Pace, Partnerships and PioneersPublic service leadership & the challenge to build better futures

Introduction

For public services under increasing strain, inspiredleadership will be the game changer. Many organisationsare convinced they have played their trump cards already:budgets cut and shaved further; service deliveryoutsourced; organisations reshaped and partnershipscreated. Is it any wonder those at the top are asking,“Where next?” Most Chairs and CEOs, however, quicklyrealise that this is only the start, and not the endpoint, in transforming services to complex communities thatdemand more when less is available. So where do leadersgo from here? What hand will they be dealt next?

Any picture of a traditional ‘hero’ swashbuckling at the head of their organisationshould quickly be dismissed. Today’s pioneers,whether they are changing the machineryof government, establishing devolutionthrough combined Authorities in localgovernment or enabling strategic mergers inhousing or the NHS, need to shift mind-setsbeyond their own organisational boundariesto deliver increasingly without directcontrol of resources or decision making.

In thinking what will make these neworganisational models thrive, CEOs andChairs are rightly asking, ‘Is our strategyadjusting to the forces of change?How future ready is our current leadershipcohort?’ and ‘Which of our people has themost potential to move into senior leadershiproles?’ With increasing accountability atthe top, is it any wonder that the pipelineof individuals wanting to - and ready to- step up for senior leadership roles is, attimes, quite sparse?

For almost two decades, GatenbySandersonhas supported government and the widerpublic sector to find and develop top leadersfor its critical Board and senior positions.In that time, change has been the singleconstant in our conversations. The need toevolve, reform and, in many cases, transformservice delivery has created entirely newdemands of those who lead. But has ourunderstanding of what makes an effectiveleader kept up with the pace of change?Or are we relying upon old models ofmanagement? In this paper we examinethe factors that really make the differenceto outstanding leadership in public life –factors that, if harnessed, will allow us toreap returns on the investments made inwide-reaching transformation programmes.

Rising to the challenge of public sectorleadership and thriving in a constantlyshifting landscape is only for the resolute.Requirements are increasingly complexat a time when the world is far less certainand its citizens more vocal. Increasingpressure for public organisations todeliver higher quality community-focusedoutcomes, the rapid rise of technologyand a lack of funding to go around createsa pressure pot that inspired leaderswill use to innovate and diversify. Less adaptable leaders may well go into meltdown. So how do organisations identify the pioneers from the rest; those who will truly lead organisations into new territory as opposed to those who plan for but never quite make it to the new world?

According to McKinsey, some 75% of large scalechange initiatives fail to fully meet programmeobjectives.

According to McKinsey, some 75% of large scale change initiatives fail to fully meet programme objectives. Why? The primary reason is that organisations fail to secure permanent or temporary change management expertise to navigate the change itself. This is furtherexacerbated by the secondary reason for failure, which is that many organisationslack the leadership capability to operate in the new world: skills for the past just don’t cut it in the new world.

So herein lies a leadership dilemma.On the one hand, 21st century leadership –where change is the new norm - requiresresilient visionaries to navigate new,unchartered paths. Yet the operationaldemands of day to day delivery can imprisonleaders in the here and now and paralyseprogress in anticipating and developingfuture solutions. While there is no singleblueprint on which to model future leaders,it is clear that the future needs a new kindof cultural and behavioural leadership‘norm’. Hierarchical authority and heroicleadership will carry far less weight inthe future public services landscape.The age of the pioneer has begun.

These heroic elements are important, ofcourse, and our national study into thecharacteristics that differentiate outstandingleaders in public life has determined severalcharacteristics that separate good leadersfrom great ones. The research highlightsthe downside of heroic leaders – who riskcreating dependency rather than encouragingownership - which is bad news if anorganisation’s objective is to develop anextended team of leaders or a culture ofdistributed leadership. At a time of change,where employees should be encouragedto challenge the status quo and thinkdifferently, followers of the disconnectedhero will experience unnecessarilydifficulty,thereby stifling innovation.Worse still, as challenges and problems arise(which they will always do) hero leaderswill find themselves stuck firefighting,unable to see beyond the horizon and focuson their strategic responsibilities.

Leading through uncertainty and complexitytakes a certain presence of mind, levels of self and social awareness, strong beliefs and values to take the road less travelled and often alone. Pioneer leadershipfundamentally moves away from thestereotypical ‘heroic leader’ whose role is to lead their teams into battle and victory is achieved through their actions and theirability to build followership by winninghearts and minds. What’s the problem being a hero or heroine, some might ask?Surely a leader should be the personalheartbeat of transformation: one who people look to shape the future, define andcommunicate the strategy and vision; to inspire and motivate followers; assign roles; evaluate and reward performance?

A new Lens on Leadership: from Hero to Pioneer

So what defines this new Pioneer style of leader?It’s a type of leader who is agile in approach,commercial in thought yet, at heart, committedto better citizen outcomes combined withan underlying propensity to deliver results.A pioneer challenges the status quo, whichmay not always be comfortable for their boardcolleagues, but they are also able to createa vision and pathway which people engagewith and readily sign up for. The pioneeringfounders of the “new world” could not havecolonised had they been unwilling to leavetheir home shores, repeatedly deal with theunknown, experience failure several timesover and convince their loved ones to do it allwith them.

