Public: Management | Public

Good leadership in challenging times: what's the secret?

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:00:00 GMT

Development charity Common Purpose has tried to find answers by interviewing 12 successful leaders from different sectors to see if there are common themes which can be adopted by others

Transparency about expenses and resilience are key qualities identified for public and voluntary sector leaders by leadership development charity Common Purpose.

The charity has released a series of interviews with 12 leaders from the private, public and voluntary sector about the qualities needed for good leadership in challenging times.

In the interviews, Peter Housden, permanent secretary at the department of communities and local government, says the ability to work in partnership has become increasingly important across the public sector.

"The type of leaders who will serve us well are going to be pretty open individuals who get their self confidence from that openness and sense of sharing and are always looking beyond their own circumstance – as leaders, as an organisation – to wider responsibilities and wider resource," he comments.

Dame Suzi Leather, chair of the Charity Commission says 2009 brought a big change in perceptions of public accountability for leaders. "One of the things that characterised 2009 was that it became the year of the personal," she said. "How much of what I used to think of as private information actually really is public information. People have a right to know what I spend on hotels, what I spend on taxis – actually I do think that is public interest information."

But Leather added that personal attacks on leaders are a real challenge to resilience.

Resilience was also mentioned by Sir David Normington, permanent secretary at the Home Office, who said personal resilience in a crisis is a real issue, but added that there are ways to deal with this.

"The model of leadership is not heroic leadership – it's about teams of people and building the capabilities of teams so that you can share the load and you can share the response," he says. "If you have built complementary teams, you will be in a better place in 2010."

Julia Middleton, the chief executive of Common Purpose, said she wanted to ask whether the country was facing a "crisis of leadership". She said the recurring themes of a good leader are trust, transparency, leading a crisis and the need for bravery.

Executive stress in the NHS

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:19:00 GMT

Keeping a cool head when others around you are in panic-mode takes a certain type of personality. NHS chief executives, by their nature are resilient creatures - and the best are also good at creating a 'pressure positive' in their organisations

NHS chief executives will be facing many challenges over the next year. Leadership agendas will need to shift to ensure the delivery of more with less; and at the same time, employees will need to be motivated in this context of scarce resources.

Now is a good time for chief executives to reflect on their own capacity to meet these challenges and to plan how they will lead their staff in a way that enables their organisations to deliver the most testing objectives they have faced for years.

To achieve these goals, it is essential for a chief executive's own wellbeing and personal resilience to be in a positive state. Not surprising and no mean feat given the many pressures faced at the top of NHS Trusts, where there is always a risk of them resorting to a reactive style of management and leadership.

Behaviour will be mirrored by other staff

The first step is for NHS chief executives to realise their behaviour is likely to be modelled by their immediate executive team and then by employees in the organisation. So if they panic in response to a new demand from the Department of Health, the foundation trust watchdog, Monitor or the strategic health authority or make decisions without appropriate consideration, their behaviour may well be mirrored by their executive team and then ripple outwards to other staff.

If sustained, this kind of behaviour can threaten the wellbeing and engagement of senior colleagues, which in turn cascades down through the organisation.

However, the key is not just for them to avoid stress and burn out - although that is obviously important - it is about creating an environment where positive wellbeing and engagement is generated throughout the workforce.

The work of positive psychologists such as Martin Seligman and Barbara Fredrickson demonstrates that people who experience positive emotions regularly at work (eg feel inspired or determined) tend to broaden their capacity to meet difficult challenges and cope with them effectively.

The creation (or not) of this kind of wellbeing climate in NHS Trusts usually starts with the chief executive.

Keeping pressure positive is one of the most important aspects of creating a well-being climate in NHS organisations. There are two types of pressure that can be applied by leaders – this means that they need to understand how to create challenge pressures and minimise hindrance pressures.

While challenge pressures drive people on towards higher performance and well-being levels, hindrance pressures create barriers and potentially develop into stress. Critically, it is the response of leaders that determines whether new pressures or requirements become challenges or hindrances.

For example, a chief executive may respond to the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention agenda by challenging senior managers and clinicians to find innovative ways of improving patient services in a climate of increasing resource constraint.

However, if this is done without clear goals or without considering the workload involved, it may be interpreted as a hindrance. If this is the case, the management team is likely to be apathetic in response, rather than motivated by the challenge.

