UCAPAN

YANG BERBAHAGIA TAN SRI

MOHAMAD ZABIDI ZAINAL

SEMPENA

SESI INTERAKSI BERSAMA

PESERTA KURSUS ALMP

SIRI 51, NO. 3/2016

DELIVERING TRANSFORMATION

23 AUGUST 2016, 11.00 A.M.

DEWAN SRI BAIDURI, INTAN KIARA

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Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh, Salam

Transformasi dan Salam “1Malaysia: Rakyat Didahulukan,

Pencapaian Diutamakan” dan Salam Sehati Sejiwa.

Terima kasih Pengacara Majlis

Yang Berbahagia Dato' Mohtar Mohd Abd Rahman

Deputy Director-General of Public Service (Development)

Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Sabariah binti Hassan,

Deputy Director-General of Public Service (Operations)

Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Dr. Mazlan Yusoff

Director of INTAN

Senior Officers from the Public Service Department and

INTAN

Yang Berbahagia Dato'-Dato', Ladies and Gentlemen,

participants of the Advanced Leadership and Management

Programme (ALMP) Series 51, No. 3/2016.

First of all, let us offer our gratitude to Allah SWT for by His

grace, we are able to gather here today as part of the

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Advanced Leadership and Management Programme or ALMP

Series 51, which is the third series for this year.

2. My thanks to INTAN for inviting me to this interaction

session. I am indeed happy to have this opportunity to meet

all of you. I am sure you have been fully occupied for the

various modules and working hard towards meeting the

requirements of this programme.

3. My topic for today is “Delivering Transformation – What

It Takes and How It Works.” However before I get into that

let me share with you highlights of two main events that

took place last week regarding innovation in the public

service.

IINOVATION: A PUBLIC SERVICE IMPERATIVE

Ladies and Gentlemen,

4. The past week has been a very significant one for

Malaysia. As you are aware, we hosted two back-to-back

signature events namely, the International Conference on

Blue Ocean Strategy or ICBOS and the CAPAM 2016 Biennial

Conference.

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5. This is something that our Public Service can be very

proud of. Both events were organised entirely by the Public

Service and received high commendation from international

leaders and participants from countries around the world.

6. The Prime Minister, Yang Amat Berhormat Dato’ Sri

Mohd Najib Tun Tun Haji Abdul Razak, articulated the need

for Blue Ocean in his keynote address at the ICBOS and I

quote:

“If we had continued with the old policies, we would

have found the Government and country swimming in

an ocean of red. We knew that we had … to make a

paradigm shift, and create a new economic model; one

driven by knowledge, creativity and innovation – a

“blue ocean” of new opportunities …. A key tool to aid

us in our National Transformation Programme is our

National Blue Ocean Strategy, or NBOS, which we

introduced in 2009 … And I am proud to say that in the

seven years since its implementation, more than 80

government ministries and agencies have joined forces

to create high impact solutions to address current

needs.”

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7. The Hon. Prime Minister thus recognised the crucial

role of the Malaysian Public Service in implementing NBOS

in the presence of an international audience. So too, the

Hon. Deputy Prime Minister Dato' Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid

Hamidi who paid tribute to the Public Service of Malaysia

for its exemplary service in his closing address at CAPAM

2016.

8. YBhg. Tan Sri KSN and President of CAPAM shared how

BOS is now critical to the nation’s transformative journey

towards a high-income developed nation. This can be seen

in the application of BOS methodology in formulating the

11th Malaysia Plan.

9. Tan Sri KSN also shared with delegates the NBOS

implementation and monitoring mechanism, namely the

NBOS Summit, which is chaired at least three times by the

Hon. Prime Minister as well as regular Pre-NBOS Summits

chaired by himself. This mechanism has enabled both the

political and public sector leadership to review progress,

set clear timelines while encouraging greater participation,

collaboration and resource sharing.

10. I think we can declare that we have successfully sold

the idea of innovation through BOS to the world. The

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Commonwealth Secretary-General, Baronness Patricia

Scotland, Q.C., stated that "… B.O.S. can be implemented in

Commonwealth member countries. BOS is all about how you

identify things which are of high impact and low cost.”