Courage and tenacity in the face ofdisruption: ‘there are no rules anymore’It is inevitable during significant periods ofchange, that plans don’t always work out asintended and senior leaders face seriousdilemmas – problems that through no fault oftheir own, cannot be solved or turned intowin-win situations to the satisfaction of all.We therefore need leaders to have thecourage of their convictions and the tenacityand authenticity to make decisions, learn frommistakes and continue in the face of failure.

Traditionally, in hiring to board level roles,organisations are instinctively drawn tocandidates who can provide a narrative witha neat beginning, middle and end – speakingin glowing terms about a successful businessturnaround, programme or initiative.We can often under value or avoid talkingabout failure, be that an idea that didn’t workout or an iterative process of ‘trial and error’.Pioneers will almost always have faced failureand those that go on to succeed will usefailure to their advantage. When assessingpotential pioneers for their tenacity, creativityand fortitude, it is these non-linear narrativesthat recruiters need to tease out and examine.

GatenbySanderson’snational researchidentified the followingprofile for pioneers:

Our research, based on the ongoingassessment of almost 1000 CEO andexecutive candidates under the AltitudeModel, GatenbySanderson’s framework forbenchmarking effective leadership withinpublic sector, revealed that despite strategicoutlook being a strong trait in the researchgroup, a relatively low number of executiveand board level leadership applicantsdemonstrated ‘courage and tenacity’ as astrength. This was slightly higher amongstBoard and CEO candidates comparedto those moving into executive roles andfeatured slightly more prominentlyamongst health sector leaders.

This poses a challenge in terms of how wespot and develop more leaders who aren'tafraid to do what's never been done before,who encourage growth for their organisation,the people around them and the broadercommunity. High potential leaders on aprogression trajectory will increasinglybe grilled on their ability to look above theorganisational parapet, actively seekingpartnerships, staying current by spotting andadapting best practices elsewhere and bygrasping opportunities to stretch beyondthe status quo.

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Influence, impact and driving strategic changeIn the face of uncertainty and constant change,leaders need to be able to build relationships,effectively communicate with and influenceothers. Increased cross-organisationcollaboration and new pan-sector deliverypartnerships complicate this challenge.Where services are increasingly deliveredacross traditional organisational boundaries,leaders need the skills to not just talk aboutbreaking down silos and building team unitybut delivering it. This is not about navigatingexisting boundaries to build new partnerships,it is a mindset whereby pioneers prioritisevigorously, create clarity of direction andfollowership and see frontiers rather thanborderlines.

Our study revealed a strength in acrosssenior public leaders for making relationshipscount and for building team unity suggestingan understanding of the need to buildfollowership. Interestingly, when challengedaround using complex influence and impactstrategies to engage and inspire, our researchcohort revealed lower scores, suggesting areliance on rational, linear, more traditionalinfluence strategies.

Long term vision to tackle tomorrowOur respondents overwhelmingly reportedthat pioneering leaders need to thinkwith a long-term lens. In a pacey world andamidst the numerous priorities they alreadyhave on their ‘urgent’ pile, they need topush boundaries further and consider howto harness advances in future technologyand thinking, not just those hitting ourconsciousness today. Those that pioneerchange have real vision, and act upon it.Leaders need the ability to fast forwardahead and adapt leadership accordingly.

Our research revealed reasonably highscores across CEO and Board candidateswhen it came to futureproofing talentagendas – defined as valuing a diverseworkforce and recognising the need tobring in new skills to tackle the seen andunforeseen. This characteristic was slightlyhigher in females than in men. On theflipside though, the average score was lowfor board level skills for ‘tackling tomorrow’ –being constantly transformational about theway in which the organisation operatesthinks and delivers services. Going forward,organisations should question theirrecruitment processes to better attractand test this competency. Measuring attitude to risk to safeguard against any ‘safe pair of hands’ bias should also be builtinto the process.

Our research revealed that only a very smallproportion of CEO candidates possessedreal strength in this area. This percentagedecreased further amongst those applyingfor other executive senior roles and wasslightly higher in men than in female leaders.Ensuring organisations have the processesin place to identify those that do haveability here is crucial. Leaders need to ensurethey constantly innovate delivery, protectmargins and find new revenue streams,whilst ensuring quality for end users.

Balancing a commercial head with a social heartIn the face of intense pressure around fundingand financial sustainability, public servicesand non-profit leaders must have ‘a socialheart and commercial head’, balancingcompassion for citizens and service userswith a hard ‘commercial’ outlook that iscurious, willing to experiment and take risks,able to admit failings, reflect, learn and applylessons to a corrected course going forward.

Given the current financial pressures, leaders need to identify new funding modelsto ensure the effective delivery of vitalpublic services. This could involve theexploration of public and private partnerships,refined commercial arrangements andother models not yet considered. We needour leaders to provide vision for howservices will operate, and they also need to becommercially savvy in order to broker thesedeals. All of this needs to be done with theresulting experience of service users in mind.

