[Gwanga in] Work Method Like 'McKinsey'... Ministry of Economy and Finance Entrusts Employee Training to Private Sector

20 Officials Intensive Training
Problem Approach Planning and Resolution Methods
Aligned with Ministry of Economy and Finance Tasks

Recently, officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance underwent short-term training at the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company to enhance their problem-solving skills. This was the first training conducted since Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Economy and Finance, declared his intention to transform the Ministry’s problem-solving approach into the McKinsey style.

According to related government agencies on the 28th, about 20 officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance recently received training on problem-solving skills at McKinsey’s office located in Yeouido, Seoul. This training targeted officials from the 62nd to 64th Administrative Examination cohorts. Those who could not participate in this session will attend the training scheduled for September.

Last month, during a ‘Work Style Innovation Live Broadcast’ held for internal staff, Deputy Prime Minister Choi announced plans to change the Ministry’s work execution methods to resemble those of McKinsey. At that time, he stated that the Ministry would apply McKinsey-style work execution methods and, in the mid to long term, introduce McKinsey-type performance evaluations for staff assessments.

The intention was to benchmark McKinsey’s problem-solving approach, which involves establishing initial hypotheses and quickly drafting storylines, to rapidly address the issues facing our society. Deputy Prime Minister Choi said, “We plan to provide many opportunities for practical staff to receive training or testing in the private sector,” adding, “To this end, we will support staff training to ensure they receive substantial education.”

This training was also conducted as a short-term course to practice McKinsey’s approach, which involves accepting various private sector projects and solving them within a short period. It is said that the training intensity was by no means low. The process of accepting a specific problem, applying McKinsey’s problem-solving method to produce results in a short time, and presenting the outcomes was conducted intensively.

The responses from the participating officials were positive. They agreed that although the problem-solving targets differed, the Ministry’s work execution methods were similar, allowing them to glimpse the private sector’s systematic approach. One official who participated in the training said, “I was surprised that McKinsey’s work execution method, which involves taking on projects that require solutions in a short time, resembled the Ministry’s method of preparing convincing report materials for new tasks,” adding, “The only difference was whether the problem to be solved was in the public domain or not, so there was much to learn from their approach.”

The officials also expressed hope that opportunities to receive training from private companies would increase. Another official said, “External training acts as a stimulus to reflect on existing work execution methods, so having more of these opportunities would be helpful.”