Lagos trains top officials on change mindset

In line with the vision of transforming its public service to meet the challenges of the 21st century through the ‘Change Mindset Advocacy programme’, the Lagos State government is intensifying the training of top officials including permanent secretaries.

The training is aimed at cultivating in public servants, the right culture and mindset needed to attain the smart city status of the state.

Speaking at the training programme organised for permanent secretaries, heads of agencies and parastatals in the state, on Tuesday, Kehinde Bamigbetan, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, said the government had since realised the importance of changing the mindset of public servants to align with the ever changing times.

According to Bamigbetan, “we have 24 million Lagosians, many of them travel a lot and are exposed to international standards, while some have become sophisticated, therefore, the benchmark for services has increased, and people can compare how they are served in Public Service in Lagos with the private sector.”

He added that the need for public servants in the state to justify what they do in the way they attend to people, especially in agencies that interface more with the public cannot be overemphasised.

While commending the permanent secretaries, heads of agencies and parastatals for turning out for the sensitisation, the commissioner noted that the training would be extended to other cadres.

Earlier, the Director General, Office of Transformation, Creativity and Innovation, Toba Otusanya, said the state government decided to embark on this journey of “Changed Mindset” in order to have 21st century public servants who must have certain qualities.

Otusanya said the expected outcome of the training and the sensitisation are civil servants who are competent, knowledgeable, creative, innovative and can challenge the status quo, adding that they would embrace new ways of doing things as well as deliver services in better ways.

“Realising this vision is not something that is farfetched because when you look at strong Public Institutions across the world like Kenya and Rwanda, these things are already happening there; as Lagos, we cannot continue to be on the sideline, we have to take the bull by the horn,” he said.

He stated that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in his quest to accelerate development in the state, realised the critical role of public servants in this regard, hence, his support for this campaign to ensure that all public servants embrace the “Growth Mindset” and be well equipped for the challenges of the modern world.

The DG, who emphasised that the leadership quality needed to drive this change has to be innovative, said that subordinates would be able to discuss freely with their leaders, adding that the world is changing, and as public servants, there was need to be able to connect with the past, relate with the present, and project what the future would be. He said the growth mindset would help in achieving this.

The DG, who gave a presentation on “Growth versus Fixed Mindset”, noted that the structure of this capacity development programme would be in stages and would include: Advocacy communication; sensitisation of senior management; train the trainers for GL10- 14; re-orientation workshop for grade levels 10-14; impact assessment and sustainability.

While thanking the top officials for their attendance, Otusanya encouraged them to embrace this change, broaden their horizon, and be the ones leading the change.