The chief executive needs to understand how to harness work pressures positively, while minimising the likelihood burn out - both for themselves, their senior teams and the workforce in general.

Generally, chief executives are very resilient – it comes with the territory. However, there is a risk that they take this resilience for granted because different people deal with pressure in different ways at different times in their lives.

While many at this level recognise that the pressures they face require them to raise their own game in response, they may not be able to easily draw on their existing experience to meet these demands.

Until now, very little investment has been made by chief executives to look after their own health and wellbeing. However, given the acute challenges ahead, now is the time for chief executives to examine their own resilience and learn new techniques that will enable them to develop their resilience to ensure they can lead and motivate their workforce in the face of new and unique challenges.

Gordon Tinline is a director of business psychology company Robertson Cooper

Time for a change - or is it?

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:58:15 GMT

In today's fluid environment, organisations need to keep transforming.While leaders may like the idea of change, how good are they at introducing it and, more importantly, communicating it to staff, asks Esther Harris

New research shows that leaders in the public sector are failing to achieve benefits through major change initiatives, despite investing millions in the hope of finding more efficient ways of working.

The survey, commissioned by programme and project management advisory specialist Moorhouse, found that less than 20% of respondents believed their departments delivered the planned benefits from change programmes.

It also found that although the public sector was better than the private sector when it came to applying formal techniques to help manage change, public sector middle managers had a poorer view of the sector's capability to deliver change.

The different perceptions of those at the top, the middle managers, and the employees on the ground, are a major reason why change programmes so often fail to produce what they promised, according to Moorhouse.

"The survey showed that while 37% of leaders believed their organisations regularly delivered benefits from change, only 5% of middle management agreed with them," says Bob Hendicott, a director at Moorhouse.

Communicating change programmes

Since professionals in different parts of an organisation have different needs, care and attention needs to be invested in communicating change programmes, to ensure everyone understands.

Typically, leaders think of change in terms of a wider vision and strategy, but it is those on the frontline whose responsibilities are most directly affected by change, and experts say it is important to keep communication about change programmes regular, simple and honest.

"Leaders need to paint a clear picture of their 'vision' so that everyone can relate to it," comments Lindsey Waddell, a senior consultant at consultancy WCI. It is no good pontificating from an ivory tower. "Leaders should be talking to their staff, answering their questions, and using their talents to make change work."

Senior sponsorship of a change programme is essential, but it is also rare. Allan Wood, chairman of healthcare services provider Harmoni, says: "Having a director down as your sponsor is all well and good – but if they just turn up to meetings for a catch-up or delegate the critical issues, things aren't going to happen."

The heart and soul of a head of unit

To succeed, the programme needs to have the heart and soul of a head of unit who is willing to be honest about what is working and what isn't, and can make the necessary tough decisions.

The research also showed an alarming lack of formal approaches and toolkits in use. Half of the survey respondents reported having no established frameworks in place to manage new benefits, and only 16% felt their current methods were effective, with a large number questioning the value and rigour of tools such as the business case and stakeholder management.

Waddell says fear and 'change fatigue' are the other major reasons why change fails. "Constant and ongoing change is unsettling, particularly when employees don't have a real understanding of why it is happening," she comments.

Combined with fears about job security, this can make even the most diligent of staff uncooperative. "People worry about job losses, hidden agendas, loss of identity, and of not being able to do adapt to the new ways of working," says Waddell.

"In the past, too much time and cost has been wasted in making things overly complex, analytical and foolproof," comments Wood. "A simple plan, led from the top, applied fast and hard, with a safety net of employee groups to catch the cock ups, is the way to do it."

Per diems: women can earn more in local government

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:26:20 GMT

Inequality in pay between women and men has been much cause for debate in recent months, but one area where females fare better is local government interim management, says a new study

A recuruitment agency has found that female interim managers earn, on average, 7% less than men - except in local government and education.

Local government and education are the two sectors that buck an overall trend tracked by specialist recruitment agency Russam GMS. In local government, women earned £540.50 a day, compared with £512.50 for men, while in education, women earned £678 and men £630.

In all other sectors, both private and public, the survey by the agency revealed that women are still lagging behind men on pay. On average, across all sectors, women interim managers are paid £553 a day, compared with an average daily rate for men of £592.

