FORUM FOR EXECUTIVE PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

1. 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

2. Top Executives Deal With.. • The handful of strategic decisions which drive and shape an organisation’s current and future actions. • These decisions are not easily changed, once made. • They have the greatest impact on whether strategic objectives are met.

3. The Executive Challenge Changing Contexts “fit” “fit” Strategy Organisation “fit”

4. The Dynamics of Leadership Mission Vision Values Objectives Goals Decisions Actions Environment Resources General Market Political Technological Organisational Capabilities and People

5. LOOKS EASY ON A SLIDE…….. BUT THE PROCESS OF LEADERSHIP IS FRAUGHT WITH DIFFICULTIES, AMBIGUITIES AND COMPLEXITIES

6. LEADERSHIP IS A DISTINCT AND ACTIVE PROCESS L Lead Active Manage Enable Passive Allow

7. 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.

8. 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)

9. 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)

10. 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).

11. Communication and Task • l Transformational leadership: Can articulate and model a credible and compelling vision Isolated leadership: Leader divorced from the rest of the organisation but leader has strong vision High Task- Centred Isolated and little vision or idea of where the organisation should go. All the right interactions – but no content Low Communication Low High

12. 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

13. 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)

14. 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…..

15. IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC DECISIONS Locking into Place 100% Sustaining Implementation Completion Getting Started Time

16. LEADERSHIP OVER TIME • Inheritors • Implement the decisions of their predecessors • Re-vitalisers • Inject new life into old strategies • Builders • Are at the founding stages of an organisation • Turn-arounders • Try to implement large scale change

17. 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 Internal Change Transformer Builder Internal Re-vitaliser Internal/External Continuity Inheritor External

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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.

21. CRITICAL ACTIONS • RICHARD BROADBENT’S 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

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. CRITICAL ACTIONS (4) • And Finally: • Managed all these changes and Implemented • Them Very Quickly • (within 3 Months).

25. 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

26. PERFORMANCE, KNOWLEDGE AND ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT Knowledge Base high Good Performers Highest Performers Organisational Context high Low Adequate Performers Poorest Performers Low (Hickson, Miller and Wilson, 2003)

27. 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