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Innovations in Public Leadership
Development
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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3
1 Introduction
Ricardo S. Morse and Terry F. Buss
All who have studied and thought about leadership development recognize that we know too little to permit definitive treatment of the subject. The best we can hope is to offer provisional clarification on the way to
something better.
—John Gardner (1990, 157)
Leadership and leadership development constitute an enormous, burgeoning field of inquiry and practice. There are thousands of books on leadership, along with hundreds, if not thousands, of various types of leadership development programs throughout the United States. To give some sense of scope, a subject search for “leadership” in the books category of Amazon.com (on May 3, 2007) yielded no less than 27,099 results. On that given day, Lee Iacocca’s Where Have All the Leaders Gone? (2007) was the bestseller in the group. Remarkably, only 148 of the 27,099 results (one-half of one percent) were in the “public affairs and administration” category. On the other hand, 14,757 were classified under the “business and investing” category.
This should not come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the field of public administration. Indeed, leadership and leadership development in public administration has long been a vastly understudied field. There are literally only a few books written that specifically discuss leadership in public service—that is, leadership exercised by “regular” public managers. While there are scores of books on political leadership and significant literature on military leadership,1 it is difficult to find many discussions of leadership that are aimed squarely at management-level agency staff, city and county manag- ers and department heads, and so on.
However, public managers at all levels of government have many training and continuing education opportunities in the area of leadership development. The Federal Executive Institute (www.leadership.opm.gov) and the Senior
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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4 RICARDO S. MORSE AND TERRY F. BUSS
Executive Institute (www.coopercenter.org/leadership/SEI) are two promi- nent examples of well-established leadership development programs (www. GovLeaders.org). Many state and federal agencies also have well-established leadership development programs. In addition, professional associations, such as the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) University (www.icma.org/icmau), provide leadership development opportunities. Several universities also house leadership institutes and programs for the public sector, and a good number of professional degree programs in public administration and public affairs include courses on leadership; however, very few programs2 include leadership courses in the core curriculum.
All this is to say that formal leadership development efforts are found in the public sector, along with a smattering of books and articles on the topic. But when compared to the private sector, there really is no comparison. As the Amazon.com search revealed, the public sector is dwarfed dramatically by the private sector in literature and training for leadership.3 With this compilation, we aim to make a contribution to the thinking and practice of leadership development for the public sector. Specifically, we offer insights to practitioners and academics who are engaged in the development of current and future public leaders. This includes (at least) the following groups that are all concerned with developing public leadership:
• those involved in Master’s of Public Administration (MPA) and other public affairs professional programs,
• officers and staff of public service professional associations, • executive leaders and human resources personnel in public agencies, • individual trainers and other consultants that work with public organiza-
tions, and • program administrators and trainers at leadership institutes across the
country.
The chapters included in this volume offer innovations in thinking and prac- tice that we hope will help move forward efforts to improve the leadership effectiveness of current public leaders as well as to grow future leaders.
Leadership Development in the Public Sector
So what exactly does public leadership development mean? First, it is im- portant to untangle the meaning of “leadership development.” The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) defines leader development as the “expansion of a person’s capacity to be effective in leadership roles and processes” (Van Velsor and McCauley 2004, p. 2). “Leadership roles and processes” means “those that
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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INTRODUCTION 5
facilitate setting direction, creating alignment, and maintaining commitment in groups of people who share common work” (p. 2). Traditionally, leadership development and leader development, as defined, were synonymous. Leader- ship has long been viewed “as an individual-level skill” (Day 2000, p. 583); thus, leadership development has been about developing leaders.
However, many in the leadership development arena now distinguish leadership and leader development. Leader development corresponds with the CCL definition above, being at the individual level, and leadership de- velopment is an organizational-level phenomenon (Day 2000). Leadership development is thus defined as “the expansion of the organization’s capacity to enact the basic leadership tasks needed for collective work: setting direc- tion, creating alignment, and maintaining commitment” (Van Velsor and McCauley 2004, p. 18). Where leader development focuses on developing human capital, leadership development focuses on developing social capital (Day 2000). Developing individual leadership capacity is then seen as a subset of a broader set of activities called leadership development.
It is important to note, though, that the majority of “leadership develop- ment programs” are in fact leader development programs aimed at developing individuals. We see the distinction, however, as important and corresponding with major, transformational shifts in public, as well as private, organiza- tions. Top-down, hierarchical models of management and leadership are giving way to models of collaboration and networks (Goldsmith and Eggers 2004). Van Velsor and McCauley (2004) observe that “it is getting harder and harder for formal leaders to enact leadership effectively on their own.” Furthermore, “today’s challenges are often too complex for individual leaders to fully understand alone . . . shared meaning must be created in the midst of seeming chaos and uncertainty. Individuals, groups, and organizations must work collaboratively to explore, set and reset direction, create alignment, and maintain commitment” (p. 18). Thus, leadership development goes beyond developing individual capacities to developing connections “between individu- als, . . . collectives, . . . and between the organization and key constituents and stakeholders in its environment. . . . It also means developing the individual and collective capacities to create shared meaning, to effectively engage in interdependent work across boundaries, and to enact the task of leadership . . . in a way that is more inclusive” (p. 19).
In placing “public” in front of leadership development, we are narrow- ing the scope to public service organizations and leaders. By public service we specifically mean those working in public organizations, although we recognize that expanded notions of governance mean expanded notions of what constitutes public and who constitutes the public service. Thus, those who might see themselves working for the public good, as opposed to private
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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6 RICARDO S. MORSE AND TERRY F. BUSS
interests, could well fall under this definition. Another consequence of—and complication added by—placing “public” in front of leadership development is that the focus can be broader than the organization. On one level, we might speak of developing the leadership capacity of a public organization as a collective entity. But on another level, we might think in terms of service or issue networks, or even communities of place.