In the NHS, male interim managers earn £630 a day, on average, compared to £515 a day for women, while in charities and non-profit organisations, male interim managers earned a day rate of £537.50, compared to £466.50 for women.

The survey offers little clue as to why the rates for men and women should still differ in this way. It is not to do with unwillingness to negotiate rates. Almost the same numbers of women and men in the survey - just under half - say they "often" negotiate their rates.

Only 3% of men and 4% of women say they never negotiate rates.

EHRC: set up and launch cost taxpayer £39m

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:08:00 GMT

The public accounts committee reveals the cost and disarray of setting up the Equality and Human Rights Commission - and warns that there are still weaknesses in its operation

When the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) came into existence on 18 April 2006, it was not "ready for business'', according to the committee of public accounts.

The committee has published its latest report based on evidence from the EHRC and the Government Equalities Office.

"When the Equality and Human Rights Commission came into being, at the beginning of October 2007, taking over the powers of three former commissions, just 10 directors out of the planned complement of 25 had been appointed, the management team lacked the right balance of skills, and its business plan had not been finalised. It was, to say the least, not ready for business," said Edward Leigh, who chairs the committee.

"The process by which this new body had been established, at a total cost to the taxpayer of nearly £39 million, was patently flawed."

One of the main blunders was allowing staff to leave and then re-hiring them as consultants. This meant that not only did the EHRC lose staff with valuable skills but it also cost the taxpayer £11m.

"The re-engagement as consultants by the EHRC of seven senior staff who had taken early severance was carried out without competition or formal approval," said Leigh. "The taxpayer was hit twice: some £630,000 for their severance packages and nearly £340,000 to rehire them."

The report said the chairman of the EHRC was in part responsible for the ineffectiveness with which the board scrutinised the set-up process and challenged management's proposals.

"There are still weaknesses in the EHRC's controls over staff costs, shown by the unexplained payment of £15,000 to one of the re-engaged consultants. This is not the way this committee expects public bodies to be run and reinforces the need in future for stronger controls and proper procedures for managing and using public money," said Leigh.

The committee acknowledged that serious errors were made in setting up the EHRC and it was not helped by three changes of sponsor department in the months immediately before its launch.

Leigh said the EHRC accepts that it was not ready for business when the doors opened on 1 October 2007 and that its set-up process, which cost £39m, was flawed and inefficient.

The EHRC has been without a permanent chief executive since May 2009. When the new chief executive has been appointed, he or she will need to ensure that strong controls are in place to ensure that such errors do not recur, Leigh warned.

How personal coaching helps keep managers focussed

Jane Dudman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:28:37 GMT

The way managers deal with stress can not only affect the outcome of an organisation, but also their own wellbeing, which is why personal coaching can be an invaluable tool, writes Jane Dudman

Paul Snell, acting chief executive of the General Social Care Council (GSCC), recently pointed out in Society Guardianthat the nature of leadership development in the public sector has changed.

Alongside formal leadership development programmes, he argued, it is the process of coaching and mentoring that has become increasingly linked with organisational effectiveness, personal transformation and a return on investment.

How does this translate into real leadership experience at the frontline?

John Fraser, interim head of strategy for the GSCC, has experience of personal coaching from a previous position in another regulatory body. At a highly-pressurised time, when the organisation was going through a merger, Fraser says personal coaching was immensely useful.

"I was trying to manage the transfer of business into the new framework and there was a lot of uncertainty about people's jobs," he explains. "Personally, I had taken the decision not to join the new organisation, but my focus was on business continuity, and helping the new team establish a way of working."

Fraser was put in touch with a personal coach through a scheme run by his employer. "It forced me to find some space to think about what I was dealing with," he comments. "It helped keep me focused on the critical things that needed to be done for a smooth transition and the business benefited as a result."

Dyllis Faife agrees. Now regional programme director for personalisation and transformation of adult social care in the east of England, a job she believes she owes to personal coaching, Faife says the outcome of three personal coaching sessions were very specific for her: "I got the job I have now, which I really wanted and absolutely love doing," she comments.

"I believe the coaching sessions helped me prepare better for interview and perform better, because I was clearer in my mind about what I wanted, more comfortable about the whole process and therefore about to connect in a more relaxed, thought-through way."

