The Centre of Excellence in Public Service Leadership provides guidance and support for the professional development of top civil servants by offering a wide range of development activities, including conferences, thematic development programs and training, mentoring and coaching, consultations, job shadowing and secondments.
Key objectives of top civil servants development
- Enhancing leadership competencies – ensuring the continuous and structured improvement of top executives' skills to elevate the quality of leadership in civil service, enabling effective and forward-looking governance.
- Driving institutional and national development – supporting innovative and efficient solutions and the advancement of modern public services through leadership training.
- Fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange – strengthening networks and promoting shared leadership practices across the public sector by encouraging cooperation, peer learning, and experience-sharing.
Evaluation of top civil servants
The development of top civil servants is guided by their individual growth needs, which are identified through:
- Initial discussions at the start of their tenure
- Competency assessments
- Findings from studies and analyses
Each top civil servant undergoes at least one formal competency evaluation during their term of office. The purpose of this evaluation is to provide structured feedback on their performance, including the methods and approaches they use to achieve results.
The competency assessment results serve as a key input for the top civil servant’s development and evaluation discussions, ensuring a continuous and strategic approach to leadership growth.
Development of top civil servants
The development of top civil servants is designed with a strategic and forward-looking approach, taking into account:
- Global megatrends and developments (e.g., pandemics, security and refugee crises)
- Estonia’s long-term development strategies (such as "Estonia 2035")
- Government priorities
- Research and analyses on leadership quality
- Findings and recommendations from previous development initiatives
In planning and implementing development activities, the Government Office collaborates with ministries and various training institutions, including universities in Estonia and abroad.
Formats of development activities
Individual and group-based development activities
These activities aim to enhance executives' knowledge and experience in key priority areas, such as radical innovation, green innovation, data-driven and scientific decision-making, digitalization and the use of artificial intelligence
The activities include thematic development programs, study visits, conferences, mentoring and coaching, consultations.
Cross-sector collaboration
These initiatives foster cooperation between public institutions, research and development organizations, the private sector, and civil society, creating opportunities for knowledge exchange, joint problem-solving, innovative solutions to shared challenges
Executives from various sectors and representatives from R&D institutions are actively involved in these innovation-driven development initiatives.
Thematic development projects
Designed to support and sustain the long-term innovation capacity of top executives, these projects focus on curating learning materials and resources, developing e-learning environments, creating methodologies and assessment tools, conducting research to support executive development.
Development of top civil servants from 2024 to 2029
The development strategy for Estonia’s top civil service executives in 2024–2029 focuses on enhancing their capacity for innovation by improving leadership quality. This initiative is part of a broader cohesion policy fund implementation plan, which aims to support Estonia’s smart specialization, industrial transition, and the development of business skills.
The “Estonia 2035” strategy sets ambitious goals for public governance, emphasizing the importance of innovation-driven and research-based economic development. In the current climate of continuous crisis, experts see an opportunity to redefine societal goals and identify the necessary capabilities and resources to achieve them. This creates favorable conditions for planning and initiating reforms.
To strengthen the government’s role as a driver of innovation and as a bridge between stakeholders, continuous modernization is required at multiple levels: organizational structures, leadership frameworks, partnership models across sectors.
These challenges demand that top executives excel in leading large-scale initiatives, fostering collaboration among stakeholders, and developing their teams and organizations. For the public sector to act as a leader in innovation, it must adopt a culture of innovation—supported by adaptive structures, efficient processes, and well-developed human competencies.
Funding of development activities
Development activities for top civil servants are financed from the state budget for the years 2024–2029 and through the European Union Cohesion Fund project “Avaliku teenistuse tippjuhtide innovatsioonivõimekuse tõstmine läbi juhtimiskvaliteedi arendamise.”
The initiative “Avaliku teenistuse tippjuhtide innovatsioonivõimekuse tõstmine läbi juhtimiskvaliteedi arendamise ” is a programme for the period 2024–2029 aimed at strengthening the leadership and innovation competencies of Estonia’s top civil servants (e.g., development programmes, trainings, mentoring, cooperation with research and development institutions). Its objective is to improve leadership quality and support smart, evidence-based solutions in public governance. The project is part of the EU Cohesion Policy Programme 2021–2027.
The work is carried out on the basis of § 10 (2) and (4) of the Implementation Act of the European Union Cohesion and Internal Security Policy Funds for 2021–2027, and in accordance with the directive of the Secretary of State of 11 October 2023 establishing the “Toetuse andmise tingimused avaliku teenistuse tippjuhtide innovatsioonivõimekuse tõstmiseks läbi juhtimiskvaliteedi arendamise.”
The directive sets out the conditions and procedure for granting support for the intervention “Avaliku teenistuse tippjuhtide innovatsioonivõimekuse tõstmine läbi juhtimiskvaliteedi arendamise,” which forms part of measure 21.1.4.3 “Avaliku sektori innovatsioonivõimekuse tõstmine” under the specific objective “Aruka spetsialiseerumise, tööstusliku ülemineku ja ettevõtluse oskuste arendamine” of the policy objective “Nutikam Eesti” within the 2021–2027 Cohesion Policy Programme.
Project objective
The purpose of the support is to contribute to achieving the specific objective of the programme and to advance the development needs of “Eesti 2035” as well as the implementation of the smart specialisation areas set out in the Research, Development, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Plan (TAIE). This is done by strengthening the innovation capacity and leadership quality of topp civil servants.
Project outcome
As a result of the support, topp civil servants will have stronger competencies and a more prominent role as leaders of innovation, drivers of change, and promoters of cross-sectoral cooperation. Their expertise in the areas of smart specialisation, the green transition, and digital services will also increase.
Project budget
As a result of the support, topp civil servants will have stronger competencies and a more prominent role as leaders of innovation, drivers of change, and promoters of cross-sectoral cooperation. Their expertise in the areas of smart specialisation, the green transition, and digital services will also increase.
Last updated: 13.11.2025