Therefore, public leadership development, as used here, is a broad term that describes developing the capacity of public organizations, or networks of organizations that serve public purposes, to enact “leadership tasks needed for collective work” (Van Velsor and McCauley 2004, p. 18). Developing or growing public leaders is a key part of this overall effort and involves expanding individual leadership capacity for public purposes. Leadership for public purposes includes leading public organizations and leading in collaborative settings for the public or common good. For the most part, this book focuses on the leader development component of this broader notion of leadership development. However, many chapters speak to new ways of thinking about public leadership, and hence, the broad purview of public leadership development. In addition, discussions of developing public leaders fold in nicely with this more comprehensive view of public leadership development that is emerging.
Different Types of Leader Development
It is important to understand that there are several different, yet complemen- tary, types of leader development. The first, and perhaps most basic, is what Van Wart calls “self-study” (2005, p. 398). Here we are speaking primarily of “learning that occurs outside formal training and structured developmental experience provided by the organization” (p. 399). This includes the practice of creating “work-specific development plans based on [one’s] self-observa- tions about what knowledge and competencies they need to enhance” (p. 399). Van Wart also noted that self-study corresponds with the idea of personal leadership, the skill of continual learning, and several traits that engender self-improvement behaviors.
The self-study approach to leader development also corresponds with the idea of reflective practice or “praxis.” Denhardt (2004) explained: “In praxis, we find once again the connection between personal learning and the rela- tionships between theory and practice” (p. 195). Through “critical reflection on our own situation and that of our society . . . we are compelled to act to increase our sense of autonomy and responsibility, both for ourselves and for our society” (Denhardt 2004, pp. 24–25). Thus, in a praxis approach, the individual leader is constantly seeking development in its broadest sense.
A second type of leader development is what Blunt (2003) called “leaders
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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INTRODUCTION 7
growing leaders.” Within organizations, seasoned leaders can develop or “grow” the next generation of leaders by
• being “examples of character and capability,” • developing “deep and lasting relationships” with future leaders “acting
as mentors,” and • “coaching” them as they learn from “challenging and varied job
experiences” (ibid., p. 10).
By consciously serving as an example, and through mentoring and coaching, leaders develop a “leader-centered culture” that begets new leaders. This is how leaders can best “leave a legacy” (ibid., p. 12).
A third and related type of leader development is what Blunt (2003) called “organizations growing leaders.” In addition to efforts of individual leaders developing leaders, there is much that can be done at the organizational level to develop leaders. High-performing organizations have strong leadership- oriented cultures. This includes real commitment by senior leaders to the “leaders developing leaders” approach, as well as to more formal development initiatives within the organization. Many organizations’ human resources de- partments offer leadership development programs; however, some are much more extensive than others.
Another key factor in leader development is “challenging job experiences” (Blunt 2003, p. 72). Van Wart (2005) noted that when “structured experience” is challenging, yet realistic in terms of expectations, it enhances “the develop- mental opportunities embedded in experience” (p. 399). It is also beneficial to create a variety of experiences, including “cross-organizational assignments or networking” (Van Wart 2005, p. 399; Blunt 2003, p. 72). The Intergovern- mental Personnel Act (IPA) Mobility Program4 is an interesting mechanism that can be used to facilitate development. Managers seeking advancement in their home agency rotate assignments within an agency or across agencies to learn how others lead and manage. Finally, quality feedback and rigorous, ongoing evaluation are included as “best practices” for organizations that are developing leaders (Blunt 2003).
The fourth type of leader development is through “off-site” formal leader- ship training and education. Here we include leadership academies and insti- tutes, as well as professional education programs that offer certificates and degrees. These are likely the first to come to mind when people hear the term “leadership development.” Indeed, most of the authors in this volume approach leadership development with formal training programs for individual leaders in mind. Gardner (1990) noted that “most conventional programs are essen- tially advanced courses in management” (p. 175). However, many programs
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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8 RICARDO S. MORSE AND TERRY F. BUSS
go much deeper than managerial skills. For example, the Federal Executive Institute offers a program on Leadership for a Democratic Society that includes themes of “personal leadership, organizational transformation, . . . and global perspective[s]” (Van Wart 2005, p. 401). The extent to which professional degree programs such as the MPA offer leadership development components varies (Denhardt and Campbell 2005). In any case, many practitioners seek MPA and similar degrees to help them advance to higher leadership positions. Therefore, these programs should all carefully consider what they are doing to develop leadership and leaders (Fairholm 2006).
A Critical Time for Leadership Development in the Public Sector
Leadership development has always been important in the public sector, but its importance is growing for a variety of reasons. For one, there is an ever- increasing recognition that leadership is a key aspect of public management (Behn 1998; Fairholm 2004). In the past, leadership and management fol- lowed the venerable policy/administration dichotomy. Political principals lead, administrative agents manage. However, this view has changed dramatically. Behn (1998, p. 209), pointing out the various deficiencies of governance in the United States, argued that leadership by public managers can provide a corrective, helping improve in governance. The notion of public managers as “agential leaders” further underscores a critical, legitimate leadership role for public managers (Wamsley 1990). Indeed, it is safe to say that there is now some degree of consensus in the field of public administration that leadership is “an obligation” of public managers (Behn 1998, p. 209). Thus, developing leaders and not just managers is a primary concern. Two other reasons it is such a critical time for public leadership development are briefly discussed below.
A Leadership Crisis?
