E x c e l l e n c e i n p u b l i c s e r v i c e : D e l i v e r y a n d r e f o rm Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2014/15 66 Cases in the news show how institutional governance responds differently in different situations. In the case of Canada, on the one hand, Toronto City Hall is strong and resilient enough to survive the wrongdoings and shenanigans of one ‘loose cannon’ of a mayor. Citizens have an option to choose new leadership at the next election. The Senate of Canada, on the other hand, is so antiquated and entrenched that it is under siege by scandals and irresponsibility on all sides. Nothing short of criminal prosecution and institutional reform are left as viable options. The situation can also be cultural and contextual. By example, South Sudan withstood a military coup in December 2013, where a tribal majority in the army led by the Vice President failed to topple the government. Tribalism was insufficient to take power in the face of capacity that had been built in democratic institutions. Peace building and nation building have resumed concurrently in a bid to restore good governance. Leadership development In the current budget climate, many may be inclined to go with the flow rather than challenge assumptions, values and the way things are done. Instead of innovation, ‘group think’, compliance and reactive behaviours can become deep-seated. Public servants must balance doing a good job, navigating organisational context and assisting people with mastering their spheres of influence – upwards, downwards, laterally and outwards. Some put more energy into managing up at the expense of staff and peer relationships, while others thrive in liaison functions or task forces away from line management. In Canada, the middle management community plays a strategic role in managing people and budgets at the interface between policy development and programme outcome. Most middle managers love their jobs and have the passion, work ethic, persistence and humility to succeed. They accept the need for change and welcome the opportunity to improve how government works. They are empathetic as team leaders, underscoring the people dimension of change. Some governments invest in talent management targeted for middle manager teamwork and succession. At the same time, middle managers worry about lack of employee engagement and poor senior management communication. While they often feel engaged and informed themselves, they grapple daily with public service discontent over unpopular budget decisions and alienation from not feeling included with decision making. They recall and learn from the casualties of past downsizing and restructuring. Along with young professionals, middle managers have the most to gain from public service renewal. Networking, collaboration, stewardship and innovation are middle management roles in vogue, all with the aim of renewing the capacity and culture of the public service. The importance of leadership development is recognised in the expectation that managers at all levels exemplify the strategic leadership competencies necessary to cultivate innovations that satisfy citizens. The results of public service employee surveys show correlations between leadership and innovation and between leadership development and performance management. However, 35 per cent of employees in the Public Service of Canada (TBS-SCT, 2012) feel that individuals with the right skills and competencies are not being hired. What has created this gap? There is no lack of policies or programmes on leadership development. The challenge is in administering the right programmes at the right time. Mandatory training typically starts at executive levels and rarely extends to on-the-job learning, mentoring and experiential assignments. New middle managers are left to chart their own career course and to cherry pick opportunities. Progress depends upon their supervisor’s discretion and competence in identifying training needs, allocating resources and supporting leadership development. In most ministries, the chief executive sets the policy and standards for leadership development. Evidence of leadership skills in hiring and promoting is inconsistent in the absence of a whole-ofgovernment investment strategy. The default is for inexperienced managers to be promoted prematurely under ‘ordeal by fire’. If leadership development begins earlier in a manager’s career, baseline training can be augmented by experience, requiring less intensive downstream training. A lifecycle approach builds stronger leadership capacity. A new vision of public service leadership The Canadian Public Service Blueprint 2020 advocates ‘a clear and shared vision of what Canada’s Public Service should become in the decades ahead’. Senior leaders developed and are marketing the Chris Wilson (cwilson@uottawa.ca) at the Centre of Governance, University of Ottawa, says: ‘It’s a simple idea … people should be competent to perform their job.’ He asks some important questions about leadership competencies: In what context? Does it involve solving simple, complicated or complex issues? In what type of organisation? Is the organisation leadercentric, conformist, achievement oriented, value-centric or evolutionary? In what kind of culture? Is the culture of the organisation closed, open or internet-based? Against what kind of timeframe? Solving problems of the past or present, or creating a new future to be lived? Do you really need a leader? Or is what you want more of a steward? Maybe the job is dynamic and evolving instead of static, moving from one condition to another along multiple dimensions. What may start out as competency may become incompetence or even dysfunctional. True competency appears more like a welldeveloped capacity to learn both individually and collectively. But it is tough to measure except by accumulating knocks, bruises and war stories. Competencies in context
CEP template 2012
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