Download Skill Needed for Implementing Reforms

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Skills Needed
For
Implementing
Reforms LEADERSHIP
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(Dr. Christopher Gan)
Leaders –Challenges
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"The true challenge
of leadership is to
get people to
willingly do what
they ordinarily
would not do."
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- General Norman Schwarzkopf
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“Your organisation
will never get
better unless you
are first willing to
admit what's wrong
with it. Then you
must apply your
resources to fix it.“
- General Norman Schwarzkopf
Leaders Facing Change and Uncertainty
Leaders Facing Change and Uncertainty
Leaders Facing Change and Uncertainty
Leaders Facing Change and Uncertainty
Skills Needed For Implementing Reforms –
Requires Strong Leadership
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Effective strategies for reforming public
services require revolve around strong
political and managerial leadership and
commitment and skills at all levels to achieve
improvements
Leadership
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Strong political and managerial leadership is
required, from “front line” spending departments,
local authorities to central units such the Treasury
and the Office of Government Commerce
Skills Needed For Implementing Reforms –
Requires Strong Leadership
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Performance management, not micro-management
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A commitment to ‘what matters is what works’
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There is a growing recognition that public sector bodies
should be managed through output and outcome based
targets, as opposed to the prescription of inputs and
detailed processes
This requires an open mind, a focus on service user
requirements (not producer interests) and skill in
discerning what would deliver the best result in terms
of service quality and cost
A culture that supports risk-taking
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Experimenting with new approaches will inevitably mean
that not every project will deliver the perfect result
Skills Needed For Implementing Reforms –
Requires Strong Leadership
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Capacity and skills
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Local ownership of the challenges
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The public sector needs practical help in
developing skills in areas such as managing change,
project and performance management,
procurement and managing relations
This is required at all levels of any organisation
Good communication and staff involvement to build
support for change is important in effective
leadership
(Source: CBI, the Voice of Business)
What is LEADERSHIP?
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L = Love
E = Empathy
A = Attention
D = Dedication
E = Enforcement of Values
R = Reward
S = Synergy
H = Hoopla
I = Integrity
P = Perseverance
Leadership Qualities
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Eleven qualities central to good leadership ability:
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1. Competence
2. Integrity
3. Values
4. Vision
5. Commitment
6. Decisiveness
7. Effectiveness
8. Understanding people
9. Ability to build teams
10. Self confidence
11. Learning ability
(Source: Carlo Kopp, 2005)
What Do Leaders Do?
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Leads others to lead themselves
Shifts the balance of power from the leader
to the followers
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Teaches
Responsibility
Confidence
Problem Solving
Leader is strong through strength of
followers
A listener and a coach
What Leaders must do to implement
changes successfully?
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Globally focused
Linked to the needs of the state
Innovation driven
Quality oriented
Collaborative, transparent, open
Adaptable, flexible, and market driven
Accessible
Accountable
Impact of Leadership Styles on Public
Sector Reform
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Leadership styles can range from the highly
coercive (“do it or else”) through very soft
affiliative styles (“people’s feelings before
everything else”) to coaching (“helping and
supporting others to develop”)
An affiliative style might be effective when a
team has been traumatised by an experience,
but much less effective when poor
performance needs to be dealt with
Impact of Leadership Styles on Public
Sector Reform
Empowerment
Mission Driven
Pushes Objectives
Solo
Direct
Limit Role
Team Leaders
Unlimited roles Acknowledge
Seeks Talent
Development Atmosphere
Impact of Leadership Styles on Public
Sector Reform
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Democratic
What works best will depend
upon:
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the team and
the expertise of the manager
the situation
Communication
with the team
Autocratic
5
Team
Decides
4
3
2
1
Group
Individual Boss
Boss
Consultative Autocratic Decides Decides
( 1= No communication)
Impact of Leadership Styles on
Public Sector Reform
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Is one decision no better than another
 Autocratic is best
Does the leader have enough technical knowledge to
make the decision
 If not, avoid number 1
Is the problem unclear and unstructured?
 Avoid 4 and 5
Must the team accept the decision
 If yes then 4 or 5 is best
 If not 1 and 2 are OK
Does the team share the managers goals
 If not then avoid 5
What is Leading?
(Source: “MANAGEMENT REFORM INITIATIVES: STRATEGIES FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
AND THE PUBLIC SECTOR,” University Pretoria)
Management work
Applying effort
through other people
Decision making
Communicating
Motivating
(Selecting people)
(Developing people)
Leading is the work
managers perform to
influence people to
take effective action
Leading work
Influencing people
to act
We Need Both Leading and Managing
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Lead People
Direction
Communication
Resources
Coach
Reinforce
Manage
Processes
Happy Customers
Feedback
- What’s working?