11. Clearly, the “Blue Ocean” mantra of ‘low cost, hight

impact and fast execution’ is now on the lips of many

international public service practitioners. Now, we have

many requests for Malaysia to provide consultancy on

B.O.S. to other countries.

12. The ICBOS message of transformation through

creativity and innovation was carried through into the

CAPAM Biennial Conference 2016. The consensus of the

Commonwealth public sector fraternity is that innovation is

no longer an option for the Public Service. It is an

imperative.

13. I am bringing these key points to you here today

because firstly, you need to know the pressing issues of the

day and the current focus of the top leadership in the public

service. These issues were shared by Tan Sri KSN with you

yesterday.

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14. Secondly, the point about innovation is closely linked

to what I want to share with you today. Transformation is

about moving us to a far better state or scenario that we

desire. Innovation is what will get us there.

DELIVERING TRANSFORMATION: WHAT IT TAKES, HOW IT

WORKS

15. Let me now get into my discussion about delivering

transformation. This discussion is within the context of the

transformation that has been implemented in JPA. It is a

story that I have shared with several universities under the

CEO Faculty Programme.

THE JPA TRANSFORMATION STORY

Ladies and Gentlemen,

16. It has been 3 years, 4 months and 29 days since I

began the Transformation journey for JPA back in March

2013. I can say that my experience of more than 35 years in

the Public Service has given me a good understanding of

the challenges faced by the Public service.

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17. In addition, my service as State Secretary in Perlis

offered me first hand experience of the challenges of

managing state administration and having to deal with the

unique work culture at the state level.

18. Subsequently, as Director-General of MAMPU, I gained

insight into issues of service delivery and the technology

challenge in the public service. In MAMPU I was involved in

numerous engagement sessions, consultancy programmes

as well as monitoring and evaluation activities such as

compliance checks, audits, rating and mystery shopping. As

a result, I was able to compile a dossier of issues facing the

Public Service.

19. Hence, when I assumed the post of KPPA on 15th

March 2013, I had identified 9 challenges that needed to be

addressed as part of the JPA transformation agenda.

Looking back, many of these challenges are typical of the

“Red Ocean” scenario. The 9 challenges are:

I. Highly centralised authority;

II. Bureaucratic red tape;

III. Hierarchical reporting levels;

IV. Low strategic competency;

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V. Poor mentoring and coaching;

VI. Staying within the comfort zone;

VII. Inadequate responsiveness and awareness to

external requirements;

VIII. Silo mentality and poor consultation; and

IX. Inability to deal with the rising expectations and

requirements of stakeholders.

20. Having identified the challenges, JPA began a series of

brainstorming sessions that was done totally in-house

without the use of any external consultants. It started in

INTURA, Sungai Petani where top management and senior

officials from JPA reviewed the challenges that were

outlined and exchanged ideas on how JPA could address

them.

21. The discussions utilised the “outside-in” approach as

opposed to the traditional “inside-out” one, so that we could

focus on JPA’s programmes from the customer’s

perspective.

22. The end result was the formulation of what we now

commonly term as Kerangka Transformasi Jabatan

Perkhidmatan Awam (KTJPA). KTJPA was then adopted as

JPA’s transformation mantra with 5 strategic thrusts:

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• First, to Revitalise Talent to produce competitive,

highly knowledgeable, competent, talented and skillful

public servants to increase performance, productivity and

innovation;

• Second, to Reengineer Organisations to increase

capability and enhance organisational structure to become

more dynamic, agile and flexible;

• Third, to Enhance Service Delivery for citizen-centric

services to provide fast, accurate, quality, proactive and

responsive public service delivery;

• Fourth, to Promote an inclusive approach that

emphasises engagement, networking and strategic

collaboration; and

• Fifth, to Enculture Shared Values to inculcate a culture

of patriotism, good values, ethos and integrity.

23. Based on the 5 thrusts, a total of 200 transformation

programmes were identified for implementation over the

next three years, that is from 2013 to 2016. The KTJPA and

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the recommended programmes were then discussed and

agreed upon at all levels of JPA officers and staff.