For some time now, there has been widespread recognition of a “quiet crisis” in government. This term comes from the National Commission on the Public Service (also known as the Volcker Commission), which was formed in 1987 to prepare recommendations to counter what was then viewed as a gradual erosion of human capital in the public sector (the focus being on the federal government). The National Commission (1989) viewed recruitment and retention trends pointing toward “a government of the mediocre.” (p. 4). In the intervening time, the crisis has now turned into a looming “catastrophe” (Millick and Smith 2002). A second National Commission on the Public Service (2003) painted an even darker picture of the future. The bipartisan study group concluded
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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INTRODUCTION 9
that “too many of our most competent career executives and judges are retir- ing or leaving early” and “too few of our most talented citizens are seeking careers in government” (p. iv).5
The crisis—or catastrophe—has many dimensions that go beyond the scope of this book.6 However, a major component of primary interest here is what the crisis means for leadership in the public sector. An erosion of (career) leadership in government should be of great concern. There are several drivers for the leadership crisis, including lack of leader preparation, lack of public confidence in government, the “age bubble,” and the ascendancy of political leadership over civil service.
Soni (2004) reports on a U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) study that found that supervisors and senior leaders in the federal government by and large are selected for their technical expertise, and they lack preparation for leadership. The majority of agencies surveyed did not have any type of leadership development program. Furthermore, senior leaders generally were “lacking in skills and abilities needed for leading agencies in the twenty-first century such as collaborative leadership, managing across sectors and levels of government, leading by shared values, ability to frame issues in new ways, and ability to motivate others” (Soni 2004, p. 164). The second National Com- mission on the Public Service (2003) reported that “few organizations in our society have paid so little attention [as the federal government] to leadership succession and leadership quality” (p. 18).
Another major driver that was recognized two decades ago by the National Commission (1989) was the general low public confidence in government. This makes it much harder for public agencies to attract the “best and brightest.” Years of “bureaucrat bashing” took its toll; fewer than half of senior execu- tives in government would recommend the public service as a career to their children (p. 12). A specific goal of the Commission (1989) was to “rebuild the public trust” (p. 13).
Sadly, not much ground has been gained on this front. A recent survey by Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership found 70 percent of respondents agreed that there is a “leadership crisis” in the United States today. Furthermore, all levels of government fell below the “moderate amount” level of confidence in a question on “overall level of confidence in leadership” by sector (Pittinsky et al. 2006). While much of this is likely due mostly to dissatisfaction with political leadership, the antigovernment climate noted two decades ago that creates such a negative environment for public servants does not seem to have improved much, if any. In fact, major failures such the war in Iraq and the response to Hurricane Katrina, and rampant political corruption in all quarters, have likely exacerbated the problem.
Another major factor that contributes to the crisis is the “age bubble” that
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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10 RICARDO S. MORSE AND TERRY F. BUSS
was created in large part by the baby boom generation. OPM director Linda Springer, in discussing the problems presented by an aging government work- force, said “this is not a retirement boom, or a retirement wave, but a retirement tsunami.” Springer explained at OPM’s Federal Workforce Conference in 2006 that “sixty percent of the [federal] government’s 1.6 million employees, including 90 percent of its 6,000 senior executives, will be eligible to retire in the next decade” (Ziegler 2006, italics added). This “age bubble” seems to be impacting the public sector hardest, due to the other factors mentioned: “declining appeal of public service” and inadequate leader preparation, in addition to employment regulations in the public sector that in some cases makes it less competitive (Young 2003).
The impact goes beyond just the federal government. A 2002 survey of the Council of State Governments found a similar problem for state governments (cited in Young 2003, p. 37). The ICMA recognizes similar trends in local government management and is responding with several initiatives, including an “emerging leaders” program and the “Next Generation Initiative” designed to help “the next generation of local government managers to train and develop themselves” (Bobkiewicz n.d.).
Finally, another contributor to our leadership crisis is that in recent years, political appointees have begun to dominate government, especially at the federal level (Ink 2007). They have maintained their role as policymakers but also have expanded their direct influence on day-to-day operations of agen- cies and programs. Career civil servants have been pushed aside or pushed down in appropriations.
It is important to note that this crisis is recognized not only by human resource experts but by the practitioners themselves. Government managers at both the federal and local level recognize the need to focus on leadership development in the coming years. A 2007 survey7 of nearly 400 senior fed- eral government executives asked: “In thinking about your organization’s management needs over the next five years, how would you evaluate the importance of each of the following types of management knowledge and skills?” The respondents (N = 392) rated 15 areas from “not important at all” (1) to “extremely important” (5). The area with the most votes for “extremely important” was “leadership,” with 80 percent. The next three highest-rated areas are also all leadership related: decision making/problem solving (79 percent), communication skills (74 percent), and teamwork (74 percent). More technical skills rated much lower.8
Results of a similar survey completed by 403 city and county managers in 2006 yielded similar results. Eighty-two percent of respondents rated decision making/problem solving as “extremely important” for their organization’s management needs over the next five years, with communication skills sec-
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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INTRODUCTION 11
ond (77 percent), and leadership third (72 percent).9 Clearly, public leaders understand the “quiet crisis” and would agree that developing future leaders must be a top priority at all levels of government.
The Transformation of Public Leadership
The other reason leadership development in the public sector has never been more important has to do with the changing nature of public leadership itself. As we described in Transforming Public Leadership for the Twenty-First Century (Morse, Buss, and Kinghorn 2007), the way public leadership is understood and practiced is undergoing a dramatic, transformational change. The so-called new governance is shifting leadership away from traditional command-and-control conceptions toward partnerships and networks. Lead- ing from positions of formal authority is giving way to leading “from the middle” (Luke 1998, p. 187). Rather than focusing on leading followers in an organizational context, today’s public leaders are “boundary crossers” who work in collaboration with other public sector partners, as well as those from the private and nonprofit sectors (Peirce and Johnson 1997).
This transformation of public leadership requires many leaders. They must not only be effective organizational leaders in the traditional sense but also be effective collaborative, interorganizational leaders. In so doing, they must not only promote organizational cultures of excellence but now must develop cultures of boundary-crossing collaboration. The twenty-first-century public leader must continue to conserve institutional mission and values (Terry 2003) but must also be adept at transcending the organization to create public value (DeSeve 2007).
