Goals, strategies and priorities for the General Secretariat and three Bureaux

Goals, strategies and priorities for the General Secretariat and three Bureaux

A. The secretariat mission

47. The mission of the secretariat (meaning the General Secretariat and the three Bureaux) is to provide high-quality, efficient services to the Union's membership and customers in response to the needs they have identified and within the limits of the resources made available by the membership.

B. The secretariat environment

48. The secretariat shares the environmental challenges, constraints and opportunities identified in part II above. The main challenge it faces is to maintain established standards of quality and efficiency while responding to steadily increasing service demands in an environment characterized by:

"zero-growth" in the financial resources derived from assessed contributions which finance the bulk of the Union's activities;

organizational and managerial rules derived from the United Nations common system;

a situation in which any significant undertaking beyond the responsibilities outlined in the Convention should be identified, approved specifically by the Council in advance and coordinated with the membership.

C. Goals for improved management of the secretariat

49. To address these challenges, the secretariat should pursue these strategic objectives:

49.1 Efficiency, transparency, openness, customer service and effectiveness.

49.2 Quick, efficient and high-quality response to membership needs.

49.3 Create conditions that would enable development of:

a shared view of the ITU's fundamental purposes;

a common understanding of the priorities of the Union as they may change from time to time;

a willingness and a capacity to act in concert, supporting one another in the achievement of departmental and organizational objectives;

a common organizational culture;

a customer orientation that includes responsiveness, efficiency, flexibility and accountability.

49.4 Instil an organizational climate:

that is representative of diversity of cultures, backgrounds, opinions and values;

that supports risk taking;

in which delegation is encouraged and responsibility accepted;

in which communication and information flow are facilitated;

in which committees are properly used and decisions are taken by appropriate managers;

in which managers exercise flexibility and rules are used not to inhibit but to facilitate.

49.5 Build essential skills so that staff acquire the required competencies:

to exercise good interpersonal skills;

to function effectively in difficult situations;

to manage resources for the achievement of results.

49.6 Set objectives that move the organization forward in a time of great change so that:

all staff are evaluated and rewarded for the achievement of agreed objectives;

staff anticipate and manage change.

D. Priorities of the secretariat

50. To achieve the above strategic objectives, the following priorities have been set for 1999-2003:

50.1 To improve the quality and efficiency of services provided to the ITU membership and the Union's other customers by:

using the cost attribution framework for ITU products and services which was created in response to the recommendations of ITU-2000 to develop a comprehensive set of quality, efficiency and productivity indicators for all ITU activities;

outsourcing products and services if the result is a net benefit to the Union's membership.

50.2 To improve the development and management of human resources by:

recruiting people with the skills required to serve the Union's members and customers in the new telecommunication environment, while paying attention to the need for a more representative geographic, gender and other balance;

improving training policies and programmes for staff at all levels so that they have the competencies needed in the new environment and are fully prepared to assume new roles and responsibilities;

ensuring greater flexibility in the deployment of human resources to respond to emerging requirements and enrich career opportunities;

continuing to develop middle level and senior management skills in the secretariat.

50.3 To improve the management of secretariat resources through:

improvements to formal planning, management and reviewing systems;

greater delegation of authority to managers, with appropriate accountability and control mechanisms;

enhanced coordination between strategic, financial and performance management systems.

50.4 To adapt the secretariat's organizational culture to the new environment by:

continuing improvements to internal communication;

instilling a culture of customer service, entrepreneurship, accountability, recognition of performance and continuous learning.

50.5 To extend operational planning to the three Sectors and General Secretariat as a mechanism to enhance accountability and transparency, and link this management tool to the strategic planning and budgeting process, given the symmetry required between the objectives and priority activities outlined in the strategic plan and the costing analysis of ITU products and services specified in the financial plan.n

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