24. It is pertinent to note that the the KTJPA

Transformation Framework has been acknowledged by no

less a personality than Professor Dave Ulrich of the

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, widely regarded as the

‘Father of Modern Human Resource’. Professor Ulrich had

the opportunity to review and discuss the Transformation

Framework when he attended the INTAN Leadership and

Transformation Summit in 2014.

LEADING TRANSFORMATION

25. What I have described above puts in a nutshell the JPA

transformation story since 2013. But it is not as simple as I

have explained it. It has been a painstaking endeavour for

all of us in JPA.

26. In the next segment, I wish to share with you the

salient aspects of my experience in leading the JPA

transformation journey. I believe this will be useful as all of

you will be leading change programmes in your agencies.

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27. Taking charge of transformation is no simple matter. It

is all about managing change. John P. Kotter, currently

Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, is well known for

his Eight Step Change Model in his seminal work “Leading

Change”. Kotter’s model covers steps for Creating a Sense

of Urgency, Building a Guiding Coalition, Forming a

Strategic Vision, Enlisting a Volunteer Army, Enabling

Action by Removing Barriers, Generating Short Term Wins,

Sustaining Acceleration of Change and finally Instituting

Change.

28. Similarly, Carolyn Aiken dan Scott Keller, two top

management consultants with McKinsey & Co. published

findings of their research on the role of CEOs in leading

trasnformation in the MicKinsey Quartely (2007).

29. When I became KPPA in 2013, I had the advantage of

having served in JPA in different capacities previously. I

therefore had a good sense of JPA’s core business,

capability and work culture. This understanding and the 9

challenges that I had identified, set the stage in deciding

the scope of the transformation agenda for JPA.

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30. My main task then was to put the mechanisms in place

and to lead the transformation drive. To a large extent I

have taken the lessons from Kotter as well as researchers

such as Aiken and Keller in leading the transformation drive

in JPA. My actions were of course packaged to suit the

scenario at JPA.

STRONG AND COMMITTED TOP TEAM

31. My first action was to build a strong and committed

team to assist me. In JPA my Transformation team was

headed by the Deputy Director General (Development) then,

Dato’ Sri Dr. Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad. All Division

Directors were part of the Transformation team.

32. Some members were specially identified to ensure the

strategic dimensions of the transformation agenda were

well understood and communicated down the line. It is

important for team members not to be obsessed with the

micro perspective. In other words, the transformation team

must be able to differentiate the forest from the trees.

33. I also established a Transformation Secretariat to

assist and provide the necessary support and logistics to

implement the transformation programmes. As the

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transformation agenda expanded beyond JPA, the

Transformation Secretariat was upgraded to a full fledged

Public Sector Transformation Division or BTSA.

34. As KPPA and CEO, I had to ensure that I have team

members who have the motivation, stamina and resilience

to follow through on the transformation agenda.

35. Interestingly, most researchers of change agree that

as much as 80 percent of the transformation team’s time

should be devoted to dialogue and engagement. This has

been the experience in JPA too. I have led my team on

numerous occasions to engage with JPA officers at

different levels so that the transformation message is clear

to all.

36. In fact we established a specific engagement

programme known as TRANSHARE. Through this

programme I am able to meet with officers and staff at

different levels who may wish to share their grouses and

provide views and suggestions on JPA’s transformation.

Thus the implementation of transformation is not a one-way

process.

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MAKING THE TRANSFORMATION MEANINGFUL

37. The literature on change says that you need a

powerful transformation story to create and reinforce

commitment so that members of the organization find

transformation to be meaningful. This is what Kotter means

when he talks of creating a sense of urgency. The impact of

the transformation story depends very much on the CEO’s

ability to make it personal and to translate the story

effectively.

38. As KPPA and CEO of JPA, I have translated the

commitment to transformation through passion to unlock

the energy of the JPA community. Using my earlier

experiences during my stints in JPA as well as by

articulating the views and expectations of customers about

JPA, I was able to personalise the transformation story.

39. The case for change and the need for JPA to shift to a

much higher peformance platform was emphasised. We

need to do this because in the minds of our officers and

staff, the typical questions are “Why are we changing?” or

“What is it in it for me?” We must be ready to provide

guidance and reassurance.

