The Big Reset: Why Talent Attraction for Government is More Important Than Ever

The new Labour government has wasted no time putting its manifesto promises into action and the King’s Speech on the 17th July at the State Opening of Parliament has confirmed the new administration’s priorities. The intent is already clear: to make progress as quickly as possible on the mission-led approach that dominated their pre-election campaign.

There are some underlying themes emerging from Labour’s approach as they look to cut through bureaucracy to enact change in critical areas such as national security, healthcare, housing, education and climate change, whilst also stimulating economic growth as a priority.

The wave of energy and momentum that has come with this reset has been welcomed with optimism. However, ‘the back to reality with a bump’ moment may come when the funding challenges are realised. There are early signals that this will play out in the coming weeks as the new government gets to grips with the state of public finances. It can certainly be said that the Mission Control for Clean Power objectives for example, are as compelling as those of the Vaccines Taskforce in terms of national and global importance. However, considering the country is still feeling the effects of the monetary cost of the pandemic response, it is highly unlikely that the ‘at any cost’ approach that we saw in 2020 can be replicated.

This means that, alongside it's plans to accelerate investment opportunities and promote growth, the government must work smarter to enact fundamental whole-system change at pace. Mobilising top Civil Servants from across departments as we saw during Covid, to cut through red tape, without compromising due process, will be critical.

Partnering with the private sector is also vital, but so is attracting specialist talent with skillsets to work alongside Civil Servants who know 'the system'.

The appointment of Sir James Timpson and Sir Patrick Vallance as Ministers, both well respected experts who understand the commercial realities of the challenges government will face, is a clear recognition that government cannot work in silo.

The creation of the National Wealth Fund, for example, will bring together existing state-backed entities like the UK Infrastructure Bank and the British Business Bank, both of which Odgers Berndtson has successfully worked with to appoint impressive industry leaders to their executive teams and boards.

The ambitions laid out in the Declaration on Government Reform, and then reiterated in the Civil Service People Plan to attract more talent with deep industry expertise feels more important than ever. It is early days, but the renewed momentum and fresh perspective feels more compelling than ever.

Odgers Berndtson is well placed to support the government with these talent attraction challenges as we work with a renewed sense of social purpose on some of the most important mandates.

__________________________________________________________

Get in touch. Follow the links below to discover more, or contact our dedicated leadership experts from your local Odgers Berndtson office here.