Canadian Government Executive - Volume 24 - Issue 03

May/June 2018 // Canadian Government Executive / 11 INTERVIEW that community. When I talk about diver- sity, I’m also including official languages. This is a core value for the public service and for ensuring that our future recruit- ment needs also help us continue to main- tain our capacity to serve the public in both official languages. Lastly, I should also mention our veter- ans. We have a special responsibility to place veterans into jobs. They have a pri- ority in our system, and we have to work hard to help them transition from serving their country in the military to serving their country in the public service. I would put all that under the umbrella of improving diversity. These are just some of the priorities we face at this point. Q: I understand that the Public Service Commission of Canada, by legislation, is an independent body and is accountable to Parliament. Patrick, can you tell us how this independent role is different from your previous experience as a line executive in the Government of Canada? It is quite an adjustment to go from con- stantly working with Ministers and their offices into a situation where you don’t have a Minister. Well technically, I do have a Minister – the Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada is our Minister for purposes of tabling documents in Par- liament, but of course there’s an indepen- dence there. I am the ultimate decision- maker along with Susan Cartwright and David Tucker, the other two members of the Commission. So there’s a great respon- sibility that comes with that authority. Our relationship with Parliament is also unique. I’ve enjoyed my interactions with Parliamentarians. I’m always happy to appear before committee to provide my insights into issues that may be related to the future of the public service. I also meet with individual Members of Parliament and Senators to hear their concerns and provide the information they need to un- derstand what the Public Service Commis- sion is doing and how the staffing regime works; not only here in the NCR but from coast to coast to coast. There are reports that I have tabled in Parliament, and clear- ly I do take that role seriously in terms of keeping Parliamentarians informed. Q: I want to switch gears and get your views on leadership in the public sector. Patrick, I think you’d agree that strong, progres- sive leadership is the underpin- ning of a modern public service and, in fact, is key to achieving the modern HR practices that the PSC is champion for. I’m wondering if you can tell CGE readers a little bit about your leadership values and approach. There’s a lot I could say here in terms of my approach which I’ve developed over the years. I’ve learned from my mistakes along the way, and I’ve adjusted my style to be able to better suit the needs of my em- ployees. I can tell you that I favour team- work and collaboration and open sharing of information. That’s extremely important to me. I like to bring a certain informality to the workplace, ensuring that people feel they have access at all levels of the organi- zation. I’m not a big fan of hierarchy. I al- ways say to people who call me Mr. Borbey: “I’m Patrick. I’m a part of the team.” I am engaged in the day-to-day work of my employees, and I respect their ideas and contributions. At the same time, I’m not afraid of challenging the status quo and pushing people to experiment, to try things differently. I sent a signal through our organization, which we don’t do enough, to indicate that risk is not to be avoided. We can accept risk in our organi- zation; we can manage the risk. We need good mitigation strategies, but risk is part of the process of innovation and experi- mentation. Inevitably, from time to time, there will be failure. What’s important is what we can learn as a result. Do we be- come better as a result of that learning? Other things I’m big on are measuring and reporting on results: being able to demonstrate to Canadians that we’re mak- ing progress, that we’re serving them, and they’re getting value for money in terms of the work that we do here. It’s about being transparent and accountable. I like to bring a certain amount of hu- mility to my work, and I like to see that around me as well. I’d rather have people prepared to admit there is still a lot of progress to be made rather than just cel- ebrate our achievements. It is important as well, but I think in this kind of job we have to admit that there is a lot of work to be done. We don’t have all the solutions, we have to reach out and work collabora- tively to identify those solutions. The last thing I would say is about the importance of a safe, respectful workplace. I’ve always been a big fan of work-life balance. I’ve tried to model it myself. Of course, supporting employee well-being and, particularly, no tolerance for harass- ment is key. The fact that we still see in our public service-wide surveys a number of employees who report having been sub- jected to harassment is just unacceptable. It’s something I would love to eradicate in my organization. We are the organization that helps to ensure we have a merit-based, professional and non-partisan public service. The authorities for staffing and recruitment are delegated or vested by Parliament to the Commission.