Civil Service Live Network: What do leaders need to make a bigger difference in the civil service?

Civil Service World
259 days ago

In his interview with Civil Service World this summer, leadership expert Steve Radcliffe identified a number of challenges which he believes can stop civil servants from being effective leaders.

These were:

Leaders are often so caught up in their day-to-day work that they don’t have time to give much thought to how to do their job better.
Many civil servants do have a vision for the future, but they don’t focus on how to deliver this vision
Similarly, leaders struggle to engage colleagues and team members with this vision. “I didn’t see a mindset and desire to engage,” he says. “Communicate stuff, tell people stuff – yes, we’ll do that. But anybody in a position of influencing other people has got to understand the distinction between engaging others and communicating at them.”
The culture of the civil service doesn’t encourage all staff to be leaders – it doesn’t say “We want you to bring your very best to work, we want your ideas, we want your creativity’,” he says. “I don’t think that has been the mentality; I want to be a prompt [to change that]. We need leaders at all levels and we need to learn how to get better at this.”
There isn’t a common language for leadership across the civil service. Steve believes that if the civil service develops this common language leadership will be more talked about, and “the more it will go from patchy to widespread.”

What do you think – do you see other challenges to effective leadership in the civil service? What are you doing to overcome these challenges? And what would help you to do more?

Alain Ellis

Alain Ellis
258 days ago

From a personal point of view, i would say that the main thing missing from my ability to make a difference is information.

I am in a temporary detached duty position awaiting a selection exercise. Whilst i can make a bit of a difference - ie organising a recruitment drive in a jobcentre, for a local employer, without a bit of personal stability, further efforts are hampered. This is simply because i may not be here long.

At the time of posting this, i don't even know what my options will be, let alone where and job role. i have tried not to let this hamper me, but it makes things difficult to say the least.

imran bashir

imran bashir
258 days ago

From what i have observed and experienced in my line of work, for the majority of the time Senior managers are constantly concerned with how they are doing infront of their superiors, its all become about reaching targets at any cost. Regular interaction with your staff is key to getting the best out of them in my opinion. Personally, i approach senior managers when i have a suggestion or need something to be clarified if i feel whatever is being introduced can be done in a better way. It comes down to feeling part of a unit that is solid, sure there will be different styles of leadership amongst managers, but their should not be a culture of 'im going to get my way' over another team leader at the expense of the customer. This i have noticed tends to be the trend from managers who have been serving as civil servants for a prolonged period of time. Some team building exercises would also in my opinion improve team morale. But i suppose the fundamental question and foundation for a jobcentre is how you view the customer and are they at the heart of your agenda, because if they are then one would go over and beyond to do the best for them but if your opinion is that they are lazy and why havent they got a job yet its been 6 months etc, then its always going to be a struggle.

Another problem is managers feeling undermined by quality suggestions and after forcefully dismissing it, then later introduce/implement it as their own, the results of this are obvious for that individuals or teams morale.

Personally, after 3 years in my role, i have adopted a policy to always goto the root of the issue/problem no matter what the grade of that manager is, so i feel i have exhausted my best efforts with those that are in a position to potentially do something about it.

Financial incentives are always going to get the best out of staff but i believe if there was genuine scope for promotion within the civil service then that would dramatically change things for the better.

Anne Veronica Staunton-Lambert

Anne Veronica Staunton-Lambert
258 days ago

In my opinion the challenge to effective leadership within the Civil Service is getting staff to understand the difference between leadership and management. Leaders are only leaders when people follow, managers handle a situation and exercise control.

An effective leader has moral courage and integrity and can lead others who do not know the way forward. Leadership has to be transformational.

Suzannah Brecknell

Suzannah Brecknell
258 days ago

Thanks Imran , I think Steve would agree that regular interaction with staff is key to being a good leader. And Anne, your point about leading not managing chimes really well with Steve’s first thought that senior staff can get too caught up in day-to-day or operation work and don’t spend time on those more transformational and strategic issues.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how these challenges could be overcome? Or have you been on a leadership or development course that helped you find solutions to some of these common issues?

Anne Veronica Staunton-Lambert

Anne Veronica Staunton-Lambert
258 days ago

I went to a lunchtime lecture at Andover given by Brian Watters from Cranfield Academy. He's an ex Brigadier who lectures on Defence Leadership and provides a lot of thought provoking material. I took away the difference between leadership and management from that talk.

John M Haskey

John M Haskey
258 days ago

I have championed the concept that we need Leaders at all levels of our organisations – but frequently the response is blank stares and misunersatnding. I think this is the effect of seeing senior staff with development needs in the area of leadership some of whom have achieved their positions simply by achieving the targets without consideration of softer personnel issues, and some promoted out of harms way or for other reasons. However some have obtained their positions through virtue of their excellent personal skills and it’s like a breath of fresh air when you work with someone like that – they empower your ability to lead as they do.

I agree strongly that many do not understand the difference between leadership and management (and the overlap or ability to switch between the roles as needed).

