for management talents, require for the old departmental structures to
transform into a new complex of closely interrelated teams, together shaping an open and
dynamic network concerned with the whole of public issues. The continuing metamorphosis
of the public service, that started briefly after the Second World War, by 2015 will have
entered a whole new epoch.