TONGYEONG — "Excessive protocol and duplicate paperwork were already being talked about 30 years ago."
That was the message South Gyeongsang Province Governor Park Wan-su delivered to his Grade 4 department heads. The province held its 2026 Innovation Leadership Training for Department Heads at the Stanford Hotel in Tongyeong from the 22nd to the 23rd.
The program was designed for senior officials at the Grade 4 level to improve organizational culture and strengthen innovative leadership. It covered techniques for dealing with the provincial council and the media, a debate on provincial administrative innovation, coaching skills for managing staff, job-specific training on the use of artificial intelligence, and a dialogue session between the governor and department heads.
On the second day, Park held the governor-department head dialogue session with about 40 Grade 4 department heads at the training venue. Participants shared the results of the earlier innovation debate and discussed ways to overhaul the organization under the theme "What to Add and What to Cut in South Gyeongsang's Organizational Innovation," including improvements to work practices and the creation of a more horizontal communication culture. The department heads spoke openly about the difficulties they face in communicating with and motivating staff and in running their organizations, and asked Park for advice on the role and attitude expected of managers.
"Excessive protocol, duplicate paperwork and the need to simplify reporting were already being talked about 30 years ago," Park said. "It is time to do away with unnecessary protocol and perfunctory reporting practices and focus on substantive work for residents."
"What matters is that department heads judge what should and should not be done, and set work priorities from the standpoint of residents," he added. "I have given division chiefs the authority to remove silos within the organization and to operate flexibly as circumstances require, so I ask department heads to lead their organizations with a sense of responsibility."
Park called on the department heads to act on the views raised at the session so that they translate into real change in the workplace.
The province said it will step up follow-up management so that the training and the dialogue session do not end as a one-off event. It plans to review the opinions and proposals raised at the session and reflect them in provincial administration, while continuing to push for better work practices and a more horizontal organizational culture.