Thus, with all that is involved with leading within the context of the new governance, greater attention must be paid to developing leadership capacity in current and future leaders, as well as within and across organi- zations more generally. Being a public manager today involves much more than POSDCORB (Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, and Budgeting), and thus the training and preparation of public managers to be public leaders is essential.
Overview of the Book
The collection of chapters that follow all speak in one way or another to this central theme of developing public leaders. We recognize that we still “know too little to permit definitive treatment of the subject,” and that “the best we can hope is to offer provisional clarification on the way to something bet- ter” (Gardner 1990, p. 157). The “way to something better,” in our view, is
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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12 RICARDO S. MORSE AND TERRY F. BUSS
a greater emphasis on developing public leaders within the ranks of public administration. Moreover, this greater emphasis should be informed by the understanding of what public leadership means in the twenty-first century context of the “new governance” and by real experience in designing and delivering leader development programs. The authors here offer such wisdom and experience, and it is our hope that their contributions will help advance the practice of developing public leaders now and for the future.
Part I sets the stage, with four essays that discuss and unpack some of the changing conceptions of leadership facing the public sector. In Chapter 2, Marc Holzer takes issue with the simplistic, authoritarian image of leadership that pervades our culture and offers a more complex picture in the form of two cases of federal leaders—Nancy Hanks and Colin Powell. In so doing, Holzer illustrates a richer, more nuanced picture of public leadership. Holzer’s piece illustrates how simple, short cases can be powerful teaching tools for leader development.
In Chapter 3, Stephanie Newbold, with the late Larry Terry, addresses the question of leadership as it relates to a transition in the field of public admin- istration from the New Public Management (NPM) to what they call the New Democratic Governance (NDG). They offer a thoughtful critique of the NDG from the perspective of the “old institutionalism.” The discussion underscores the critical importance of maintaining constitutional values within any discus- sion of public leadership and reminds us that, above all, public administrative leadership is about conserving the constitutional values that underpin the existence of any public agency. Newbold and Terry’s chapter offers a word of caution to both NPM and NDG and, as such, suggests an important frame for the other discussions of leadership that follow.
Chapter 4 offers another framing piece for the rest of the book. James Colvard’s chapter discusses management and leadership—an important, if contested, distinction in any discussion of leadership development. He also discusses, based on his many years as a public leader, the required understandings of managers and leaders and the different forms of power available to both. He traces the development stages of public leaders, from “individual performers” fresh out of school all the way through future-fo- cused “leadership.”
In Chapter 5, Brian Gittens looks to developing leaders in a rather unusual place—the offices of academic department chairs. Public institutions of higher education are very much part of the public service, but are rarely treated as such. As a result, discussions of public leadership rarely include colleges and academic departments. Gittens argues that a context of heightened public ac- countability for educational outcomes and financial resources begs for effec- tive leadership by academic department chairs. He connects transformational
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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INTRODUCTION 13
leadership behaviors with constructive departmental cultures and views that model as a promising opportunity for the development of department chairs as leaders.
Part II offers three chapters that speak directly to leadership development for the “new governance.” The new governance is characterized by interor- ganizational collaboration and networks. In Chapter 6, Rick Morse identifies some key competencies of collaborative leadership that go beyond those already identified for organizational leadership. Important competencies for collaboration include personal attributes of systems thinking and sense of mutuality, skills such as strategic thinking and group facilitation, and behav- iors such as stakeholder identification and strategic issue framing. He argues that developing collaborative behavioral competencies requires an inside-out approach that goes beyond learning tools and addresses the fundamental personal attributes that facilitate collaborative action.
Chapters 7 and 8 discuss experiences in developing and delivering formal leadership training in the vein of the new governance. In Chapter 7, Carl Stenberg, Vaughn Upshaw, and Donna Warner of the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill School of Government, share lessons learned in design- ing and delivering the Public Executive Leadership Academy, an intensive leader development program for local managers with an explicit focus on the public manager as a community change agent. Their chapter offers insight into what the content and pedagogy of such programs can look like, as well as many other important lessons for designing and delivering executive leader development programs.
In Chapter 8, Ruth Ann Bramson discusses leader development in the context of the MPA program at Suffolk University in Boston. Bramson and colleagues developed an innovative specialty—Community Leadership and Public Engagement—within the program. Emphasizing collaborative lead- ership and community problem solving, the Suffolk program translates the New Public Service (Denhardt and Denhardt 2003) into a curriculum that is explicitly focused on leader development for the new governance. Although it is still a work in progress, Bramson’s efforts in Boston illustrate the potential of leader development within MPA programs, as well as the difference of a focus on collaboration and engagement versus top-down leadership conceptions.
A major aspect of the transformation of governance and leadership is globalization. The chapters in Part III discuss public leadership in the global context. In Chapter 9, Ruth Zaplin and Sydney Smith-Heimbrock draw at- tention to the fact that the United States sends thousands of officials abroad annually to work with foreign governments, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and universities—officially or unofficially. Unlike their Foreign Service counterparts who receive extensive training in
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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14 RICARDO S. MORSE AND TERRY F. BUSS
language, culture, and diplomacy, these representatives often lack a sound grounding in how to work in a global context. Some do damage to the United States as a result, but more often they simply miss opportunities to reflect positively on their country and what it is trying to accomplish. Zaplin and Smith-Heimbrock look at the competencies they feel are necessary to work effectively as leaders in a global context.
In Chapters 10 and 11, respectively, Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Daniel Spikes, recently retired from the Foreign Service, offer their views on competencies necessary for working abroad. Ambassador Pickering, an experienced career Foreign Service officer and key decision maker in a private sector, multinational firm, Boeing, offers his views on what global leaders need to know and how they can be developed. Pickering pays special atten- tion to the skills required for effective negotiations with foreign entities and career development issues. Spikes, in Chapter 11, lays out in detail the global leadership competencies that the State Department requires for advancement in the Foreign Service. From this overview, it is easy to see why the Foreign Service has become so effective.