Emotional intelligence

For Faife, personal coaching is about emotional intelligence: "The more one reads about what makes good leaders, emotional intelligence is so important," she comemnts. "I believed in it anyway, but may not have been practising what I preach, so it was good to thing about both personal fulfilment and ways in which to have a more positive, sustainable influence."

Both Faife and Fraser used personal coach Lynn White, of consultancy WDI, who has also worked with leaders in the private sector, including David Batchelor, chief executive of risk and insurance company Marsh.

Batchelor says that one of the benefits of using an external personal coach is that it provides a valuable method of personal brainstorming difficult work issues.
"I've always been someone who looks at my own personal development, and that can either be done through one's own organisation and through external resources, such as professional exams and so on, but as I have moved up in my career, I have found that while leadership programmes are value, personal coaching is much more intimate in dealing with things at a practical level," he says.

"Whether it is about an issue with colleagues, or a business issues, of something that's affecting your organisation, a good personal coach can help you organise the way you would tackle that issue. They won't give you immediate answers, but they develop a route map for you, and give you some objective, pragmatic views. When you move to the top of an organisation, it can be more difficult to openly discuss issues internally."

Batchelor says good coaching is applicable equally well to both the public and private sectors, and is valuable not just in outlining ways to tackle issues, but also to challenge leaders' existing ways of thinking. "Sometimes you can get a bit too narrow-minded," he says. "Coaching can open your mind to the impact of what you are proposing, in a confidental environment."

Jane Dudman

On Purpose: A Rippin idea

Jane Dudman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:30:00 GMT

Tom Rippin founder of On Purpose, a new organisation set up specifically to train young high-fliers for management positions in social enterprise, tells Jane Dudman how his own experiences forged his vision

Sometimes ideas come along that seem so obvious you wonder why everyone hasn't thought of it. Tom Rippin, founder and chief executive of On Purpose, a new organisation that is developing leadership skills for social enterprises, has had such an idea.

He seems to be surfing on the crest of a wave. Right now, social enterprises and social businesses are hot. Both political parties have their eyes on the potential gains for both the public purse and for the move towards services that are more tailored to individuals' needs.

"Social enterprise is attracting a lot of media and political attention, which is great, and there is a reasonable amount of money in the sector," comments Rippin.

"But there is the potential that in five years' time, people may look back and ask what happened to all the money, if the talent isn't brought into the sector, or isn't developed and retained in the sector. This is a fledgling sector at an exciting point in its development, where it recognises talent and understands it needs to invest in something that comes at this stage of development."

On Purpose is a one-year leadership programme for high-fliers who want to get into social enterprise, aimed at people in their mid to late 20s, rather than undergraduates. It comprises two, six-month placements in social enterprises, as well as more theoretical training, done on Friday afternoons, which Rippin describes as a "social mini-MBA".

The placements are paid at £20,000 a year and the aim is that the year will give people a solid grounding from which to obtain good jobs in the social enterprise sector. The organisations providing placements for the first five associates on the programme, which was launched on Monday, include Coin Street community builders, the Young Foundation, Comic Relief, O2 and the HCT group.

But if Rippin has come up with a good idea at the right time, that is not to say that a huge amount of effort hasn't gone into setting up On Purpose.

Rippin has an interesting background; "I wanted to get into international development, but was facing the dilemma that if I had gone to a big development charity, I feared that I would end up making the tea or doing the photocopying," he says. Instead, he joined consultancy McKinsey, as a way of developing his private sector skills, and stayed at the consultancy for five years. He then worked for Comic Relief and for Red, the social business set up by U2 star Bono.

"In some ways On Purpose is trying to allow people not to have to make that trade-off," he explains. It will provide people with the training, development and career structure they would have with a private sector employer, combined with experience in social enterprise.

The programme is being set up on a shoestring, acknowledges Rippin. But he hopes that it will eventually become self-sustaining. The other major challenge was finding organisations willing to take on his trainees. "Initially, it was about getting the social enterprises willing to take people on board, when the thing is untested," he says. "That took quite a lot of persuasion, but will hopefully become a lot easier as we build up a track record."

