Fashion advice: When should I wear a tie?

Ever since Adam and Eve failed to follow their deity’s dietary advice, mankind has been cursed with clothing and, worse, conversations about what to wear at work. In particular, the tie is a constant source of consternation: are they outmoded, anachronistic, or still the best way for a man to look smart?

Honestly, it really doesn’t matter any more. The only people who comment on clothing in the office are people who want their own to be noticed. It’s the same rule with haircuts; people focussing on their work have much better things to be getting on with. Of course, there are some exceptions when a discussion of men’s fashion is appropriate in the workplace, for example, if you work in the armed forces, Antartica, or are a butler.

But if you’re none of those things, you may still be concerned that your dress sense will be criticised. After all, in the last month, Jeremy Paxman has garnered a healthy amount of commentary on his decision to ditch his neckwear – yet another Newsnight scandal. Meanwhile, the BBC’s new acting director general was forced into a U-turn on the topic, donning a navy blue number after a pensioner complained that he looked unprofessional.

So what are the rules on wearing a tie, and when is it appropriate to do so?

1. When meeting the Queen.

2. When attending a funeral.

3. Whenever you feel like it.

And when shouldn’t you wear a tie?

1. When visiting an industrial chemical plant.

2. When using wood grinding equipment.

3. Whenever you don’t feel like it.

Many aspects of office etiquette do still apply in the modern world. Wearing a suit is a good idea, because it makes you blend in. Being polite and shaking hands is also probably a good career move. But fretting about whether to strangle yourself with a slip of silk is really quite unnecessary.

It’s surprising that the tie has been considered important for so long. After all, there are far superior items of smart clothing that are now anachronistic. Take breeches, for example. They’re perfect for cycling to work in, and are warm enough for outdoor work, while still not too stuffy for overheated modern workplaces. Woollen suit trousers are far inferior in comparison.

Nonetheless, the tie persists because not wearing one can often be too much of a statement – making you look like a city trader or a 1980s advertising executive. The trick is really just to wear something smart and focus on your work, instead. Work maketh the man, as it were, while clothes merely keep him warm.

The tie doesn’t even achieve that, but if you’re going to wear one, how should you tie it?

1. Tie it, leave your top button undone and loosen the tie, pulling it slightly to one side. This makes you look as though you’ve been having a really tough day in the office, or have just rolled off the last train home after a heavy night out. This look is particularly favoured by journalists who want to pretend to be in All The President’s Men.

2. Tie it tight, leave it fat. This look is favoured in Essex and by Premiership footballers. It derives from an early style of tying a cravat, I believe.

3. Tie it as you always tie it, and concentrate on something else instead.

What the civil service thinks of the coalition’s direction of travel

I have just surveyed 1,395 civil servants about their opinions of public service reform. What are the key capabilities that departments must improve? What civil service strengths are most at risk? What do they make of key government policies, including localism and transparency? And do they agree that it should be easier to remove poor performing civil servants (you’ll be surprised by this one)?

It’s probably my best piece of work. Hope you like it.

And so it came to pass…

A couple of years ago, I was passed a draft policy document that set out plans to outsource civil service training and shut the National School of Government.

It has just happened, exactly as predicted.

Open Data – it ain’t that easy

The coalition government is keen to give away more public sector data in an effort to stimulate the economy, something dubbed ‘open data.’

I caught up with Vanessa Lawrence, chief executive of Ordnance Survey, to find out what her public sector trading fund thinks of the proposals. OS already gives some of its data for free, but she’s worried that if it gives any more away, it won’t be able to afford to gather the data in the first place – with pretty wide-reaching consequences.

If you’re interested in the discussions around open data, you can read the full interview here.

Maude vs the Civil Service – Fast Stream reform

Recently, I obtained a letter to civil servants that outlined some internal discussions in Whitehall over how the civil service should look in the future – in particular, how it trains the next generation of mandarins. Maude wants to radically reform the Fast Stream graduate programme, but his ideas aren’t universally popular amongst senior civil servants, who are concerned by some of the practical implications of his plans.

Thinking more about the topic, I decided it was ripe for an expansive feature. I examined each of Maude’s proposals in turn (set out in the letter) and sought comment and comparison from HR experts, private companies, and of course, civil servants. I also spoke to the chief executive of HMRC, Lin Homer, who is leading the reform efforts. She explained the ongoing discussions, and the compromise plans that are being examined. My pieces were sent to all civil service Fast Streamers to give them the full low-down, which I was rather chuffed by.

Finally, I caught up with Maude a couple of weeks ago, and he set out his new thinking on how the scheme should operate.

Darling: A decade of stagnation

I’ve decided to use this blog as a place to showcase some of the interviews and features that I’ve written for Civil Service World over the past few years. First up is an interview with Alistair Darling, which was written at the later part of last year. I knew little about economics past the A Level I sat in it yonks ago, so I felt a bit like a geeky version of Rocky Balboa when I spent the weeks leading up to this interview reminding myself of basic concepts, memorising key vocabulary and reading relevant texts – including, of course, Darling’s own book.

He was pretty strong in suggesting that we are on track for a decade of economic stagnation, although – as with other interviews he’s given – this view now seems to have been commonly accepted.

As befits a CSW interview, we went quite in-depth into the principles of public administration and his method of governing – something that was notably different from his predecessor Gordon Brown, and his successor George Osborne. He identifies problems with Brown’s approach, and how his closed working-style went on to cause chaos at Number 10 (“there was just so much going wrong”). As for Osborne, a senior civil servant in the Treasury recently painted a picture of Osborne’s management style that seems to build on Darling’s model of actively involving his civil servants, but takes it one step further: Osborne pushes them to challenge his Conservative manifesto commitments. Not what I expected of him, but something that his biographers will doubtless examine in much detail.

Filling the Harley-shaped holes

It was announced yesterday that government’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), Joe Harley, is leaving at the end of the financial year. This is something of a shock, because Harley has been heralded as the man who will transform government’s IT fortunes. It’s also quite concerning because his own department, DWP, has a very large IT system that needs to be in place by 2013, and Harley will leave before the system is fully developed.

People come and go, but Harley’s departure highlights a structural problem, namely, the appointment of one official to do two (or more) roles. Harley is chief information officer for government and for DWP. This approach has also been mirrored in HR, with Chris Last performing the job for government and again for DWP. And the new head of the civil service, Sir Bob Kerslake, is also permanent secretary of DCLG.

Indeed, when cabinet secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell announced his departure, it took three people to replace him. Many experts have suggested that splitting the role is a problem, but isn’t it more concerning that some senior officials have so many responsibilities that their position can actually be split into a number of full-time jobs? If someone has so many responsibilities, how can they all be pursued with the time and effort they deserve?

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude is looking at what the future civil service will do. It would be wise for him to consider how many roles one official can be expected to have.

First published on the Civil Service Live Network