Part IV looks to a particularly important subset of public leadership: po- litical appointees. The second National Commission on the Public Service (2003) highlighted the political appointee problem in Washington, DC (the proliferation of appointee positions as well as the politicization of the pro- cess) as a serious impediment to effective government leadership. Effective leadership by political appointees is critical to the overall public leadership landscape. One of the clear lessons of the Katrina debacle was how ineffective leadership by appointees can have a devastating effect on an organization that very recently was lauding its deep pool of career talent.
In Chapter 12, Frank DiGiammarino lays out a model that informs newly appointed leaders about how they can successfully manage agencies and pro- grams in the short time horizon that most have to achieve their goals before moving on. Typically, high-level leadership, especially at the federal level, has somewhat less than two years to make a difference. As such, they need to hit the ground running. DiGiammarino, in a series of twenty-five case studies of effective leaders, instructs leaders in how to be successful. In a different approach to the issue, Cindy Williams, Steve Redburn, and Terry Buss, in Chapter 13, offer their thoughts on the ten most important things that newly appointed senior officials should do in the early days of their tenure if they wish to be successful. The authors convened a focus group of highly effec- tive leaders and asked them to discuss what they tried to do as they assumed responsibility for leading their agency. The chapter presents the collective results of this exercise.
Part V offers four chapters that speak directly to the design and delivery
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INTRODUCTION 15
of leader development programs in the public sector. In Chapter 14, Jed Kee, Kathryn Newcomer, and Mike Davis present a follow-up to their “transfor- mational stewardship” model of public leadership that is presented in Morse, Buss, and Kinghorn (2007). Here they apply the model of transformational stewardship to leader development, outlining the attributes and skills of transformational stewards, and thus the competencies that must form the core of development efforts. Furthermore, they discuss the types of development approaches that are most appropriate for developing different transformational steward capabilities. Their chapter offers concrete guidance for anyone in- volved in designing and delivering a public leader development program.
In Chapter 15, Rich Callahan shares wisdom gained from many years “in the trenches” delivering leader development programs at the University of Southern California. He offers advice in terms of content and delivery, with an emphasis on helping leaders initiate and sustain change in their organizations. He argues that programs should operate at five different levels of leadership (individual, group, organization, community, and institutional) and focus on outcomes.
Chapter 16 offers a substantial treatment of the action learning approach to leader development by Robert Kramer, which is based on his work at American University (Washington, DC). Kramer observes that most leader- ship development programs, especially those for mid-level managers, tend to be offered off-site, often in the evening or on weekends. Consequently, it is difficult for program participants to make the leap from training to the real world of leadership at their workplace, which is often turbulent, chaotic, and complex. Kramer rectifies this dilemma in leadership development programs focused on action learning—learning and building capacity to learn in real time, in the here-and-now, while continuing to act in the swirling midst of permanent “white water” that is the context for today’s leaders.
Chapter 17 offers a unique pedagogical approach to leader development called social artistry. Lisa Nelson offers a framework in which leadership development builds creative capacities in a culture-specific context. In her words, “social artistry uses a society’s or organization’s own stories, music, and other arts in combination with a set of principles of human development to evoke awareness and access to the sensory, psychological, mythic, and integrative resources that are available to all humankind.” Nelson offers a means for leaders to achieve much greater creativity in solving problems or taking advantage of opportunities.
By way of concluding our book, we report, in the Appendix, the results of a daylong session held with some of the nation’s top leaders who were asked to think about what it would take for government to grow effective leaders. Unlike theories that claim leaders are born, not developed, this session lays out an agenda detailing what might be done.
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16 RICARDO S. MORSE AND TERRY F. BUSS
Next Steps
While the 16 chapters that follow cover a lot of ground, we acknowledge that in terms of public leadership development, we still have a long way to go in scholarship and practice. In terms of scholarship, there needs to be more systematic study of leadership competencies and behaviors to inform the cur- riculum of leader development programs. We need to better understand how leadership (as distinguished from leader) development in and across public organizations can best be accomplished. What approaches and techniques can best develop organizational capacity for collective work? We also need more systemic study of leader development programs to determine which approaches yield the best results in terms of actual leader behaviors and organizational outcomes.
In practice, we need simply to see more emphasis on leadership and leader development within public organizations. In the OPM study cited by Soni (2004, p. 163), it was reported that only four of twenty agencies surveyed actually had formal, internal leader development programs. We also need to see a greater emphasis on leader development in MPA and other professional degree programs (Fairholm 2006). Producing competent managers is not enough. Data from the 2006 and 2007 National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) surveys (cited in notes 7 and 9) make it very clear that practicing managers recognize leadership as a top priority for the future of their organizations. Public affairs programs must acknowledge this and reflect it in their curricula.
Finally, in a time when “network” is supplanting “hierarchy” as the domi- nant organizational form, we need to consider how leadership development can be accomplished across organizations. That is, as we consider how leaders and organizational cultures can be more collaborative, we must also consider how to develop capacity for joint work across organizations or within networks. In the future, public leadership development is likely to be thought of less in terms of the organization and more in terms of the network. How this will take shape and what types of approaches and techniques will be most appropriate for this work are questions that will need to be answered.
Notes
1. For lists of what military leaders are reading, see www.ndu.edu/Library/reading- list/PMReadingList.html or visit www.ndu.edu (accessed May 12, 2007).
2. Of 142 National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA)–accredited schools in 2004, 42 percent had a course on leadership listed in the curriculum. However, only 9 percent reported a leadership course in their core require- ments (Denhardt and Campbell 2005, p. 170).
