Comment

Does leadership matter?

Dr Ian Elliott, lecturer in business and programme leader for Public Services Governance at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, argues that public service leaders should be sensitive to the past – not beholden to it.

The European election results have been announced. The comment and analysis goes on. What does this mean for the main political parties? What should we take from the showing of UKIP? What about the decline of the Liberal Democrats? Should Nick Clegg stand down as party leader?

At a time when these political issues are high on the news agenda, our public services continue to function. Teachers teach, doctors and nurses treat and care, and our bin men continue to collect our waste.

Taking account of all of these issues – does leadership even matter?

Of course, these above examples misrepresent what leadership is. Anyone who has read John Kotter’s work or has studied a leadership or management degree programme would know that.

Leadership is much harder to define than a job title or a pay packet. Indeed there are examples of leadership all around us. In May at the Pride of Edinburgh awards, eight-year-old Amy MacBeath, who has cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus, won the Child of Achievement accolade for having raised over £4,000 for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation and Thornton Rose Riding for the Disabled Association. And who hasn’t heard of Stephen Sutton, who raised over £3m for the Teenage Cancer Trust? These two young people have demonstrated significant leadership ability without a corresponding job title or pay packet. 

Similarly you could find any number of people running charities across the world. Volunteer care workers, dedicated foster carers, or even postmistresses who fight off masked robbers with nothing more than bloody-mindedness and quick wits. Who wouldn’t describe any of these people as demonstrating leadership?

The nature of leadership and the nature of change

So what exactly is leadership? And does it matter for our public services?

As articulated by John Quincy Adams (pictured), “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”. Certainly those listed above have inspired others and have led change. To a significant extent you cannot separate the nature of leadership from the nature of change. Whilst you may have leadership (of sorts) without change you can rarely achieve successful change without successful leadership.

Those who have seen recent editions will be all too aware of the considerable need for change in our public services – whether it is facing the challenges of the continuing resource cuts, constitutional change (at EU or UK level), social pressures (whether from immigration or the ageing population) or the impact of environmental change (whether flooding or heat waves). The challenges are complex, multifaceted and often multinational. They require our public services organisations to be adaptive, bold and collaborative. But it would be wrong to assume that this is as easy as ABC.

Leadership education

Is there a place for education in the development of our public service leaders? A recent survey of senior civil servants’ views on the accessibility and utility of academic research and expertise (Talbot and Talbot 2014) notes that whilst there is a demand for public administration and public policy there are few degree courses in these subjects across the UK.

Does the lack of formal education matter for public services leadership?  One could certainly point to many leaders of either business or public bodies who have had no or very little formal education. Indeed, the same survey cited above (Talbot and Talbot 2014) recognises that British senior civil servants are far less likely to have a higher degree or qualification than their counterparts in Germany, France, the USA or Japan. There is also an increasing use of on-the-job training and development as a way to support public service workers.

For example, the Scottish government, in response to the Christie Commission call for more development support for public service leaders, set up The Leadership Exchange programme. This scheme sees public services leaders across Scotland pair up in an exchange scheme in order to learn about the cultures, constraints and opportunities in other public service organisations.

However, the danger inherent in these schemes is that whilst witnessing leadership within another public body may open one’s eyes to different ways of working, these organisations will always be slave to the same historical, cultural and economic heritage. Therefore, they are likely to form part of the same present-day public services paradigm. If we are truly wanting – or needing – a paradigm shift in the delivery and design of our public services, our universities must have a part to play.

A new paradigm

By engaging with the latest research from across the world, and through critical and reflective thinking, our public services leaders may begin to envisage a new paradigm.

Our leaders should be sensitive to the past – not beholden to it. This requires an understanding of the political, cultural and economic drivers that have brought our public services to where they are today. Yet currently, we are at risk of creating a new generation of public service leaders who have significant business knowledge and MBAs but lack sensitivity to the inherent political and democratic complexities of the public services environment.

An alternative model of public services leadership development is currently being pioneered by three Scottish local authorities: City of Edinburgh Council, Dundee City Council and Orkney Islands Council. These councils have developed a masters-level programme in public services leadership in collaboration with Queen Margaret University (QMU). The programme aims to enable learners to become critically reflective leaders who contribute to the social and economic sustainability of the communities they serve. Both the programme content and delivery represent collaboration between the councils and the university. As such, it is both context-driven and problem-focused.

This new degree programme is set to develop the next set of public service leaders. This new generation will possess both the critical and reflective thinking skills to imagine a new future whilst at the same time being sensitive to the political, cultural and economic past and present of our public services environment.

It is a credit to these three local authorities to be developing such a scheme at a time when others are cutting their learning and development budgets – and gambling with the future of our public services.

So what about those European election results? There is little doubt that leadership matters.

In the end we can’t assume that any party leader will ever show leadership in the role or shape of our public services – but nor should our public sector executives stand by and wait in the hope that one will eventually come along.

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