Communication, performance key for Franz

Cayman Islands Deputy Governor Franz Manderson took office Wednesday making two key promises with regard to civil service reform.

First priority: Improve communication with both government employees and the public they serve.

Second: Ensure that good performers in the civil service are rewarded and that poor performers are “dealt with”.

In fact, Mr. Manderson noted during a lengthy interview last week that a long-dormant idea of performance pay may be revived as a way of boosting morale and job performance.

“There’s something there now [referring to performance pay measures in the law], but we’ve suspended it during this tight budget time,” he said. “This really tight economic time is when you should be pushing performance, you know, people to do more with less.”

Despite the perception that it is generally difficult to fire people from the civil service, Mr. Manderson said that’s what will happen if individuals repeatedly do not perform to the level they are expected to.

“To me it is not hard [to fire non-performers], you just have to be committed to doing it and making the tough decisions and certainly, I have never shied away from making tough decisions,” he said.

Tough times are ahead for sure. Finance officials confirmed Tuesday that the Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly will need to approve some supplemental expenditure items before the 2011/12 fiscal year draws to a close on 30 June. Those include expenses that were not planned in the beginning of the budget year.

According to the latest figures available, more than 3,500 people were working for central government – not including those employed in statutory authorities and government-owned companies. Mr. Manderson said meeting budget will be more about keeping with set parameters for personnel costs than it will be about getting a head-count.

“The UK and the Premier have agreed on civil service; what personnel costs should be, and that has to be our focus – to meet the obligations,” he said. “The politician’s job is to set the budget, our job is to then meet that budget and make sure it is not overspent.”

This is where better performance comes in, Mr. Manderson said.

“You may actually be in a position where, if you have everyone working very hard and being committed, then it actually saves you money; as opposed to bringing in new people.”

A public office

Although his two predecessors, Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks and Chief Secretary George McCarthy tended to be a bit economical with their public appearances, Mr. Manderson, 46, said he will not be shy.

“Nothing can be a substitute for face-to-face communication,” Mr. Manderson said. “I want to be a visible leader. I want to get out and meet as many civil servants as I can.”

The new deputy governor seems to subscribe to an axiom well-known by public relations professionals: Control the news cycle, or it will control you.

“Let us say, for example, we decide that we are going to have a…fundamental change, a new policy that’s going to be done,” he said. “When do we actually announce that policy? Do we announce it when we’ve decided we’re going to do it, or we announce it after it’s done?

“There’s nothing wrong with saying the government, in 2013, intends to do something…and give the public a lot of opportunity to comment on it, to understand it. I’m not sure we do enough of that.”

He’s not just talking about internal emails and press releases, either.

“I want to ensure that we’re using Facebook, social media, Twitter,” he said. “I intend to have a Twitter account that I can update people as to what I’m doing….just so that I’m fully engaged with staff.”

“To me it is not hard [to fire non-performers], you just have to be committed to doing it and making the tough decisions.”

Deputy Governor Franz Manderson