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INTRODUCTION 17
3. It should be noted that many leadership books and programs from the private sector (otherwise known generically as the field of “management”) assume to speak to public sector leaders as well. The tacit assumption is that “leadership is leadership,” whether that is at IBM or the U.S. Department of Transportation. Of course, there are many problems with this assumption (see Rainey 2003, ch. 3, for a very thoughtful discussion of the dis- tinctive aspects of management and leadership in the public sector).
4. “The Intergovernmental Personnel Act Mobility Program provides for the temporary assignment of personnel between the Federal Government and state and local govern- ments, colleges and universities, Indian tribal governments, federally funded research and development centers, and other eligible organizations” (www.opm.gov/programs/ipa/ (accessed May 10, 2007).
5. The Volcker Commission was housed in and supported by the National Academy of Public Administration until it disbanded in May 2007.
6. The question of developing human capital in the public sector is the subject of another book in this series, Innovations in Human Capital Management (Sistare, Shiplett, and Buss 2008).
7. Data available at www.naspaa.org/naspaa_surveys/FederalEmployerSurvey.pdf (accessed May 10, 2007).
8. For example, budgeting and financial management (44 percent), performance mea- surement (54 percent), information technology (32 percent), policy analysis (31 percent), and statistical analysis (21 percent).
9. Data available at http://www.naspaa.org/naspaa_surveys/CityManagerSurvey.pdf (accessed May 10, 2007).
References
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Denhardt, Robert B. 2004. Theories of Public Organization, 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Thom- son/Wadsworth.
Denhardt, Janet V., and Kelly B. Campbell. 2005. “Leadership Education in Public Admin- istration: Finding the Fit Between Purpose and Approach.” Journal of Public Affairs Education 11(3): 169–179.
Denhardt, Janet V., and Robert B. Denhardt. 2003. The New Public Service. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
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———. 2006. “Leadership Theory and Practice in the MPA Curriculum: Reasons and Methods.” Journal of Public Affairs Education 12(3): 335–346.
Gardner, John W. 1990. On Leadership. New York: The Free Press. Goldsmith, Stephen, and William D. Eggers. 2004. Governing by Network: The New Shape
of the Public Sector. Washington, DC: Brookings.
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Iacocca, Lee. 2007. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? New York: Scribner. Ink, Dwight. 2007. “Twenty-first Century Career Leaders.” In Transforming Public
Leadership for the 21st Century, eds. Ricardo S. Morse, Terry F. Buss, and C. Morgan Kinghorn, 47–68. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Luke, Jeffrey S. 1998. Catalytic Leadership: Strategies for an Interconnected World. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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Morse, Ricardo S., Terry F. Buss, and C. Morgan Kinghorn, eds. 2007. Transforming Public Leadership for the 21st Century. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
National Commission on the Public Service. 1989. Leadership for America: Rebuilding the Public Sector. Washington, DC: National Commission on the Public Service, Paul A. Volcker, Chairman.
———. 2003. Urgent Business for America: Revitalizing the Federal Government for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: National Commission on the Public Service, Paul A. Volcker, Chairman.
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Pittinsky, Todd L., Seth A. Rosenthal, Laura M. Bacon, R. Matthew Montoya, and Wei- chun Zhu. 2006. National Leadership Index 2006: A National Study of Confidence in Leadership. Cambridge: Center for Public Leadership, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Rainey, Hal G. 2003. Understanding and Managing Public Organizations. 3rd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Sistare, Hannah, Melissa Smith, Myra Shiplett, and Terry Buss. 2008. Innovations in Hu- man Capital Management. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Soni, Vidu. 2004. “From Crisis to Opportunity: Human Resource Challenges for the Public Sector in the Twenty-First Century.” Review of Policy Research 21(2): 157–178.
Terry, Larry D. 2003. Leadership of Public Bureaucracies: The Administrator as Conser- vator, 2nd ed. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Van Velsor, Ellen, and Cynthia D. McCauley. 2004. “Our View of Leadership Development.” In The Center for Creative Leadership Handbook of Leadership Development, 2nd ed., eds. Cynthia D. McCauley and Ellen Van Velsor, 1–22. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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Part I
Changing Conceptions of Public Leadership
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2 Culture and Leadership
Marc Holzer
Leadership for Policy Implementation
The implementation of public policy is one of the enduring frustrations of government. In a comprehensive overview of the subject in the International Encyclopedia of Public Policy and Administration, David J. Houston (1998) held that “implementation typically involves a wide range of actors with diverse interests and competing goals, including formal policymakers, bureau- cratic officials from all levels of government . . . , private sector organizations, nonprofit organizations, clientele groups, and other interested citizen groups” (p. 1093). Although he does include “planning, communicating, negotiating” among the “activities” of implementation, nowhere in his comprehensive re- view of the subject does he mention leadership or partnership per se. Rather, he describes comprehensive theories of policy implementation that involve many factors. Our first premise is that leadership is an equally important activity, perhaps the most important part of the activity mix.
Our second premise is that simplistic models of leadership are at odds with the complexities and subtleties of public policy implementation. Traditional, simplistic models of leadership pervade our society and condition our public managers from a very early age. Those ingrained top-down models frustrate policy implementers—or public servants—by making the least, rather than the most, of our critical human resources.
Models of excellent leadership can be especially powerful in informing the study of public administration/implementation. They offer salient mod- els that can gain and maintain the attention of busy policy implementers. If better leadership “prescriptions” are to be constructed, they will have to rely on lessons of successful leadership through new lenses, and the literature of leadership offers especially powerful lenses, often focusing on partnerships as a means to the stated goals of a particular public policy.
21
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Our third premise is that programs in public administration and public affairs, as well as in business and management, are expending much effort in undoing the assumptions that students bring to the classroom; as a corol- lary, they are ignoring the problems and constraints of such deep-seated, albeit simplistic, views. Those simplistic assumptions essentially follow an authoritarian, or Theory X, model.
