Developing talent in municipalities involves integrated long-term planning, career planning, and encouraging a coaching or mentoring culture to achieve vision and objectives. Implicit in this is identifying future leaders to ensure continuity. How one goes about this differentiates municipalities, and Weskus has two innovative applications to fuel its talent pipeline. Two Weskus initiatives arise from close partnerships with the private sector, namely Solvem and BSN (Business School Netherlands).
SOLVEM
Solvem enables Weskus Distrik’s learnership programme where young talent serves with Weskus for a year. On completion of the year, learners are ‘workplace ready’. Some are selected to continue with Weskus, while others are equipped to enter the workplace.
The year is intense, with many trained as operators for the state of art Disaster and Emergency Centre, while others are seconded to other key portfolios in Weskus. What emerges are disciplined youngsters who understand accountability, effective communication, integrity, and the value of teamwork.
BSN (Business School Netherlands).
Offering MBA programmes, short management courses, masterclasses and executive education, a key attraction behind Weskus partnering with BSN is the in-company model which can be customised.
The partnership with SOLVEM prepares young talent, while BSN addresses the ‘collective’ development needs of officials, managers and executives.
When you add the ongoing mentoring from the architects of fifteen consecutive clean audits and SA’s best run municipality award, the collective Weskus team is geared to manage the challenges of today and grasp tomorrow’s opportunities.