Thinking beyond traditionalboundaries is no longerenough; it’s not seeing aboundary in the first place.CEO Local Government

Consumer rights, customerservice and competitionis a more alien concept.Chair, Higher Education organisation

Forget culture, create new collectivemindsets, from the top

Recognising and working with this tension canbe the key to accessing the full capability andpotential of the board. If diversity of viewpointdrives innovation, then being aware of andaddressing differences is a useful startingpoint. Change happens through conversationand communication. Conversations that cansupport your board to move towards beingmore pioneering in their outlook can includeones about:

• The boards relationship to risk – how doesthe board view risk? What would enablethe board to be more experimental?What would be the worst thing that couldhappen if the board let go of some of itstraditional practices?

• Recognising and agreeing behaviours thatsupport cohesive team working – howwell does the board know and understandeach member? What behaviours doesthe board recognise as critical to pioneeringin their space? How does the board andexecutive team measure up in acceptingthat standard?

• Reflecting on processes – working fromthe proviso “if you keep doing what you’vealways done, you’ll keep getting whatyou’ve always got” does the board needto review its recruitment processes?How effectively are they supporting theidentification of a different type of leader?What processes would support the boardto challenge old norms and expectations?

In today’s uncertain times, pioneering leaderswho experiment to create a high functioning,thriving organisation can be met with resistance,both from staff and from the very top.

Starting at the top, we see some Boards, whichon the one hand espouse to moving intothe “new” world, but in reality, have memberswho individually or collectively struggle withletting go of “old” traditionally held views andpractices. Pioneering is therefore not withoutpain and can create a tension between thepioneering leader and their board colleagues.

Pioneers are agile thinkers,who can shift perspective fromdancefloor to balcony, presentto future in a heartbeat.

From convention to a new dimension: changingpeople processes to build leadership legacy

If we aspire to have leaders that break themould, pioneer change and have the courageto innovate under more empowered publicservices, we must break the hiring mould too.Until we stop judging leaders by yesterday’sbenchmarks and familiar viewpoints, wemay be setting our leaders up for failure andinadequately shifting the dial at a systemslevel to equip organisations with future-readyleadership.

So, how can public service organisationsensure they identify, hire and develop leaderswith ‘pioneer potential’? What skills andbehavioural patterns are most desirable?What changes can be made to the recruitmentand assessment processes?

To recruit, develop and retain leaderswho can be pioneers for yourorganisation, it’s worth considering:

• How and where might things need tochange? Recruiting a pioneering leaderwho are contra cultural means theywill need careful onboarding and supportto help them through the transitionand achieve success.

• In the context of your own strategy andthe challenges you face, what do youneed from your leaders? It’s valuableto consider what you can do to makeexpectations clear, take a staged approachto induction and to not allow the currentculture to reject those who are different.This is about spotting anticipated pitfallsand making plans to address these.

• How much are you and your boardprepared to shift your mindset? At theend of the day, our point of view andthe way we see the world fundamentallyimpacts how we act and behave. It takescourage and tenacity to create a futurewhich is different from the past, soconsider how wedded you and yourboard are to past based thinking andwhat leverage there is to shift this.

Addressing questions such as ‘what are the things our organisation can do to ensurethis different style of leader lands well? And ‘how can we support this leader to drive a pioneering agenda?’ are key reflections for any board taking a measured risk in a keyappointment.

Tearing up the rule book is always easierin spirit than in reality. With McKinsey’s starkfailure rate of 75% in mind, it is foolish forany organisation to charge into the new worldwith insufficient resource and planning.With public service models already morphinginto new forms and a predicted fight fortalent, now is the right time to questionaccepted norms and bypass outdatedprocedures. Today’s emerging workforce hasgrown up amidst technological, politicaland financial global disruption; tomorrow’schange agents and community shapers willdemand more fitting differentiators beforethey commit. Future readiness should becomethe pioneering organisation’s clarion call.

• Challenge the definition of ‘a good fit’:we should be aware of unconscious biasagainst self-starters and risk takers –those character traits don’t need to equal‘trouble’. If we warn decision makersoff reliance on data, structure and processand start to select, onboard and developpeople with a ‘strengths mindset’ –spotting and valuing their transferrableskills - we might go some way to tippingthe balance in favour of cultures that willgive pioneers the best chance of success.Ripping up ‘vanilla job descriptions’ andadvertisements automatically widensthe talent pool.

• Avoid the ‘on-boarding dip’ – so oftenwe see organisations shifting up a gearto identify more diverse talent poolsand skills and experience from ‘outsidethe box’. Sadly, many organisationsinvest in rigorous assessment to identifyrole and culture fit but fail to use the datagained in assessment to help the candidatemaximise impact in the new role.

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For more information on how to buildpioneering leadership, please contact:

Mark TurnerManaging Partner 020 7426 3983mark.turner@gatenbysanderson.com

Jody GoldsworthyExecutive Director, Leadership & Talent 07964 543 385jody.goldsworthy@gatenbysanderson.com