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40. Once the case for transformation is made, we cannot

leave it at that. The next step is to provide constant

reinforcement. For JPA, as soon as we agreed on the KTJPA

as the vehicle for transformation, then my role was to keep

repeating this message.

41. I took it upon myself to explain the KTJPA concept

and rationale at every JPA monthly assembly. I shared the

meaning of each KTJPA component in achieving the final

objective of a high performing, dynamic, people-centric with

integrity. It is important that the transformation message is

repeated at every opportunity.

42. Today I can safely say that no member of JPA can

plead ignorance about KTJPA and its five strategic thrusts.

In the advertising business, the lesson is to repeat, repeat,

and repeat yet again. The rule of thumb in advertising is to

repeat at least 7 times before an advertisement’s message

takes root. In the case of JPA, the repetition of the KTJPA

message is beyond count!

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REINFORCING DESIRED MIND-SETS AND BEHAVIOR

43. CEOs must take the lead to influence and reinforce

desired mind sets and behaviour. One of the quickest ways

to do this is to offer something symbolic that represents the

transformation agenda. This is to encourage employees to

identify and support the transformation wave.

44. As such, in JPA we introduced several iconic visuals

and sounds that our officers and staff could identify with as

transformation icons. Now we have the Shining Diamond,

Transformation Ship, Transformation Tree and the Kembara

Transformasi song as symbols of the JPA Transformation

Agenda. They remain close to our hearts and are displayed

prominently in strategic locations throughout JPA.

45. “Kembara Transformasi” has become a theme song

for all JPA events and has even been used at national

events to promote public sector transformation including

during the National Day celebration. Even the Hon. Prime

Minister acknowledged that the song has a vibrant and

catchy tune.

46. In addition, a key programme we implemented under

KTJPA is JPA4U which is now a JPA brand. Today we

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package all the services and CSR of JPA under the banner

of JPA4U.

47. Among the JPA4U programmes include Karavan Tani

which is a weekly open market offering essential goods at

competitive prices to the JPA community. JPA4U has

become more than a symbolic programme as the officers

and staff can feel the actual benefits from the programme.

Today Karavan Tani is popular with the entire Parcel C

community in Putrajaya. Karavan Tani has outlived similar

programmes carried out by other agencies.

LEADERS CREATE LEADERS

48. Tom Peters, the eminent management consultant and

co-author of the international best seller, “In Search of

Excellence” is quoted as saying that “Leaders don’t create

followers, they create more leaders”.

49. Two senior members of the JPA transformation team

are now Secretaries General of ministries. Dato Sri Dr.

Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad, my former deputy, now heads

the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia while Dr.

Rose Lena Lazemi, Director of BTSA was recently appointed

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Secretary General of the Ministry of Women, Family and

Community Development.

50. Another three members of my team are now Heads of

Department. Firstly, Dato’ Sri Zainal Rahim Seman, who was

appointed Director General of MAMPU. Secondly, Dato’ Jalil

Marzuki who is now Director General of the Legal Affairs

Division, Prime Minister’s Department. Thirdly, Dato’ Dr. Abd

Halim Mohd Hussin who was appointed Director General of

the National Anti-Drugs Agency.

51. In addition, Dato’ Mohtar Mohd Abd Rahman,

previously Director of Service Division and part of the JPA

Transformation team has also moved up the ranks within

JPA as Deputy Director General of Public Service

(Development).

52. Hence I would like to think that I have contributed my

part in creating more leaders for the Public Service in

Malaysia through the transformation programme. They, in

turn, will spread the spirit of transformation in leading their

respective organisations.

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RELENTLESSLY PURSUING IMPACT

53. Consultants on the ground such as Aiken and Keller

point out that organizational energy is a crucial ingredient

for successful transformation. And they say that there is no

substitute for a CEO to direct his or her personal energy to

ensure that transformation truly has an impact.

54. The CEO has to be ready to roll up the sleeve to deliver

initiatives that bring maximum impact. This we have done

very effectively for the KTJPA initiatives. Due to time

constraint, let me illustrate just a few.

