Director General of the Institute of Public Administration “BIPA” HE Dr. Raed bin Shams revealed the details of the national program for preparing and developing government leaders in its 4-levels (elite, leaders, cadres, shaping), indicating that the strategic objective of the program is to prepare future leaders for the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain, through providing them with the necessary capacities and the skills leading to their qualification to carry out their work independently and deputation to those who are with them of officials and employees according to the regulations of the Civil Service Bureau (CSB), explaining that these programs focus on showing the participants the most important challenges facing government leaders and how to deal with them, and giving the opportunity to learn about the requirements of the work as a government official in a systematic and organized way to allow them to play their role efficiently as leaders and qualify them to bear the responsibility entrusted to them.
HE Dr. Raed stressed that BIPA’s leadership programs in their design are built on the Bahraini leadership model which is based on leader’s five main dimensions of management, aimed entirely to serve the citizens of Bahrain; and these roles include self development, identifying the vision, leadership of the organization, individuals development and building their abilities, as well as control and develop organization’s work, providing care to customers and partners, and finally making achievements and attaining results.
HE Dr. Raed explained that the Institute's training programs are based in their design on the National Action Charter, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain 2002, and the Economic Vision 2030 as well as the government action program, and based on this; innovative initiatives are launched in various disciplines to serve the citizens, and a comprehensive general framework is specified for all actions and values that should be acquainted by public sector employees.
HE Dr. bin Shams elucidated that the previous pillars are organizing the initiatives led by officials and decision-makers through their authorities granted by the CSB under the job descriptions of each employee in the public sector, also that these determinants are contributing to the preparation of the second row of leaders for all job levels and in all specializations, as this preparation contributes to the rehabilitation of the officials who are capable to assume responsibility.
In regard to the training methods, HE Dr. bin Shams mentioned that the Institute's leadership programs added new mechanisms by including tests to determine patterns of personality (psychometric tests), and sessions for guidance and personal support (Coaching), as well as visits to the working sites in the government and the private sector institutions, in addition to deriving their strength from the communication network which is created between the trainees in various ministries and continue until after the completion of the program in order to serve the development and facilitate the procedures of work between government departments in a later stage, as well as continuing the supervision on the trainees after the completion of the program through a 100-day plan of action, which shows the extent of participants’ acquisition of skills, behaviors and new knowledge and the degree of application in the work environment, through involving their immediate officials to follow their development.
HE Dr. bin Shams indicated that the first level of the national program for the preparation and development of government leaders is the senior leadership program (elite) which targets undersecretaries and assistant undersecretaries and their equivalents in the public sector – and this program is in the process of rebuilding after its implementation for the first time in 2008 under the name of Executive Leadership Program (ELP) in collaboration with the British National School (NSG), and the second level is based on the preparation program for government leaders (leaders) and is targeting the directors and the new directors who their appointment came through issuing a government decree and the program is certified by the British Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), while the third level is the new government leaders preparation program (cadres) and it is targeting heads of departments and heads of distinguished groups and was designed in the beginning in partnership with the University of Oxford, and finally the fourth level which is youth leaders preparation program (shaping) and is in the design process, targeting specialists, senior specialists, supervisors and their equivalents in the public sector who are expected their rehabilitation to assume senior leadership roles in the future.
Dr. bin Shams indicated that the Institute – despite the lack of human and financial resources – until now has graduated 185 trainees, in the government leaders preparation program (leaders), since the launch of the program in 2010; who an edict by the Cabinet has been issued for their appointment as directors in the public sector, and has also graduated about 49 trainees in the new government leaders preparation program (cadres); furthermore 16 of the participants in the Institute's leadership programs have been promoted to high positions, and the Institute will launch shaping program within its training plan for 2015, while (elite) program still in the pipeline and it is hoped to be launched soon.