I would also suggest that leaders first need to have learned to be followers. Followers who can pick up what a leader is saying and not simply blindly obey but take up the challenge and run with it to completion. (I have moved past despairing when people have turned round to me and said ‘stop trying to facilitate or encourage us – just tell us what to do and we will do it’ – I agree that it’s hard to call your self a leader when people aren’t following you but would suggest it is willingness of potential followers to move out of their safety zones rather than not knowing the way forward – and yes it’s not easy when there are high levels of ambiguity or instability arising from the downsizing but we cannot just wait ‘something to happen, someone to make a decision or for the difficult circumstances to change’.

And yes, the focus does need to be the people we are serving – and how to enable others to serve those people better, to develop a climate of public service, people determined to excel at whatever they do.

As for how the challenges can be overcome, part of it is very simplistic – just do it – plan into the schedule time for thinking, time to be mentored or part of an action learning set, time to spend with colleagues at all levels and listen to them.

John M Haskey

John M Haskey
258 days ago

In addition to a variety of inspiration speakers (who often cite methods and ideas not found in mainstream thinking) I found the Strategic Leadership programme in the Department for Employment (then DCSF) very useful. (details of the delivery consultancy are available if required).

Douglas Grant

Douglas Grant
258 days ago

In my opinion, the Civil Service has many good managers but very few true leaders. I think we need to increase the numbers of our Leaders first and encourage them to lead.

We need Leaders to emerge who want to make a difference, they need the opportunity to lead with the support of their Departments, build the trust & confidence of their colleagues they are to lead with honesty in their communications, be tenacious when faced with failure & display confidence in their delivery.

To create this forum for Leaders to emerge I feel we need to fundamentally change the Civil Service's culture where location, Grade and centralised opportunities count more than talent. We need a culture where opportunities to take the lead are available for all who want to with true reward and recognition and not just for the few Senior Management Grades or based Head Office Locations.

Often the best leaders emerge from crisis situations with Military conflict a case in point. Just look at our History. The current challenges faced by the Civil Service Leadership should be seen as being no different. I think we now have an opportunity to challenge conventional culture and deliver opportunities for anyone to step up and lead. I think only then will we see true leadership making a real difference.

What does everyone else think?

Alain Ellis

Alain Ellis
258 days ago

Excellent advice John, and also explains what i am doing at the moment.

To a degree i am hampered by my manager, i'm sure for the best of reasons, but i keep pushing ahead. i think it helps that my staff know that in reality, i am in very much the same position that they are. So we all forge ahead together and see where it will take us.

it can be depressing, but sometimes its fun too.

Anne Veronica Staunton-Lambert

Anne Veronica Staunton-Lambert
258 days ago

Douglas, I think the reason we have so many managers is because we have always recruited managers to manage as instructed. People have not been empowered to make change and not all good managers will make good leaders.

Douglas Grant

Douglas Grant
258 days ago

I totally agree Anne. I feel we need to challenge the way we both Manage & Lead in the Civil Service. We need to find a common approach to allow those who can and want to Lead to emerge while supporting those with Management skills to deliver.

The fact that "People have not been empowered to make change and not all good managers" is a core problem for the Civil Service and sadly we have forgotten how to deliver these.

How we get this back is the key question

Saima Williams

Saima Williams
254 days ago

My opinion is that leadership is both 'up & down' ie one does not have to be a certain grade to lead - it is more how we do things. I totally agree that there is not enough focus on soft skills, we need to be able to give each other space and trust.

On the subject of empowering and motivating people I would add to Steve Radcliffe's list the continuing culture of 'cliques' in the civil service inclusive of familial and school/university networks to name a few. This culture is great for a small bunch of priviledged people but not very conducive to empowering entire organisations. I have had the opportunity to see this in action (thanks to open plan offices) and the behaviour of some senior managers is quite frankly embarassing - creating social exclusivity generates resentment, and to do this openly is just looking for trouble!

For leaders to make a bigger difference in the civil service I think we need to improve our awareness: both self and far/near environment. We need to understand our strengths as well as our weaknesses and equally important to recognise where others are strong and weak.

Kevin Cowley

Kevin Cowley
253 days ago

If we want an effective Leadership within the Civl Service we have to move from a climate of "Fear" to a climate of "Trust". Ask most Senior Leaders / Directors what pushes them or gets them out of bed in the morning and the response is invariably the same.

“Getting things done on time”
“Fear of failure”
“Short term financial goals”

All of these are fears. Fear is the biggest internal obstacle for any leader or director. We currently have a fear culture, but to meet the current challenges we have to think and act in a different way. We need to move from a fear paradigm to a trust paradigm.

This is why, to quote Sir John Whitmoe, coaching is so important for leaders. Coaching encourages natural ways of learning, encourages self discovery. A child learns more from the ages 0 to 5 than any other time in their lives.

Then they go to school!

“Oh I see, that’s how I’m supposed to learn…”

Natural learning closes down.