Jane Dudman

social enterprise: young high-flyers required for a fresh challenge

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:07:48 GMT

Good ideas and funding abound in social enterprise; so who will make it all happen? It's time to invest in a new generation of managers if it is to fulfil its potential, says Tom Rippin

Social enterprise is not a new phenomenon – the cooperative movement started in the 1840s – but it has the potential to grow massively over the coming years given the public and financial interest it is generating.

The promise of solving social and environmental problems using business models that do not require ongoing subsidies is attracting policy-makers, donors and social investors. Peter Holbrook, chief executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition, has committed to a threefold increase in the economic contribution of social enterprises by 2020.

The time of innovative but low-profile experimentation in the sector is drawing to a close. Proof of concept has been demonstrated, now it is time to deliver the financial and social results at scale.

So what could prevent social enterprise fulfilling its potential? While good ideas abound and funding is increasingly available, success will depend on people who can translate the money into tangible results.

Any investor, philanthropic or not, knows that the right management team is critical to any venture's success; but for many social investors finding the right people for the job is currently a real limitation.

Leaders who can walk a tightrope

Managing a social enterprise is challenging; it requires a constant, often uncomfortable balancing act between the organisation's social and financial objectives. Nurturing more leaders who can walk this tightrope, who have lived this paradigm for most of their career, is an urgent but often overlooked challenge for the sector.

On Purpose is designed to tackle this challenge head-on. It recruits young high-flyers and places them in leading, purpose-driven organisations (Comic Relief, Coin Street Community Builders, HCT Group, O2's CSR department and the Young Foundation, in this first year).

This paid work is complemented by a structured training programme delivered by professionals from prestigious organisations across the private and social (enterprise) sectors. The programme has been hugely popular. Thousands of 'Generation Y-ers' are hungry for social enterprise: they believe in the power of business but also in the obligation to use it for social benefit. 'Business as usual' is no longer good enough.

Young enthusiasts can be found in all corners of the sector, often volunteering or working for little money. But while many social enterprises can boast a waiting list for their internships, they find it much harder to recruit skilled and passionate middle and senior managers.

The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development has surveyed the reasons why people leave their organisation. "Lack of development or career opportunities" is the third most common factor, beaten only by "securing a promotion in another organisation and "changing careers" altogether. "Level of pay" only makes it to sixth place.

If social enterprises are to fulfil their potential, current leaders need to foster the new generation of their successors and do so quickly. Salary levels will play their part in this, but they will take time to adjust. Providing top-quality development and career opportunities promises the greatest short term impact.

Tom Rippin is the founder of On Purpose

How to fund, govern and run a hybrid organisation

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:41:43 GMT

Many organisations that are not directly owned and run by government deliver public services or have public service remits as hybrids, but how efficiently are they run?

Author and economist John Kay wants public sector leaders to think more about hybrids. He is not talking about breeding animals or plants; nor about the new-generation petrol-battery vehicles.

Kay's hybrids are organisations that deliver public services, with business management skills, but whose functions are of a broad public interest concerns and with revenues not normally earned in competitive markets.

Kay's examples include universities, Network Rail, the electricity and gas infrastructure networks, Channel 4, housing associations, contracted-out public sector providers and Transport For London. Delivering the recent NHS Confederation Foundation Trust Network Lecture, Kay outlined how hybrid organisations all have different governance, capital structures and regulatory arrangements.

Quality, management, governance and regulation
The governance of hybrid organisations, Kay says, is not merely central to issues of output quality. Output quality depends on management, which depends on governance, which depends on the regulatory framework.

We have, Kay adds, invented these arrangements from scratch each time, creating new governance structures, financing and regulatory arrangements for each new body without learning from previous successes and failures. He suggests that "the way we deal with hybrids is perhaps the fundamental public policy issue of our time".

The role of the state
Kay suggests that the state's major role today is about providing a variety of economic services. The state has thus become an economic agent like any other, providing health education and economic and physical security. Services and goods are provided through a public agency and sometimes by hybrids, rather than through private competitive markets.

Changing public attitudes to state-hybrid provision
We have, Kay adds, come quite a long way in thinking about governance, finance and management issues of hybrid organisations - but we still think about state activities through the prism of processes, rather than outcomes.