• Leaders must be strong and decisive; under continuous pressure, they must act on the spot, reaching decisions without taking much time to consider the subtleties and implications.
• Leaders are expected to act as authoritarian, lone decision makers; they may solicit advice, but their operative paradigm is “the buck stops here,” the adage that the decision is on their desk, on their watch. They are expected to act, and they do so as much to serve their egos as to respond to the expectations of their colleagues, superiors, and board members that they present a strong and decisive persona.
• The “team” must back up the leader, right or wrong. Team members do not argue; soldiers carry out their orders, athletes execute their plays, and subordinates follow directions.
• Authority emanates from the top and is to be automatically accepted. Members of an organization, paid or volunteer, rarely talk back or chal- lenge top-down directives. And they are just as often ignored in the formulation of decisions and strategies.
• Leaders know best and the workforce must therefore follow. Generals and Secretaries of Defense view wars as too complex for the average soldier or citizen to understand. Principals view education as too complex for students, parents, and even teachers to comprehend.
Thus, public management is driven by assumptions of leadership that are widely accorded legitimacy by the workforce exposed to Theory X-type role models from birth.
• Young children are socialized to follow the authoritative directions of their parents. This is a necessary pattern of survival and cultural transfer- ence that often continues throughout the life cycle of parents’ relation- ships with their children.
• As they grow and gain independence, other authority-oriented role models insert themselves.
■ Students are expected to follow the lead of their teachers and, later, their professors, who are given immense authority to direct, judge, punish, and reward.
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CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP 23
■ Student-actors must follow the directions of the drama coach or direc- tor of the school play.
■ Student-athletes are acculturated never to question the edicts from their coaches.
Those role models are reinforced throughout adulthood. The prevailing stereotype of the authoritative leader is reinforced and appears in multiple venues.
• On the silver screen—In Patton, George C. Scott portrays the revered general as a larger-than-life figure, intimidating his troops into coura- geous actions, accusing slackers of cowardice, and exposing himself to enemy fire as an exemplar to his troops. That image, as portrayed by other actors who represent real and fictional characters, is a thread through movies of wartime “action” and Cold War deception, of the Wild West, and of police and firefighting heroics.
• On television—Shows offer prime-time stereotypes of those in command almost hourly: authoritative police commanders on Law and Order, a decisive doctor on House, and a confident president on West Wing. Commercials on both TV and radio almost invariably present the boss as a figure to be feared and to be pleased. The executive’s voice is loud and strong, his or her manner is forceful, and his or her subordinates are relegated to inferior positions.
• Popular fiction—The genre of Michael Crichton and colleagues—deals primarily in stereotypes of powerful figures (albeit sometimes bumbling as he/she ignores the advice of subordinates). Novels of politics or crime trade in images of strong Presidents, CIA directors, admirals and gener- als, commissioners and commanders. The language is idiomatic, and the characterizations are two-dimensional.
• Sports—The image of the lone, aggressive decision maker is reinforced daily, and especially on the weekends, through athletic contests that are televised or in person: the football or basketball coach pacing the sidelines who is playing the role of chess master, while the players are simply pieces on the game board; the baseball manager sitting at the end of the bench strategizing; the Olympic coach directing the preparation of the compliant skater or runner; the World Cup coach shouting at the soccer team.
• Comics—Although the boss is often portrayed as insensitive, the power relationship is that of superior to inferior. In Dilbert, the staff typically suffers from the wrong-headed behavior of management, but the incum- bent, incompetent managers seem to survive. In Blondie, the boss is the productivity figure while Dagwood is the buffoon.
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Although simplistic assumptions are widely discredited in the research- based literature, few people are exposed to it or are taught those research findings. In the United States, tens of millions of people staff public and quasi-public organizations (nonprofits, private sector contractors). Only a very small percentage (in the range of tens of thousands) are educated in public management at the graduate level (Master of Public Administration [MPA], Master of Public Policy, and similar degrees), and even many of those gradu- ates have never been exposed to courses on leadership per se. Most people in positions of public sector leadership come from fields in which there is little but the stereotypes to inform their expectations: law, medicine, engineering, social work, education, and so on.
Leadership as a Complex Construction
As alternatives to the simplistic assumptions that inundate our children and that are reinforced through adulthood by the media, analyses and case studies of leadership offer a set of creative recommendations for how our courses on leadership, motivation, and behavior might more effectively reverse the no- tions of authority that our society so pervasively communicates, suggesting alternative models that would make much better use of our human resources in the quest for more effective public organizations and programs. We can- not govern in the twenty-first century from first-century models such as the Caesars.
As examples of the efficiency and power of leadership cases, we cite the examples of two federal administrators: Nancy Hanks of the National Endow- ment for the Arts (NEA) and Colin Powell of the Department of Defense. Both are examples of how cases may help develop models for leadership, and both offer insights on building and maintaining sometimes fragile partnerships.
The Case of Nancy Hanks
According to Margaret Jane Wyszomirski (1997), Nancy Hanks, as the second chairperson of the NEA (1969–1977), is generally acknowledged to have been an especially successful policy implementer who executed a strategy for advancing and adapting the agency to a changing policy environment. Hanks brought unusually deep and broad leadership skills to the NEA.
During Hanks’s tenure, the agency budget increased twelvefold. Its staff increased six-fold. The number of applications for funding increased tenfold. The number of grant awards rose by a factor of seven. Overall, Hanks nur- tured an arts boom throughout the country. Theater audiences more than tripled. Dance audiences increased by a factor of ten. Other measures of the
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arts showed similar growth. Just as important, artists and government officials came to feel they were full partners in a set of long-term endeavors.
Wyszomirski characterizes the ingredients of Hanks’s leadership—the “recipe” for implementation—as four major elements: environmental context, bureaucratic resources, political tactics, and personal style.
