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Managing their organisations through recession is merely one challenge facing the next generation of public sector leaders. A recent report by National School of Government fellows John Benington and Jean Hartley calls for far-reaching solutions... The current economic crisis is acting as a catalyst for a radical review and restructuring of governance and public services, and a renegotiation of the three-way relationships between national government, local government, and citizens and communities. More effective leadership across the whole system is seen as one of the best ways of reducing transaction costs between separate organisations, of improving productivity and performance outcomes, and of releasing more public value for users, citizens and communities. However, recession is not the only catalyst for new approaches to public leadership and leadership development. We are in the throes of an even more fundamental and far-reaching global restructuring of the ecological, political economic, technological and social context, which, we argue, requires a ‘Copernican revolution' in our mindsets, and in the basic paradigms and practices for governance and public service. The new paradigms include thinking about government and public services as ‘complex adaptive systems' and organisms, rather than as machines or physical structures (eg, silos). This also requires a radical re-design of our approach to leadership and management development, in order to stimulate continuous self-improvement in performance across the whole public service system – and visible and measurable outcomes for users, citizens and communities. Whole systems go! Improving leadership across the whole public service system, recently published by the National School of Government Sunningdale Institute, sets out the parameters to promote and cultivate more effective leadership capability across the whole public service. The publication, commissioned by the National School of Government and the Public Service Leaders Alliance, is authored by Professors John Benington and Jean Hartley, both fellows of the Sunningdale Institute, who are based at Warwick Business School. It addresses the question, What would it take to create more effective leadership of the whole governmental and public service system?" We put forward seven propositions for radical change in policy and practice and in leadership development across the whole public service system: Proposition 1 The need to develop new paradigms of governance and public service as a complex dynamic adaptive system, rather than as a machine controlled by cogs and levers, and to pioneer new forms of political, managerial and civic leadership across the whole public service system. Proposition 2 The need to develop new patterns of ‘tough adaptive leadership' to tackle complex, cross-cutting problems in the community – eg, ageing, crime, alcohol and drugs abuse, obesity – where there may be no clear consensus, in society or in the professions, about either the causes or the solutions to the problems. Proposition 3 We need to move beyond simplistic reductionist thinking about such complex problems, and beyond polarised responses which blame others for the problem, and instead adopt whole systems perspectives, which include the capacity to analyse and understand the inter-connections, inter-dependencies and inter-actions between complex issues, across multiple boundaries – between different sectors, services, and levels of government. Proposition 4 Leadership development programmes need to join up to address whole system challenges, and Whitehall needs to support this with new organisational and financial architecture. Proposition 5 Leadership development programmes need to translate individual learning into organisational and inter-organisational action and improvement. This requires completely different starting points from traditional leadership development programmes. The following model (The Warwick Model for Whole System Leadership Development) shows the contrast between the two starting points – starting leadership development programmes not with individuals but with workgroups which are tackling a common problem together, and which can then apply and test theory and concepts against the complexities of the problem. A traditional model for leadership development An alternative ‘whole systems' model for leadership development Unit of analysis Location Practice/problem Starting point The retreat The frontline Location The workgroup/team The frontline Proposition 6 Strengthening leadership skills and capabilities for working across the whole public service system will require radical innovations in practice at three main levels – fast track graduate entry, mid-career movers and shakers and corporate leadership top teams – and in two main arenas – multi-agency teams and partnerships for local leadership of place – plus a new requirement for all members of the senior Civil Service to have spent at least three months working at the frontline. Proposition 7 The aforementioned commitments to action-oriented leadership development to encourage working across the whole public service system need to be counter-balanced by an equally strong commitment to critical analysis of the changing context, and rigorous reflection on the experience of leadership in practice – both success and failure. Conclusion Our judgment is that the time is now ripe for a major new initiative to promote and cultivate leadership capabilities for working across the public service system. There is widespread agreement that this needs to be done strongly and quickly, so the key question is not ‘whether' but ‘how'. This brief review suggests that innovative ideas and pilot programmes for cross-service collaboration in leadership development are already being explored and tested by a number of organisations – like the Leicestershire Leadership in Partnership Programme (LLIPP) which Warwick Business School's Institute of Governance and Public Management (IGPM) has been asked to run for all the public services in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. Twenty-four leaders drawn from all the local authorities, health, police, fire, and voluntary sector are studying together at Warwick to gain a post-graduate diploma in Public Leadership and Management, while simultaneously working together to tackle some cross-cutting practical problems in their area – eg, alcohol and drug abuse. The leadership concepts and skills being developed through the LLIPP programme and the Warwick Diploma – eg, complexity theory; the strategic triangle; the public value chain; adaptive leadership – are feeding directly into the Government's Total Place pilot in Leicestershire and Leicester, and bringing added value and rigour. Many local authorities are already collaborating with other local organisations – eg, police, health – in innovative forms of lateral collaboration like the above. The critical success factor now will be the strong championing of a whole system, multi-level, cross-service approach to leadership development at the highest levels within national government, and a funding regime to incentivise this as rapidly as possible. Whole systems go! Professors John Benington and Jean Hartley are both fellows of the NSG Sunningdale Institute, and are based at the Institute of Governance and Public Management (IGPM) at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

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WHITEHALL

Wanted: Catalysts for the revolution

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