We need to encourage leaders to open up to their natural learning. Leadership qualities are evoked by self development.

Kevin Cowley

Kevin Cowley
253 days ago

(Continuing)

To quote Warren Bennis

“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.”

But wait, there is more. For years we have measured effective leaders firstly through IQ then EQ. Now we have SQ (Spiritual Quotient). While IQ allows us to think and EQ helps us relate, SQ allows us to do both these things during times of rapid change. IQ & EQ were sufficient in a relatively static world. SQ provides the linkage in times of paradigm shift and chaos.
Those with high SQ have the capacity to question, think creatively, change the rules, work effectively in changing situations by playing with the boundaries, break through obstacles and being innovative. Our SQ encourages us to see the bigger picture, to be co-creators of the world in which we live.
Outstanding performers have high IQ, high EQ and high SQ. This makes them alive, dynamic, sociable and innovative. You are unlikely therefore, to find many of them in traditional organisations.
Traditional organisations, based on the machine model, prefer controllable cogs in the organisational wheel, rather than people who are switched on intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. The addictive rules of organisations heavily discourage those who think outside the box and have the emotional health to want to be their own person.
We need to take risks! To do this we need to move from a culture of "Fear" to a culture of "Trust".

I ran a seminar based on this thinking and the work of Sir John Whitmore. If anyone would like a copy of my slides or speaking notes, just let me know. kevin.cowley@justice.gsi.gov.uk

Douglas Grant

Douglas Grant
252 days ago

The trouble is a Culture of Trust has to be earned to be effective. With the speed of change and the pressure to make a big difference now linking this with regaining trust in Management is going to be a massive challenge.

I think we need to tackle trust at our Senior level first & quickly. Management should promise honestly what they can deliver & deliver what is promised quickly would be my approach.

Tim Knight

Tim Knight
55 days ago

As a former civil servant perhaps I can speak a little more freely then most and this is something that I feel very passionate about.

I would like to explain a little about my experiences within the civil service because I think it best highlights some of the areas that need addressing and then I will offer my personal opinion of what needs to be done to make the civil service a better working environment.

When I joined the civil service I started as an AO working for Jobcentre Plus and my role was to take benefit claims over the phone. I was in a target driven environment where it was more important to hit a target then provide good customer service and we were given statements about how 'we have to find the right level between managing calls and meeting customer service expectations' which, although true, still didn't really do much to help those who were struggling to try and deal with customers effectively.

I had an idea (The Amaze Project aka 5ways) which sought to find ways to utilise the alternative skills of civil servants to help reduce the creative media costs within the DWP and quickly it was picked up and I was invited to join the DWP Idea Street platform, which was great.

The platform (and team behind it) made me feel empowered, and motivated me in my job role, it opened up a whole world of opportunities and for the first time as a nobody within the civil service I had a chance to make a positive difference. The CIT team who manage the Idea Street platform were amazing, they listened to me, they provided help and even gave me a secondment to their team for three weeks. The platform itself saved a whole heap of money for the DWP and gave a voice to those who are on the front line, it is an AMAZING platform and something that every single worker within the civil service should have access too (well DWP anyway as there are alternative versions for different departments).

I quickly rose to the top of the leaderboard and made connections across the civil service (a lot I still have today and speak with on a daily basis), I even got to job-shadow the DWP Perm Secretary and visit the London office on a few occasions.

The difficulty I faced was when it came to my local management team who were not at all supportive and blocked me every step of the way. I understand they had targets to hit themselves and they saw it as a distraction, which to a degree was true, and I don't blame them for being so difficult as at the end of the day they had their responsibilities to meet, but here-in lies the problem...

If you truely want to give managers more chance to make a difference, from the senior leaders right down to the lower level management teams then you have to allow those on the front line the opportunity to contribute through platforms like Idea Street (I believe it may now be undergoing a name change) and provide time, and resources to developing said platforms where no matter what level you are you can contribute and work together to find soloutions to problems, this is where significant change will happen.

There also needs to be more freedom and less red-tape when it comes to how they manage their resources and how they can get hold of new services etc... For example with the 5ways project we are creating an alternative skills database which will see the general public able to showcase their talents to civil service departments, but what will end up being a problem is the way in which the civil service decide upon tenders and the red-tape associated with them gaining new contracts etc...

A manager is only as good as his/hers workforce, and it is only working together that a true difference can be made, so platforms like Idea Street are the things that need to be invested in to ensure that managers/leaders can do their jobs more effectively.

What do leaders need to make a bigger difference in the civil service?

Civil Service World

Alain Ellis

imran bashir

Anne Veronica Staunton-Lambert

Suzannah Brecknell

Anne Veronica Staunton-Lambert

John M Haskey

John M Haskey

Douglas Grant

Alain Ellis

Anne Veronica Staunton-Lambert

Douglas Grant

Saima Williams

Kevin Cowley

Kevin Cowley

Douglas Grant

Tim Knight

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