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10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook
Being a public servant is an honour and a privilege on the one hand but a great responsibility on the other. Faithful discharge of your duties demands you being very effective in service delivery, efficient in execution and honest in your public dealing. This short handbook is an attempt to list down the skills which can help you to transform yourself into that mould. Fortunately, all these skills which you will need while performing your duties, can be learnt and are not inherited. It only demands whole hearted commitment and dedicated efforts to learn them.
317 pages, Paperback
Published May 2, 2025
4 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Shahid Hussain Raja
117 books68 followers“There is no greater sorrow than to know another's secret when you cannot help them.”
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 5, 2017
10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook
The discipline of political science dominates most collegiate and University curricula throughout North America and the U.K. This isn’t surprising given the rapid pace of change that characterizes global disorder since the fall of Communist Marxism in 1991. But Universities, Colleges have fallen behind in admitting a difficult truth regarding the training needed to succeed. Formal institutionalized training is fitting for positivist sciences, but cannot be an effective instrument in training for the coalescing and defense of public and foreign policy. What the end of the Cold War introduced was a return to a unity of labor and capital demonstrated in fielding hard capital skills. The source of enduring professional achievement is human capital.
10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook is requisite reading for any student of foreign affairs or public policy. Covering how nation states construe interests from within the vortex of geography of history to the implicit need for technological skills evidences a turn in how to shape future leaders in public service.
The handbook covers the varied requisite hard capital skills needed to circumvent pitfalls that often derail careers. Having spent decades teaching students the craft of international relations, professor Raja has crafted an unrivaled manuscript to assist those who seek careers in foreign service and public policy.
The discipline of political science dominates most collegiate and University curricula throughout North America and the U.K. This isn’t surprising given the rapid pace of change that characterizes global disorder since the fall of Communist Marxism in 1991. But Universities, Colleges have fallen behind in admitting a difficult truth regarding the training needed to succeed. Formal institutionalized training is fitting for positivist sciences, but cannot be an effective instrument in training for the coalescing and defense of public and foreign policy. What the end of the Cold War introduced was a return to a unity of labor and capital demonstrated in fielding hard capital skills. The source of enduring professional achievement is human capital.
10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook is requisite reading for any student of foreign affairs or public policy. Covering how nation states construe interests from within the vortex of geography of history to the implicit need for technological skills evidences a turn in how to shape future leaders in public service.
The handbook covers the varied requisite hard capital skills needed to circumvent pitfalls that often derail careers. Having spent decades teaching students the craft of international relations, professor Raja has crafted an unrivaled manuscript to assist those who seek careers in foreign service and public policy.
September 8, 2020
It was a pleasure to read the 10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook by a retired civil servant, Shahid Hussain Raja. As rightly pointed out by the author that being a public servant is an honour and a privilege on the one hand but a great responsibility on the other. Why ? Because, in order to faithfully discharge their duties, it demands public servants to be very effective in service delivery, efficient in execution, and honest in their public dealing. A Tall order? Not necessarily.
This short handbook is an attempt to list down the skills which can help a public servant to transform himself into that mould. Ranging from ethical leadership to interpersonal skills on the one hand to critical thinking and computer literacy on the other, it is an exhaustive list. Fortunately, all these skills which he will need while performing his duties can be learnt and are not inherited. It only demands wholehearted commitment and dedicated efforts to learn them. I think this is an extremely valuable addition to the literature on this subject.
This short handbook is an attempt to list down the skills which can help a public servant to transform himself into that mould. Ranging from ethical leadership to interpersonal skills on the one hand to critical thinking and computer literacy on the other, it is an exhaustive list. Fortunately, all these skills which he will need while performing his duties can be learnt and are not inherited. It only demands wholehearted commitment and dedicated efforts to learn them. I think this is an extremely valuable addition to the literature on this subject.
June 14, 2020
“10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook” by Shahid Hussain Raja, a retired bureaucrat, contains useful tips and pieces of advice not only for any public servant working in any capacity or level but also for anyone working in the private sector as a manager. Extremely useful for the effective and efficient discharge of his/her duties, it highlights the major challenges any public servant faces in any country in a rapidly changing world and then points out the way to respond to these challenges. It has been translated into French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
July 19, 2017
I have just completed reading “10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook” which I received as an attachment in my inbox. Frankly, I am not a keen reader of the non-fiction but became curious to read it after seeing its catchy title. I just wanted to know the ten skills he thinks are essential for those who play such an important role in our life. Although, after reading the book, they turned out to be the same which you should expect from a public servant i.e., leadership, morality, emotional intelligence etc., yet what intrigued me the most and forced me to complete the book was the way he has explained these skills, their importance and above all how these can be applied and should be applied in day to day official duties.
For example, when he says that inter-personal relations and communications is an important skill to be mastered by a civil servant, he takes great pains to guide him how to use these skills in his day to day dealings such as 12 rules of negotiations, 8 principles of conducting meeting etc. Similarly, his guidelines regarding asking good questions are invaluable for anyone to master the technique of fielding critical but answerable questions during a meeting or to a speaker.
While reading, the book was a pleasant experience, some of the points he makes forced me to change my views. For example, ethics to me was synonymous to morality and that too about being financially honest. Honestly. However, after reading his book, I now know that ethics and morality are interrelated but different concepts-conceptually as well as practically. (Morality is your personal moral values; ethics are organisational norms and codes of behaviour expected from a member of that organisation).
