Department of Civil Servant Development

    Taipei City Government’s Department of Civil Servant Development hosted a city governance forum for the Long-term Management Program on December 27. Around 350 Senior executive officers, section chiefs, mid- and junior-level managers participated in the event both physically and online, and the discussion with Deputy Mayor Huang helped them to better understand Taipei City Government’s core values of honesty, integrity, teamwork, creativity, excellence, openness and sharing.

      Program trainees utilized Slido during the forum to interact with the Deputy Mayor, who encouraged everyone to be brave and take action, as this will have fruitful impact on their future careers in public service, and not to go against the principles of legality and one’s conscience when faced with pressure. Deputy Mayor Huang also shared her thoughts on being a manager with all the other managers in the room. She recommends delegating tasks based on the characteristics and traits of every staff member to cater to their individual strengths and strive for fairness. She also called for city government managers to listen to what employees have to say and create a culture of trust and communication within the organization.

     One audience member asked how the Deputy Mayor keeps track of every task while working day and night. Deputy Mayor Huang replied that she manages her time with a to-do list, prioritizing the more urgent tasks and working her way down methodically. The key to Deputy Mayor Huang’s management system is to review the important tasks and ideas of the day every night since timely review helps memorization.

     The forum also arranged for Director Kwei-Bo Huang of the Global and Regional Risk Assessment Center, from the College of International Affairs at National Chengchi University, to deliver a seminar on the Taiwan-US-China relationship from a risk assessment and management perspective. The seminar aims to foster a more international vision for trainees, using the power struggle between the US and China to interpret hidden meanings in the dynamics of the international playing field.

     Echoing this theme, a video on the Taipei Friendship Tour by the External Affairs team of Taipei City Government was also played at the forum, and Commissioner Tom Chou of the Department of Civil Servant Development spoke on the progress Taipei City Government has made in regards to city diplomacy. Commissioner Chou shared that, since the latter half of last year, the city government has visited over 50 foreign offices and conducted video conferences with 7 major international cities. Aside from business cooperation proposals, there have been 18 cultural activities in collaboration with these foreign partners to great response. This has greatly enhanced Taipei City’s relationship with foreign offices stationed in Taiwan and major international cities, as well as increased Taiwan’s international profile.