Huadu in July is full of excitement. A three-month "real combat" training session has reached its fruitful moment. On July 20, Huadu District held a performance report meeting for the first batch of "Six-dimension Talent" position-specific trainees to give comprehensive demonstration of their practical achievements of the past three months. The 32 position-specific trainees took the stage one by one, and centering on "what has been learned, what has been done, and what has been accomplished", revealed their achievements, shared experiences, and talking about gains; and the representatives of host units of the training and mentor representatives of townships and streets exchanged experiences and commented on results.

According to preliminary statistics, during their position-specific training, the first batch of 32 "Six-dimension Talent” trainees visited 450 enterprises and projects, helped resolve 263 development bottlenecks, and produced 395 "golden ideas" of advice. They served the overall high-quality development of the region with a solid report card of tangible results. Vivid cases of tackling tough challenges, and profound, practical reflections are testimony to the facts that that Huadu District's innovative "Six-dimension Talents" practice-oriented training mechanism has delivered results, and that having "knowledge in economy, industry, enterprises, investment promotion, talent attraction, and service" is no longer just a theoretical measure of competency, instead it has gradually been internalized through practical training as a work skill of Huadu cadres.

A training system that breaks down barriers:

Cadres reshape their industrial thinking through cross-department and cross-field experience

"In the past, land is land only in my eyes; now, I see in land the lifeblood of the enterprise and the village's ledger," said a position-specific trainee in the District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs when describing his transformation. During the three months, trainees stepped out of their comfort zones, went into the workshops of Dongfeng Nissan and other companies to "tighten screws," and conducted benchmarking study at leading companies in the Greater Bay Area such as BYD and XtalPi in Shenzhen, to dress a glaring shortcoming of "knowing administration but not economy."

The idea innovation brought by cross-field job rotation training is also visibly reflected in grassroots cadres. "I started as a grassroots official who was familiar with the rural area only, and I walked step by step to appreciate the macro perspective in the District Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film, Television, Tourism, and Sports, receive cutting-edge training at CETC Potevio Science &Technology, and practice in the work floor of enterprises in Xinya Street. This cognitive shock brings it home to me that Huadu is a blessed place for entrepreneurial dreams and for the warmth of everyday life. I will bring what I have seen, learned, and done back to Lianxing Village, and to every position in Huadu that needs me.”

In addition to improving personal awareness and professional skills, the cross-departmental collaboration model has also reshaped cadres' approach to work. "If you can't make it to the site, I'll go there for you; I'll help you find resources that you missed. We share information and resources; division of labor will not divide us. When a company gets stuck at a point, a change of perspective or person might quickly solve it. It is only when the six people in the team work together as one that they can help the company solve more problems.” A post-90s cadre remarked in his speech that such understanding could only come from the front lines; sitting in an office would not make one think of or learn such thing.

"Looking back on the entire training process, it is my most direct impression that every one of us have truly stepped out of our comfort zones in the office.” According to a relevant official from the Huadu District Bureau of Science, Industry and Information Technology, position-specific trainees have achieved three key transformations: from "book-based thinking" to "practical thinking," from "single business" to "comprehensive all-around," and from "passive performance of duties" to "proactive taking of responsibility."

"Two-way position-specific training" effectively breaks down information and resource barriers between departments, enabling cadres to shift from "fighting alone" to “attacking collaboratively," and to break free from the limitations of individual positions and traditional administrative thinking, and build in real sense a holistic thinking that aims to connect industrial chains, align with market logic, and coordinate regional development.

A two-way practical training exercise:

Classrooms in workshops, and exam sites in towns and streets

What is gained from books always feels shallow; only practice in real world reveals the true form. A "4+1" method of town-street assistance to enterprise was strictly implemented for the position-specific trainees, that is, four days in a week were given to regularly visits to parks, enterprises, and projects, and one day was dedicated to cross-departmental consultations and problem assessments. It meant abandoning the "superficial" tours and moving offices to production workshops, project sites, and village frontlines.

During the training, the groups of trainees followed a mechanism in which they each had their own tasks but work collaboratively for the same purpose. Some was dedicated to attracting investment; they followed up through the whole process on project negotiations, site selection, and agreement signing, helping to promote the implementation of the projects of Merry Audio, Jin'an Logistics, and China National Aviation Fuel. Some focused on guarantee of essential resource supply, and coordination of solving bottlenecks of land use, pipeline networks, environmental impact assessments, and water and electricity support; their coordination effort managed to have the acceptance inspection of Lanhai Robot's outdoor drainage pipe network completed one week ahead of schedule, which significantly shortened the project preparation period. Some was deeply involved in grassroots governance, old village renovations and revitalizing of village-retained land; they helped the Yang’er Village achieve 100% contract signing rate for its renovation project, and the officially opening of the first phase of the Sanhua Micro Renovation Project. Many tricky problems saw new breakthroughs thanks to the continuous follow-up by the trainees.