His advice to the public servants that in case of conflict between the two, the public servant should follow the organisational ethics rather his/her personal morality, leaves a bitter taste in the mouth but he has a point. Taking someone’s life is a crime as well as a moral sin. Right? But if you are in the armed forces, you must kill the enemy in the war. If you don’t, then you will be court martialled for jeopardising the lives of your colleagues. Similarly, lifelong learning and capacity building is part and parcel of ethical behaviour expected from a civil servant; not doing so is unethical! Frankly never knew it!
Although the book has been written primarily for the guidance of the civil servants, rather senior public servants, yet it is extremely helpful for all those who are involved any type of management- governmental or non-governmental organisations(NGOs) and private sector management. corporate. Additionally, it can be used by the students of management-public administration or business administration as well by a general reader who wants to improve his leadership and management skills.
For example, when he says that inter-personal relations and communications is an important skill to be mastered by a civil servant, he takes great pains to guide him how to use these skills in his day to day dealings such as 12 rules of negotiations, 8 principles of conducting meeting etc. Similarly, his guidelines regarding asking good questions are invaluable for anyone to master the technique of fielding critical but answerable questions during a meeting or to a speaker.
While reading, the book was a pleasant experience, some of the points he makes forced me to change my views. For example, ethics to me was synonymous to morality and that too about being financially honest. Honestly. However, after reading his book, I now know that ethics and morality are interrelated but different concepts-conceptually as well as practically. (Morality is your personal moral values; ethics are organisational norms and codes of behaviour expected from a member of that organisation).
His advice to the public servants that in case of conflict between the two, the public servant should follow the organisational ethics rather his/her personal morality, leaves a bitter taste in the mouth but he has a point. Taking someone’s life is a crime as well as a moral sin. Right? But if you are in the armed forces, you must kill the enemy in the war. If you don’t, then you will be court martialled for jeopardising the lives of your colleagues. Similarly, lifelong learning and capacity building is part and parcel of ethical behaviour expected from a civil servant; not doing so is unethical! Frankly never knew it!
Although the book has been written primarily for the guidance of the civil servants, rather senior public servants, yet it is extremely helpful for all those who are involved any type of management- governmental or non-governmental organisations(NGOs) and private sector management. corporate. Additionally, it can be used by the students of management-public administration or business administration as well by a general reader who wants to improve his leadership and management skills.
August 6, 2017
10 Essential Skills for Public Servants is a
great contribution to the global literature on that topic.
The author Shahid Hussain Raja made his pen has been working in the benevolence of any public servants that are willing to serve better.
For sure, it is a summary of major problems any public servant faces, sooner or later, in the global aspect.
How to keep pace in a rapidly changing world?
What crucial skills servant in any role in the public sector needs?
Anyone who carefully read, will easily found out that this handbook could be a very useful.
By showing strong writing skills, the author has successfully achieved, to present the topic.
That on a simple but an interesting way.
Easy to read and to understand. I recommend.
Thank you, Shahid Hussain Raja!
M.Sc. Nikolina Bačić Jemrić
great contribution to the global literature on that topic.
The author Shahid Hussain Raja made his pen has been working in the benevolence of any public servants that are willing to serve better.
For sure, it is a summary of major problems any public servant faces, sooner or later, in the global aspect.
How to keep pace in a rapidly changing world?
What crucial skills servant in any role in the public sector needs?
Anyone who carefully read, will easily found out that this handbook could be a very useful.
By showing strong writing skills, the author has successfully achieved, to present the topic.
That on a simple but an interesting way.
Easy to read and to understand. I recommend.
Thank you, Shahid Hussain Raja!
M.Sc. Nikolina Bačić Jemrić
June 11, 2020
I have just completed reading “10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook” written by a retired civil servant Shahid Hussain Raja. What intrigued me the most and forced me to complete the book was the way he has taken pains to explain the ten skills the author considers essential for faithful discharge of duties by a public servant, their importance and above all how these can be applied and should be applied in day to day official duties.
For example, while highlighting the importance of interpersonal relations and communications for a civil servant, he takes great pains to guide him how to use these skills in his day to day dealings such as 12 rules of negotiations, 8 principles of conducting the meeting, how to ask good and critical but answerable questions during a meeting or to a speaker.
Although the book has been written primarily for the guidance of the civil servants, rather senior public servants, yet it is extremely helpful for all those who are involved in any type of management- governmental or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private sector management. corporate. Additionally, it can be used by the students of management-public administration or business administration as well by a general reader who wants to improve his leadership and management skills.
For example, while highlighting the importance of interpersonal relations and communications for a civil servant, he takes great pains to guide him how to use these skills in his day to day dealings such as 12 rules of negotiations, 8 principles of conducting the meeting, how to ask good and critical but answerable questions during a meeting or to a speaker.
Although the book has been written primarily for the guidance of the civil servants, rather senior public servants, yet it is extremely helpful for all those who are involved in any type of management- governmental or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private sector management. corporate. Additionally, it can be used by the students of management-public administration or business administration as well by a general reader who wants to improve his leadership and management skills.
June 10, 2020
It is usually said that public service is a difficult job be it a developed state or developing state. The main reason behind the notion is that the culture of public service which is unlike private sector and lacks modernization and other tools necessary to achieve its goals. This book is a handy source for those who are already in public service or aspire to become public servant so that they can to equip themselves with the modern skills and toolkit. Moreover, it also suggests what attitude a public servant should possess as he/she is answerable largely to the public. Furthermore, the book also emphasizes and shows how to achieve emotional intelligence, which is considered an important requirement in modern-day public service and the and also lays stress on technological prowess which is crucial for the purpose of public service. All in all, the skill-set discussed in the book will not only help individual associated with public service and the concerned department with enhancing efficiency, but it will also assist the person in the vertical development of his/her career.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews