Innovations in Public Leadership Development

Ricardo S. Morse,Terry F. Buss

• Éditeur: Routledge
• Année: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317467830
• Édition: 1
• Sujet: Economics
• Sous-sujet: Econometrics

This is the best single-source guide to leadership development in the public sector. It offers a wealth of advice for teachers, students, trainers, human resource officers, and established leaders. The all-original chapters include discussions of leadership frameworks, competencies for public leaders for the "new governance, " and strategies for senior leaders in government.The book's wide-ranging coverage includes in-depth discussions of specific approaches to learning methods such as action learning and social artistry, as well as presentations of leader development models such as transformational stewardship and global leadership. The contributors present experiences from real-world leadership development programs, and the book situates leader development within the current trends of networks, collaboration, and boundary-crossing work in the public sector.

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Introduction

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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 managers 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 Executive Institute (www.coopercenter.org/leadership/SEI) are two prominent 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 organizations, and

• program administrators and trainers at leadership institutes across the country.

The chapters included in this volume offer innovations in thinking and practice 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 important 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 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. Leadership 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 development 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 direction, 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 development 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, organizations. 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 individuals, … 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 narrowing 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 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 complementary, 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-observations 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 relationships 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 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 departments 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 developmental 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 Intergovernmental 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 leadership training and education. Here we include leadership academies and institutes, 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 essentially advanced courses in management” (p. 175). However, many programs 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 ...

Table des matières

• Cover
• Series Page
• About the Academy
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• 1. Introduction
• Part I. Changing Conceptions of Public Leadership
• Part II. Public Leadership and Collaboration
• Part III. Global Public Leadership
• Part IV. New Political Appointees
• Part V. Approaches to Public Leadership Development
• Appendix Can Government Grow Great Leaders? Results of a Symposium
• About the Editors and Contributors
• Index