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FMI
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IGF JOURNAL
VOLUME 25, NO. 1
solution for countries struggling with
low growth and austerity measures. The
public policy starting point for innovation
is contextual. The context now faced
is pervasively global and profoundly
changing.
There is an increasing focus on
stewardship in public sector innovation to
meet modern challenges. The difference
for leaders is more than context or style.
Stewardship is a function of leaders and
their organizations. Stewards are catalysts
of innovation who have leadership roles
in mobilizing time, talent, and resources.
They must navigate precariously between
the dangers of inflexible bureaucracies
while remaining true to public goals and
good practice. This necessitates exercising
discretion and teamwork.
The Treasury Board of Canada has
institutionalized stewardship in the
Management Accountability Framework
as one of ten leadership competencies
for Deputy Ministers. The performance
expectation is that departmental control
regimes–assets, money, people, services–
are integrated and effective and that the
underlying principles are clear to staff.
Stewardship is seen as a critical decision-
making factor that assures public resources
are managed with prudence and probity.
Implications for leadershipdevelopment
Good leaders are needed at all levels of
government and management. Politicians
and public servants alike are the champions
of change who shape government of the
future. Public organizations that are led
with foresight embrace innovation and
manage risk as antidotes to shortcomings in
continuity and capacity. The environment
is so uncertain that steering the reform
process without competent leadership at
the helm is almost unthinkable.
The onus is on public leaders to find
ways to increase the capacity to manage
change and improve public service delivery.
The pressure to enhance productivity
and performance prompts governments
to embark upon ambitious public sector
reform. The process is complex and
requires specialized knowledge and
strategic skills to catalyze change.
Senior public servants are well educated,
with many having post-graduate degrees.
What is less clear is whether they are getting
the right training on the job. In Canada, it
is generally assumed that the business case
for leadership development has been made.
The Association of Professional Executives
of the Public Service of Canada, for
example, advocates training, networking,
mentoring, and partnering strategies
to increase capacity. However, resource
constraints and unpredictable budgets still
inhibit proper investment in public service
competencies.
In developing countries, the public sector
is more unstable. Policies and plans must be
reviewed constantly to respond to change
and complexity. This requires resilient
leadership to steer public programs and
service delivery. Training, while essential,
is insufficient for developing this capacity.
A range of applied learning interventions
is needed to reinforce leadership
competencies. National authorities and
external sponsors also need to agree upon
yards for measuring outcomes over time.
It is estimated that more than one million
public servants in the Commonwealth need
some form of leadership development.
At the same time, the World Bank’s new
approach to public sector management
discounts the role of effective leadership.
The United Kingdom shies away from
leadership development, while Australia
and Canada are still supporting culturally-
sensitive initiatives. The business case
demonstrating value for money and impact
remains to be made before the development
community invests.
Networked government and
collaborative leadership
The literature and award programs confirm
the importance of networks in innovation.
A New Synthesis consolidates research and
thinking on the millennial shift towards
‘networked government’. Collaboration
emerged as the preferred approach to
reform, building upon trends in ‘joined-up
government’, ‘whole of government’, and
‘horizontal management’. ‘Collaborative
leadership’ now predominates in thought
and practice over the ‘transformational
leadership’ of the New Public Management
era.
Government cannot afford the politics
of acting alone as commander and
controller to solve complex, horizontal
problems with vertical solutions. It has
come to rely increasingly upon a vast array
of non-governmental partners to govern
by network. In this model, the role of
government is transformed from direct
service provider to generator of public
value, with benefits–flexibility, speed,
innovation, citizen focus. Governments
must figure out how to manage networks
to get the results citizens expect.
Public servants are responsible to search
high and low for both efficiencies and
innovations, collaborating and learning
from every likely source. New ideas and
synergies can come from anywhere–front-
line operatives, middle management,
top leaders, the private sector, not-for-
profit organizations, academia. Core
competencies need to shift frommanagerial
skills to networking, facilitation, and
negotiation with partners and stakeholders
arrayed horizontally in networks.
Innovation awards
Progress begins with innovators who
challenge the status quo and seek to
continuously improve things.Theyhave the
vision to grasp complex ideas and the drive
to adapt creative thinking to intractable
problems. Change in large institutions like
the public service requires tact to overcome
the inertia of complacency, tenacity to learn
from inevitable setbacks, and commitment
to capitalize on new concepts.
Biennially since 1998, the Common-
wealth Association for Public Admini
stration and Management (CAPAM)
International Innovations Awards cel-
ebrate the spirit of innovation in the
public sector. They inspire and encour-
age innovators to improve the quality of
governance, service, and life enjoyed by
citizens, communities, and nations. Sub-
missions are assessed on the basis of in-
novativeness, appropriateness to context,
effectiveness, long-term significance, and
transferable lessons learned.
It’s time we recognize that
management and leadership
are two sides of the same
coin. Nobody wants a
manager who is not a leader,
but nobody should want a
leader who is not a manager.
This idea that you can sit up
on high and do the big stuff
and everybody runs around
doing the grunt work is very
destructive. Instead, we need
to build communities.
Henry Mintzberg
STEWARDSHIP OF SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC SERVICE RENEWAL AND REFORM
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