“In the past, when problems appeared, out only response would be ‘I’ll ask around for you.’ Now we can directly assess the bottlenecks, coordinate and even mobilize resources to solve specific issues.” The advantage of the two-way position-specific training platform allows young cadres to transform from a “messenger” to quick problem-solvers, which earns praise from both enterprises and local governments.

A relevant person in charge of Shiling Town highly praised the “Six-dimension Talent” practical training system: “These cadres not only gained grassroots experience and filled professional gaps during the position-specific training, but also brought with them new ideas, shared for real the pressure of business service and project advancement at the grassroots level, effectively built an efficient communication bridge between governments of the District and towns, and enterprises. It has achieved mutual empowerment for cadre growth and local development.”

A tangible, hands-on performance report:

Measuring results through growth of projects and word of mouth of enterprises

Practical performance is the touchstone of the quality of the ‘Six-dimension Talents.’ These cadres didn’t act like visiting guests—they rolled up their sleeves and worked as “assistants” and “troubleshooters.”

“Serving enterprises and the public shall not be just lip service; it’s about helping companies solve real problems, and ensuring things like relocation compensation are handled on time,” shared a trainee from the District Commerce Bureau.

“Enterprise service is not judged by numbers only, but also about warm attitude. Whatever we promise must be delivered, and we should never make empty promises,” said a disciplinary inspection officer, who deeply experienced the difficulties enterprises face after a close participation experience in town-level initiatives. He led his team to workback schedule for opening of major projects, clear approval bottlenecks, and even help struggling enterprises find resources for exploring overseas markets.

Hearing the complaints of an enterprise that “premium clients didn’t even let us in”, a village official was deeply troubled and decided to help the enterprise open that “glass door.” After repeated on-site coordination, a batch of long-standing, tough issues that hindered the enterprises, like the removal of permanent walls and relocation of high-voltage lines, were resolved.

‘Six-dimension’ isn’t something that can be learned sitting in an office; it’s gained by visiting enterprises and through hands-on work. This has become a shared sentiment among all the trainees. They brought back valuable experience and they delivered real results. Working on the frontline of major projects, they have connected the 'last mile' from approval to acceptance. An innovative initiative proposed by a 'Huadu Excellent Talent', a PhD trainee, to move the item of drainage services from the back-end of the approval process to the front-end of the investment promotion stage, has now been promoted and applied across the whole District, which truly achieved the goal of 'service starts before the project.'

A two-way empowerment path for talent development:

'Three-County Joint Training' mechanism opens a new chapter in regional collaboration.

There was a special moment at the performance report meeting: nine outstanding young officials from Lianshan, Liannan, and Deqing counties joined Huadu District's 'Six-dimension Talent' program to receive position-specific training together with others. This marks the first move taken by Huadu's '1+3' cross-region joint training mechanism, signifying the 'Six-dimension Talent' brand’s expansion from Huadu to regional collaboration.

'We came with the challenge of how to break the bottlenecks in industrial development. The practical 'Six-dimension Talent' training platform allows us to deeply participate in Huadu’s growth and learn new methods directly on the frontlines of economic work to address the pain points of investment promotion,' said a representative from Liannan, full of anticipation. Representatives from Deqing and Lianshan also expressed the idea that they aimed to deeply learn from Huadu’s advanced investment promotion experience and bring these 'true techniques' back to their hometowns.

Guangdong is now in active implementation of the 'Hundred, Thousand, and Ten Thousand Project' to promoting coordinated development between urban and rural areas to a higher level. Huadu District's innovative '1+3' three-county joint training is not only a vivid practice of implementing the Provincial Party Committee's directive to 'establish a new type of support collaboration mechanism,' but also a strategic experiment to expand talent training from 'serving one area' to 'developing the whole province.' Every trainee from the three counties carries three checklists with them—local resources, investment promotion needs, and cooperation intentions; they proactively contacted Huadu enterprises during their training, trying to find markets for their local agricultural products, attract investments for local projects, and look for supporting industries for local sectors.

A responsible official from the District Party Committee’s Organization Department said that by virtue of the '1+3' cross-region joint training mechanism, the work of assistance through pairing programs has shifted from financial 'blood transfusion' to talent 'hematopoiesis,' and upgraded from one-way aid to two-way empowerment. This shows Huadu’s willingness to take responsibility in Guangdong’s overall regional coordinated development and will continue to inject new meaning into the 'Six-dimension Talent' brand.

From 'position-specific training' to 'problem-solving in towns and streets,' and then to 'parallel project tackling' and 'three-county joint training,' the chain of Huadu's 'Six-dimension Talent' training system has become increasingly integrated and its brand effect shines ever brighter. In the future, the Huadu District Party Committee’s Organization Department will continue to deepen the 'Six-dimension Talent' brand, focus on expanding practical scenarios on major industrial platforms, upgrade and expand the training mechanism, to cultivate a high-quality, versatile team of officials that can drive the formation and growth of the northern Guangzhou growth pole.