55. Under the reengineering strategic thrust, JPA

successfully reviewed its organizational structure that

resulted in the reduction of 507 posts with emolument cost

reduced by RM12.8 million. This is the first time that JPA

itself has reduced its establishment size so significantly.

JPA personnel who were redeployed to other agencies

became the ambassadors of transformation at their new

agencies. Voluntarily reducing posts is not the norm. As

such it required my personal intervention and constant

monitoring in order for it to succeeed.

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56. The most recent initiative is the Rationalisation of

Schemes of Service under SSM for Federal Agencies that

was announced on 14th April 2016. Under this exercise 252

schemes of service in the public service were reviewed and

we now have reduced the number to 240 schemes. The

exercise was successfully implemented on 1st July 2016.

57. The rationale is to attract and retain talent, improve

mobility and career development, create flexibility in

service matters, streamline terms and conditions for

appointment in line with current requirements, improve

management of schemes and provide for TVET

qualifications in the relevant schemes of service.

58. Another successful initiative is the transformation of

INTAN. The first step was to restructure INTAN through the

establishment of eight new clusters in 2013. The next focus

was to enhance and upgrade the programmes offered by the

various clusters. A key programme is the Post Graduate

Diploma in Public Administration for Cadet PTD. For the

first time, INTAN’s Post Graduate Diploma programme has

received accreditation from the Malaysia Qualification

Agency (MQA). This is something that INTAN can be proud

of.

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59. Under Revitalising Talent, in 2015 alone, more than

90,000 officers and staff in different schemes of service

were promoted or approved to act on higher positions. One

focus area was to enable better career development

opportunities for officers in closed service departments.

60. In addition, more than 600 officers in common user

schemes on grades 48 to 54 were placed on the Fast Track

scheme as part of the effort to revitalise the public service.

This is in line with the changing profile of the public service

with nearly 70 percent of the public service now made up of

those from Generation Y and Z.

61. Under the Enhancing Service Delivery or Merakyatkan

Perkhidmatan Awam strategic thrust, JPA has introduced 2

major service delivery initiatives under the NBOS agenda

namely 1PESARA and 1SERVE. Now, multiple services of

the different divisions of JPA are privided through 1SERVE

as one focal point. Both initiatives were featured

prominently during the ICBOS conference in PICC last week

and captured the attention of foreign delegates.

62. What is more unique about 1SERVE is that you can

also do transactions beyond JPA such as applying for

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international passport, renewing your driver license or

applying for your myKad.

63. Between November 2015 and August 2016, more than

28, 972 customers have transacted at the 1Serve counter in

JPA.

64. On 8th April 2016 we introduced the 1SERVE Transit

Lounge@JPA4U and Buggy Service as a value added service

under the 1SERVE Serve initiative. Since its introduction,

6,684 customers of JPA have utilised the buggy service.

65. The key point I want to make here is that through the

implementation of 1SERVE, we can clearly show the link

between JPA’s core business of talent development and

service delivery. JPA has broken tradition by moving beyond

its conventional human resource focus. We have also shown

that we can ‘Do More With Less For More’.

EXPANDING THE TRANSFORMATION AGENDA

66. As you are aware, we began expanding the

transformation drive since 2014 by rolling out the Kerangka

Transformasi Perkhidmatan Awam (KTPA) to all ministries.

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We have been engaging all ministries through JPA4U

process. Our last engagement was through the KTPA

Gallery Walk with all 24 ministries that involved 400

officers. The Gallery Walk identified 72 high impact

initiatives to be implemented at the respective ministries.

67. Therefore, as you return to your respective ministries

after this programme, it is expected that you will play an

integral role in your respective positions to support the

Public Service Transformation agenda in your ministries and

agencies.

CLOSING REMARKS

Ladies and Gentlemen,

68. Transformation is a long and difficult journey. It

requires a lot of patience and persistence. I hope you can

take some lessons from the JPA transformation journey that

I described earlier.

69. On that note, thank you for listening and once again, I

would like to thank INTAN for giving me this opportunity to

share my thoughts and ideas with all of you. Now, I would

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like to hear your views on transformation and how to further

improve the public service.

Wabillahitaufik Walhidayah Wassalamualaikum

Warahmatulahi Wabarakatuh. And thank you.