The government has committed to prioritising developing homegrown talent for senior leadership positions, following concerns about over-reliance on external recruitment.
In Keys Chris Thomas (Douglas Central) questioned whether local civil servants could realistically aspire to top roles, noting that four senior officers had been recruited from off-island in August 2023.
“In August 2023, four people were imported to take up roles as senior officers of the public service. And it seemed to people outside, there really was no point applying for jobs now, if you’ve been through the Isle of Man civil service, there was a preference to import talent,” Mr Thomas said.
In response, Cabinet Office Minister David Ashford outlined expanded leadership training programmes designed to develop internal candidates.
He said: “We do want to promote talent from within and allow people to actually have productive careers within and allow people to actually have productive careers.”
In House
The government has moved from outsourced training to in-house programmes which are supposed to be tailored to the Isle of Man’s needs.
Since January 2024, three core courses have been running: a Management Development Programme for junior executives, a Leadership Development Programme for middle managers, and a Leadership Academy for senior staff.
Mr Ashford emphasised this would ensure “people can develop and move on in their careers” without needing external recruitment.
Mr Thomas highlighted the value of past initiatives, such as a 2018 programme where senior leaders trained together through practical scenarios.
While Mr Ashford didn’t commit to reviving the exact format, he acknowledged the need for “corporate knowledge” and committed to invest in long-term career development.
He said: “Corporate knowledge is very, very important, having that experience, that lived experience of the way things are done and what’s actually happened, and learning from that.”
Mr Thomas challenged the Minister to demonstrate commitment to local talent in the next People Strategy.
“Does the minister accept the challenge of when the next people strategy comes out that includes some excellent people we brought to the island, some people who are home grown as signatories on the chief officer group, and then at the end of it, in five years time, those people are still working with us,” he asked.
Mr Ashford replied: “I think it is important that we continue to invest in our people, that we actually continue to develop them so that they can have long and fruitful for careers within Isle of Man government and that is the aim of all of this, and that is something that we had do need to look to achieve.”
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