In terms of the context, Hanks was relatively nonpartisan. Although a Republican, she was acceptable to President Nixon as “neither an artist nor a politician”(p. 125). As a “neutral” figure, she was able to build partnerships (i.e., political coalitions) by avoiding any political or artistic labels. Rather, according to Wyszomirski, she described herself modestly as a budgeting specialist, an arts administrator who could creatively put a program into a political context. She was adept at partnering: building networks, convening panels of experts, coordinating advisory committee decisions, integrating diverse viewpoints, and reformulating information and opinion into an ac- ceptable, practical product. She also has been described as an individual with great attention to detail and a facility for meticulous preparation.
In addition to her personal characteristics, Hanks defined a long-term financial growth strategy for the agency. Wyszomirski (p. 129) describes her three goals as:
1. Cultural resources development, targeting nonprofit arts agencies for competitive grants;
2. Availability of artistic resources to a much wider audience; and 3. Advancement of our cultural legacy by funding new creative op-
portunities for artists and new artistic experiences for audiences.
Each of these three goals was the basis for a new coalition of partners: arts agencies, audiences, and artists.
To fund these initiatives, Hanks took advantage of the newly passed Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to secure more than $10 million in transitional funding. In addition, by developing “challenge grants” as a new category of funding, which required a three-to-one match of private-to-fed- eral dollars, she effectively stretched NEA’s budget. Both actions required substantial coalition building in the arts and political communities, as well as alliance building with other federal agencies such as the U.S. Information Agency and the General Services Administration. To staff NEA’s initiatives, she built a capable, loyal staff, in large part by drawing on her wide networks. That staff underscored and reinforced her own capabilities and was very much a fourth partner in building momentum for the arts.
Finally, Hanks became known for results-oriented programs (p. 133). She often relied on ideas that had been successfully piloted elsewhere, often at
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the state level. By paying attention to such innovations, she was able to adapt workable ideas rather than risk implementing something entirely new.
Compared to her successors who were notably less successful, Hanks is viewed as a person with the right qualities and the necessary skills to take advantage of a policy environment that presented opportunities for implemen- tation of public policy. She is known as a leader who worked effectively with a broad range of allies, including bureaucrats in her own agency and in other federal venues, and politicians in the White House and Congress.
Overall, then, we can extract the following guidelines from the Hanks case.
1. Build networks resulting in partnerships. 2. Bring technical expertise to the position. 3. Increase resources and disburse them to partners. 4. Integrate diverse viewpoints. 5. Adapt proven ideas. 6. Demonstrate results. 7. Build a capable, loyal staff as internal partners. 8. Take advantage of opportunities in the policy environment.
The Case of Colin Powell
Nancy Hanks had a clear mission, one in which she ardently believed: growth of the arts. General Colin Powell’s most public implementation task, how- ever, was to implement an even clearer mission, but one that he may not have initially supported, the Persian Gulf War. However, by all accounts he did so in an effective manner.
According to Jon Meacham (1997), Powell reportedly had reservations about going to war against Iraq. As an alternative, he favored a strategy of containment. But Powell’s responsibility as Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff was to implement the President’s decision to go to war. By all accounts, Powell was adroit in his support of the President, partnering with different players to build a supportive constituency.
Meacham characterizes Powell’s skills as more than technical. In the White House, he was considered surprisingly adept politically and was a major player who knew how to work the levers of power at the departmental and interagency levels. Among members of the press, he was viewed as especially cooperative in helping to develop stories, a clear indication of his subtle skillfulness in enlisting the press as a policy implementation partner.
Like Hanks, Powell’s attributes included an efficient manner and an ability to get things done. He was firmly committed to the principles of merit, and
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CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP 27
he attributed his success to the Army’s objectivity in assessing the skills and accomplishments of its members. Powell clearly felt that his success in the military was based solely on his performance. That statement alone under- scored his awareness of the need to build and maintain support within the military bureaucracy over the long haul (i.e., the course of his career).
By reputation, Powell was characterized, in terms of policy implementa- tion, as a conservative manager. He is described by Meacham and others as someone who knew how far he could take an argument, and he was under- standably reluctant to antagonize other decision makers who did not share his understanding of facts, strategies, or tactics. But his persuasive abilities enabled him to fight for federal funds for defense and to prevail. He proved an effective negotiator. In 1990 he took the initiative, convincing President George H.W. Bush and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney to maintain a “base force” of 1.6 million troops, and overall defense spending of $290 billion (Meacham 1997, p. 164). In arguing for those numbers, he used his ties with the press to “float” his own position in advance of that of the White House. He was able to preserve Cold War levels of funding without a Cold War enemy. He did this in part by building a coalition of interests within the Department of Defense, a mutually advantageous strategy of multiple, overlapping forces, thus begging the questions of efficiency and redundancy and minimizing op- portunities for drastic budget cuts.
During the Gulf War, Powell was as adept at being a politician as he was at being a military strategist. According to General Norman Schwarzkopf, he was never sure whether Powell was representing his own views or those of others.
Overall, Powell emerged from the Persian Gulf War as a hero—highly respected and positioned for future leadership. The military had accomplished its mission, and he was perceived both as an effective leader, by his troops and the public, and as an effective soldier, by his civilian superiors. He had successfully implemented national policy largely by recruiting organizational allies and maintaining coalitions, much as he had done in earlier budgetary and intradepartmental “wars.”
We can also extract guidelines for successful policy implementation from the Powell case, according to Meacham.
1. Know how to “partner” in the process of implementing desired policy.
2. Become a reliable source for potential press partners. 3. Project an image of efficiency. 4. Advocate principles of merit, thereby building a positive image for
the organization.
Morse, R. S., & Buss, T. F. (2008). Innovations in public leadership development. Taylor & Francis Group. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2021-10-26 14:36:20.
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