Mission Impossible: Applicability of Competency-Based Development System to Top Managers. The Case of Estonian Civil Service

Acting as an EU member state and implementing new developments in the administrative system have also set great expectations and demands to the management of Estonian public service. In 2004 Estonian Senior Civil Servants Competency Framework was created to be used in the leadership development and succession planning of top managers. The main aim of this paper is to analyze, based on the empirical data and the comments from this paper’s authors as the central coordinators of the system the opportunities and challenges of building up a centrally managed senior civil servants assessment and development system, relying on the competency framework and the state’s strategic objectives. The process and results of the two annually held top managers competency assessment periods will be evaluated, together with a number of training and development activities designed based on these results.