AUTUMN 2013
FMI
*
IGF JOURNAL
17
best individual to guide a group, however
it may be defined, to solve its problems or
achieve its goal. Different day, different
problem, different leader. Are you starting
to feel uneasy now?
This is not to say that the sky is falling.
With this new generation of worker
comes infinite promise and potential for
truly adaptable and responsive public
organizations. But will our old ways of
leading be the albatross around their necks?
Food for much thought and even more
discussion.
CHEERS!!!
who are very familiar with post-WW2
command-and-control models and some
of the slightly softer views of leadership
that followed. But what about a generation
of workers whose main social interactions
have been virtual with anyone, anywhere,
at any time? The newest generation of
worker in our workplaces has grown up in
the Internet and Personal Communications
Interface Age. They are networked!!!!
They don’t think in terms of much that is
permanent, be it organizational structures,
geographic barriers, time zones or leaders.
They select their leaders in real time as the
mundane. We see it on the shop floor,
in schools, in just about every workplace
on the planet. By sheer volume, the
kind of leadership that is experienced
by most human beings on any given day
is very quiet and rather unassuming. It
is performed by individuals both with
and without organizational authority:
managers, supervisors and peers, and
sometimes even subordinates. It results in
a mobilization, a refocusing of efforts and,
usually the creation of synergy. We’ve all
heard the expressions “the whole is greater
than the sum of its parts”. Good leadership
drives that through all organizations. In
the absence of formal authority structures
or dynamics, leaders are that go-to person
who knows the answer or knows what to do
in a certain situation or whose lead we just
feel right about following. Leaders have
followers; followers who willingly follow.
When asked about these leaders,
followers usually speak to the other
individual’s competence, demeanor and
integrity or values. While there is no
right mix or formula that dictates the pre-
determined amount of each of the variables
for individuals to be seen as leaders, the
traits keep coming back over and over.
Secondly, leaders are perceived as having
a high sense of the public good. This can
be defined as broadly or as narrowly as
appropriate given the circumstance. In
essence, this means that leaders are seen as
putting the good of the group before their
own and that they will go to a reasonably
great length to ensure the group’s success,
even if this means putting themselves at
potential risk of some sort. Tied into this
is a high perception of empathy on the part
of leaders. They get their co-workers and
care what happens to them. One of the key
determinants of this perception is the sense
from others that leaders listen to them and
actually care and consider what they say.
Starting to get a rough picture of what we
are talking about?
I know that I could barely scratch the
surface of this topic in my allotted word
count. So I am going to jump now to my big
worry. I am not sure that most public sector
organizations have been very successful
at defining, developing or nurturing the
type of leadership that I have just finished
describing. They have done marvelous
jobs at defining leaders as change agents,
leaders as action managers and leaders as
coaches. To be quite frank, my view is that
we have spent much more time focusing
on outputs rather than processes when it
comes to selecting leaders in many of our
public sector organizations.
This is great for fairly orthodox types
About the Author:
Bruce Manion is a native Ottawan and graduate of the University of Ottawa.
He has nearly three decades of experience in all aspects of financial and
resource management in the Federal Public Service and has been the CFO
in two federal departments. Bruce is currently the Federal Public Servant in
Residence at the School of Public Administration at Dalhousie University. He
has a real passion for public sector management and has been involved in
many significant change initiatives over his career. In past lives, he has been
an actor, musician, stand-up comic and grave-digger. He certainly isn’t your
average accountant!
FROM BEHIND THE GREEN EYE SHADE – 2.0
