Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education

IAS programme October 2018

LEADERSHIP

Dr Philip Stiles
p.stiles@jbs.cam.ac.uk

Structure of presentation

Leading in context

Leadership rethinking

Leading relationship

Leadership as meaning

1
What are the major leadership challenges
you are facing?

Leading rethinking: Case of the NHS

2
 Leadership relationship

Leadership relationship

What is our leadership role?

Our employees have told us that they want you to ENGAGE with them......

“Be visible and “Trust us”

approachable” “Live the values”

“Show an interest”

“Lead from the front”

“Look beyond where we
want to be”
“Make time to talk”

“Listen and learn” “Do what’s right”

“Be open, honest and

“Spend a day with us” transparent”
“Communicate, consult,
deliver”

3
Leadership relationship

UK Civil Service leadership approach

Page 7

Leadership relationship

UK Civil Service leadership approach

The Statement will be supported by a new 360-degree reporting
mechanism. For the first time, staff will have the opportunity to
assess their leaders and measure their performance against the
values set out in the Leadership Statement. Initially, this will apply
to the 150 or so leaders in the Senior Leadership Group, but for the
2015/16 appraisal year the entire SCS community will be assessed
against a single, robust 360-degree feedback tool, aligned to the
Leadership Statement.

Page 8

4
Leadership relationship

Differences between public and private

: sector
(i) the political context creates an environment in which priorities
can shift more rapidly than is typical in the private sector;
(ii) clear objectives can be much more difficult to define when one is
trying to serve so many diverse interest groups; and
(iii) relentless public scrutiny places a premium on avoiding
mistakes - which in turn creates challenges for innovation.
Creating the conditions for successful project execution is difficult in
almost any environment, but it is perhaps uniquely challenging in the
public sector

Tony Meggs CEO Major Projects Authority, 2015

Page 9

Leadership relationship

What are the major leadership behaviours?

• Excite people to exceptional performance

• Generate commitment

• Close to staff and supportive

5
Leadership relationship

Performance in individuals

We know what makes for high performance

in organisations:

Performance = ability, motivation and opportunity

Leadership relationship

The performance deficit

We want it – but we kill it, through:

Mindset
Culture
Structure

6
 Leadership as storytelling

Leadership as meaning

Storytelling requires individual, cultural and

direction stories

7
Conclusions

Final thoughts on leadership

Leadership requires rethinking, which often means looking at marginal
gains as well as large strategic issues

Leadership depends on relationships – how can we improve our key

relationships by 1% or 2%?

Leadership requires a connection through meaning and stories

Prentice Hall, 2002

15

8
Example of government leadership

Challenges from the real world!

What external
demands do we
Our People:
face from the real
world that is Essex? Increased longevity
Public health challenge

Our Economy:
Sluggish economic growth
Skills deficit
Overloaded transport system

Our World:
Environmental footprint of growth
Climate change

Example of government leadership

Our pledges
This year, we have pledged to the people of Essex that we will:

1. Deliver 12 congestion-busting schemes across the County

2. Introduce radical initiatives to ensure diverse, high-quality secondary schools in

every area of the County

3. Increase tenfold the number of Adult Social Care users who, through Individual
Budgets, have greater choice and control over their care

4. Make Essex the safest place to live in England within 5 years

5. Increase recycling of waste to over 40% in 2008, in partnership with the Districts and
Borough Councils

6. Promote an Essex ‘Year of Culture’ to increase tourism and inward investment

7. Plant an additional 250,000 trees to support the ecology of Essex

8. Support young people in Essex to fulfil their sporting potential

9. Keep next year’s Council Tax increase below the level of inflation

9
Example of government leadership

Example of government leadership

10
Example of government leadership

Example of government leadership

11
Example of government leadership

Example of government leadership

12
Example of government leadership

Remember The Legacy!

• EssexWorks is a four year programme which should result in a legacy
which will make us proud. The legacy of EssexWorks is what we want
Essex County Council to be famous for. Thus, in four years time, we
want to see:

→ Essex delivering some of the nationally recognised leading

programmes in environmental sustainability, adult social care,
education and quality of roads
→ Essex as the place for business to invest nationally and internationally
→ The successful delivery of our multi-million pound efficiency savings
programme, ‘Improving Our Services’
→ Essex public services working effectively together for the benefit of all
our citizens
→ Resident satisfaction ratings of Essex as a place to live over 80%

Example of government leadership

Working Effectively with Partners

• Devolved
decision making
•Tackling the
‘wicked issues’
• Focused on
improved
outcomes that are
shared
• Simplified funding
streams from
central government
• Joined-up public
services
• Reduced
bureaucracy

13
Conclusions

What are the key lessons?

• Leadership depends on leaders having a repertoire. The best
leadership styles are: visionary and affiliative
• Empathy is a strong element in leadership effectiveness
• Leadership in teams requires clear roles, goals, responsibilities and
the ability to change roles when necessary to get things done.
• Leading self requires examining assumptions and looking at image
and exposure

Prentice Hall, 2002
McLaren Leadership Programme

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