FORUM FOR EXECUTIVE PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

LEADERSHIP IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: CHALLENGES AND COMPETENCIES FOR TOP EXECUTIVES

Professor David C. Wilson Warwick Business School University of Warwick UK

Top Executives Deal With..

The handful of strategic decisions which drive and shape an organisations current and future actions.

These decisions are not easily changed, once made. They have the greatest impact on whether strategic objectives are met.

The Executive Challenge

Changing Contexts

fit

fit

Strategy
fit

Organisation

The Dynamics of Leadership

Mission Vision Values Objectives

Goals

Decisions Actions Environment

General Market Political Technological

Resources
Organisational Capabilities and People

LOOKS EASY ON A SLIDE..

BUT THE PROCESS OF LEADERSHIP IS FRAUGHT WITH DIFFICULTIES, AMBIGUITIES AND COMPLEXITIES

LEADERSHIP IS A DISTINCT AND ACTIVE PROCESS

L

Lead
Active
Manage

Enable Allow

Passive

AT THE EXECUTIVE LEVEL, LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT:

Ensuring delivery of the agreed agenda Doing this in creative and imaginative ways (within budget!) Animating action throughout the organisation Encouraging others to run with the baton by delegating and by instilling enthusiasm in others.

THE EXECUTIVE ROLE (1)

.it is one of the loneliest jobs I have ever experienced. You are isolated, caught between the needs of Ministers and the people in your organisation who you have to convince to come along with you
(Robert Naylor, Chief Executive Birmingham Heartlands National Health Service Trust)

THE EXECUTIVE ROLE(2)

.you really have to have a sense of humour.the role is haphazard with conflicting dimensions.you need to appear un-structured to your staff but really be highly structured, particularly toward government.you need to maintain multiple faces.
(Chief Executive, Department for Social Security)

COMMUNICATION

Accurate communication throughout the organisation is vital and clearly establishes the nature of the leader in the eyes of others.
Modelling desired behaviours continually seems to help engage others (whether to implement more of the same or to invoke radical change).

Communication and Task

Isolated leadership: High Leader divorced from the rest of the organisation but leader has strong vision

Transformational leadership: Can articulate and model a credible and compelling vision

TaskCentred

Low

Isolated and little vision or idea of where the organisation should go.

All the right interactions but no content

Low

Communication

High

IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Leadership is a process which takes place in different (and sometimes conflicting) contexts:

The Political Ministers steer and change agendas The Organisational structures, cultures and managing professionals .. The Personal style of management and approach to leadership

LEARNING FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR?

Pressures on public sector organisations to adopt models of practice developed in the commercial sector are intense.
The evidence in the UK is very mixed.

Assumes a one best way of managing (the market) Elevates managerial factors over the concerns of professionals Learning is one-way (always from private to public)

LEADERSHIP AND PERFORMANCE

Leaders are assessed from the first day they begin..

But a more robust assessment of performance comes from looking at what leaders achieve over time as they implement strategic decisions..

IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC DECISIONS

100% Locking into Place

Completion

Sustaining Implementation

Getting Started

Time

LEADERSHIP OVER TIME

Inheritors

Implement the decisions of their predecessors

Re-vitalisers

Inject new life into old strategies

Are at the founding stages of an organisation Try to implement large scale change

Builders

Turn-arounders

LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE

Varies depending on whether leaders are initiators of new ideas (internal) or are implementing the ideas of others (external). Locus of Influence
Change Transformer Builder Internal Internal

Re-vitaliser Continuity Inheritor

Internal/External External

KNOWLEDGE ASSETS

Society is becoming increasingly communications smart

A recent survey indicated that more communication took place between individuals outside formal organisations than within them

CUSTOMS AND EXCISE (uk)

..In 2000, the criminals we were chasing were smarter than the people we had trying to catch them in the Customs and Excise organisation!.... Criminals used

New information technology

Increasingly sophisticated anti-detection devices

Capitalised on new distribution systems (Richard Broadbent, Chairman HMCE)

By 2003 we had increased the intellectual capital of our organisation to an extent where we could begin winning the battle against drugs and smuggling

CRITICAL EVENTS

THE APPOINTMENT OF RICHARD BROADBENT AS CHAIRMAN

(ex City A Turn-arounder)

HE IMMEDIATELY FOCUSSED ON ONE OF THE REGIONS WHICH HAD GONE THROUGH A SERIES OF SUCCESSFUL CHANGE PROCESSES (under the lead of David Garlick - a trained manager with an MBA!). USED THIS REGION AS A ROLE MODEL FOR THE REST OF THE ORGANISATION.

CRITICAL ACTIONS

RICHARD BROADBENTS ACTIONS: First Steps: Reduce the number of Senior Management and Board meetings No Management Meeting to Last Longer Than 15 Minutes Without a Good Reason No Lengthy Paperwork - a Maximum of One Side of A4 Went on tour and Spoke to all Regions and to all Operational Staff about his Plans for Change

CRITICAL ACTIONS (2)

Second Steps: Identified the key distinctive competences of the organisation - Business Services/Taxes and Law Enforcement (Drugs, Illicit Materials). Reorganised the Structure of the Organisation around these Competences to Prioritise Strategies in both key areas. Eliminated Corporate Headquarters and decentralised to the Regions.

CRITICAL ACTIONS (3)

Third Steps:
Re-shuffled the Board, getting rid of those who opposed the Changes Got rid of the Non-Executive Directors who did little except Defend the Status Quo

Appointed a New Specialist Role on the Board dedicated to Liaising and Influencing Government at Policy Level.

CRITICAL ACTIONS (4)

And Finally:

Managed all these changes and Implemented

Them Very Quickly

(within 3 Months).

KEY RESULTS

Drug Traffic and Illicit Material Rates Decrease Significantly Better Use of Intelligence (decentralised special units) Faster and more accurate Decision Making Staff Committed to the Organisation (increased sense of ownership) Strategy more Pro-active and politically smarter toward the Government (can influence new policies). Transfer of Learning Internationally to other Agencies Worldwide

PERFORMANCE, KNOWLEDGE AND ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT

Knowledge Base high Good Performers

Highest Performers

Organisational Context

Low

high

Poorest Performers

Adequate Performers

Low
(Hickson, Miller and Wilson,

LEADERSHIP AND COMPETENCIES

Consistency in style helps transformations Creating a receptive organisational context helps change initiatives Leverage and develop the knowledge base of the organisation (its intellectual capital) increases performance Prioritise which are the really strategic issues and concentrate on these Be able to assess risk and trade-offs in the context of incomplete information and uncertainty Be able to communicate with and instill a sense of ownership for strategies throughout the organisation