- Need to do differently?
Healthy processes serving happy customers
Leadership – A Window into Failures
(Source: Ray Blunt@ GovLeaders.org)
Leadership – A Window into Failures
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Open window
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We know about it, they know about it and the
result transparent
Blind window
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The leader has possibly not taken the most
egregious steps yet, but the course they are on is
clearly one of potentially larger failure
Arrogance
Anger
Retaliation against people who oppose them
Leadership – A Window into Failures
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Hidden window
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We recognize things in ourselves that
others do not yet know, where failure can
best be headed off early
Unknown window
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Leaders themselves are often unaware of
their own failures
(Source: Ray Blunt@ GovLeaders.org)
Strategies Leaders can use to make their
Organizational Cultures less Change-Averse
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Involve the employees
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Woo them, reward them, entertain them
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Model the behavior or new paradigm
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Get out of the corner office and mix with employees
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Send a clear signal that you are initiating change
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Channel their energy in a constructive direction
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Transfuse your organization with new ideas and the
culture you want to create
Walk the talk
Make yourself visible
Make a clear break with the past
Unleash—but harness—the pioneers
Bring in new blood
What Skills Leaders Need to be
successful in a Crisis situation?
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Use innovation and risk management to
avoid crisis
Use innovation following a crisis to
develop recovery and new pathways
Following a crisis, fail as an
organization
What Skills Leaders Need to be
successful in a Crisis situation?
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Addressed fears and anxiety quickly
Expected a temporary drop in performance and
productivity
Kept the lines of communication open
Had a calm and confident leadership style
Helped those with the highest needs first
Allowed people to display their emotions
Limited negative behaviour
What Skills Leaders Need to be successful in
a Crisis situation?: Crisis Quadrant
What Skills Leaders Need to be successful in
a Crisis situation?: Crisis Quadrant
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Quadrant 1 is the “symptom” quadrant
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It is here that we see the symptoms of our
poor time management
Symptoms include missed deadlines, poor
meetings, low motivation, weak performance
Quadrants 3 and 4 are the “cause”
quadrants
Time spent in Quadrants 3 or 4
inevitably results in less that desirable
performance
What Skills Leaders Need to be successful in
a Crisis situation?: Crisis Quadrant
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Quadrant 2 could be called the “power”
quadrant
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This is where the most productive activities
occur
Quadrant 2 activities are Not Urgent, but
they are Important
They include such things as planning,
prevention, bridge painting (strengthening
relationships), steward development and
pursuing opportunities
What Skills Leaders Need to be successful in
a Crisis situation?: Crisis Quadrant
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Quadrant 3 consists of those timeconsuming activities that are Urgent but
Not Important
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This would include interruptions such as
some meetings that are regularly on your
schedule but have begun to lose their value
Quadrant 4 includes those activities
that are Not Urgent and Not Important
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Much of what falls in this quadrant shouldn’t
even be done at all
What Skills Leaders Need to be successful in
a Crisis situation?: Crisis Quadrant
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Quadrant 1 activities—crises and
pressing problems
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They are fire-fighters, constantly dousing
the flames of problems that are mostly
preventable
Investing more in Quadrant 2 activities—
planning, prevention, steward development,
etc.—tends to shrink Quadrant 1, preventing
the fires of crisis
What Skills Leaders Need to be successful in
a Crisis situation?: Crisis Quadrant
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Some people find themselves forced to expend
an inordinate amount of their time on Quadrant
1 activities—crises and pressing problems. They
are fire-fighters, constantly dousing the
flames of problems that are mostly
preventable
Investing more in Quadrant 2 activities—
planning, prevention, steward development,
etc.—tends to shrink Quadrant 1, preventing
the fires of crisis
What Skills Leaders Need to be successful in
a Crisis situation?: Crisis Quadrant
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When we neglect Quadrant 2, Quadrant
1 grows.
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It’s that simple
When we neglect the activities
represented in Quadrant 2, we seem to
face more crises, more problems, more
“fires” that must be extinguished
Critical Components of Leadership:
Rudy Guiliani
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Courage: "If you don't feel fear, you can never have
courage. We all need that to get through life."
Optimism: "Nobody follows a pessimist. Leaders are
optimists either by nature or by training? Use that
optimism to find a solution."
Relentless preparation: "Leadership is not intuitive.
Leadership is intense preparation."
Team work: "Balance your weakness with the strength of
other people and/or balance the weakness of the team
with the strength of others, and use that information to
educate yourself."
Communication: "You have to communicate with
substance. You can also communicate by example or by
action."