Objectives of hybrid institutions include:
* to distinguish the control and availability mechanisms for semi-commercial organisations from those associated with process and propriety

* to give professional management responsibility and autonomy in day-to-day decisions, removing those decisions from second-guessing (which he dubbed "meddling without responsibility") and direct political accountability

* to combine this with meaningful accountability for both output quality and financial performance over a medium-term period

* to affirm that the purpose of limited financial autonomy is to reinforce managerial autonomy not to support 'funny financing' such as PFI (attractively bringing in private sector project management) or financial services

* to prevent capture of the organisational structure by particular interest groups, which tend to be employee interest groups with a large veto over management activities

Outcomes, not processes
Kay concludes that successful hybrid organisations must find a challenging balance between offering short-term autonomy (at every level, from chief executive to employee) with medium-term accountability for performance. In almost all public sector activity, delivery relates to overall organisational performance, and can rarely be reduced to a simple list of metrics.

The complex objectives we seek from hybrids mean that we must develop difficult and complex judgments of the quality of outcomes in economic terms for the public sector, as opposed to our previous measures of the quality and propriety of processes.

Andy Cowper is the editor of Health Policy Insight

Bullying in the workplace: is it out of control?

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:00:00 GMT

Gordon Brown's temper may have got the better of him in the past, but is he a victim of his own rage by simply not communicating better with staff? In the public sector there is already a climate of fear caused by the recession so how can managers lead by example, asks Eifion Rees

Shouting and swearing, manhandling secretaries and grabbing deputy chiefs of staff by their lapels – in terms of initiatives to highlight workplace bullying, this may just be government at its most effective.

Once described by his predecessor as a "big clunking fist", the prime minister must this week be ruing the epithet, as the media has picked apart his behaviour, but the row over whether bullying exists in Downing Street has once again raised the serious issue of workplace bullying in the public sector, with some experts concerned that existing procedures may not be enough to combat such behaviour, particularly in tough times.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) is precise in its definition: bullying is "offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient".

Workplace bullying is a serious issue, believed to cost employers more than £2bn a year in sick pay, staff turnover and lower productivity. According to 2007 figures from the Andrea Adams Trust, more than 90% of personnel practitioners say bullying is occurring in their organisations.

Beating anger

Mike Fisher, director of the British Association of Anger Management and author of Beating Anger, says anger is the root cause of bullying, with stress a major contributor – those who feel out of their depth in the workplace seek to assert themselves, sometimes aggressively.

"Bullies in senior positions project their anger on to subordinates because they can, and the more senior they are, the fewer people able to challenge their authority, to get them to reflect upon their actions," he says.

"There is an expectation that individuals in management roles already have the training, resources and emotional intelligence to deal with those feelings, and that isn't true."

Andrew Rawnsley's book on Gordon Brown certainly paints a picture of a man not malicious, but in thrall to an uncontrollable temper.

Fisher says the workplace bully can be a victim of their own rage, and more resources are needed to help them realise the impact of their behaviour, control their actions, and learn to communicate and express themselves better.

The problem is worse in the public sector, according to Lyn Witheridge, chief executive of workplace bullying consultancy the Andrea Adams Trust– and it isn't just managers dishing it out.

"Jobs and budget cuts mean there is a lot of fear about," she says. "Managers are concerned that strong leadership could be perceived as being bullying, while a lack of robust procedures to deal with the pressure means staff are blaming and bullying managers more than ever."

Workplace procedures are failing everyone

The experts agree workplace procedures are failing everyone – even in the corridors of power. Jonathan Baume, general secretary of senior public servants' union the FDA, has acknowledged the behaviour of some ministers and special advisers "falls short of what is acceptable on occasions", and if informal complaints against them don't work, civil servants "generally either have to 'grin and bear it'... or seek a transfer".

The problem, says Witheridge, is that some public sector policy authors either haven't researched their workplace cultures properly, or see the rules as tick-box exercises.

"They post up policies on the intranet but neglect to educate their workforce about the definitions of workplace bullying, talk to them or explain formal or informal complaints procedures. Recognition and awareness of bullying is essential if it is to be legitimately challenged."

One person's bully is another's strong leader, however and in some instances, passion and strong feelings can be misconstrued (though perhaps not if you're being grabbed by the lapels), particularly if those who feel bullied have encountered aggression elsewhere in their lives.

"Appropriate anger is designed to cut through the waffle to get the job done, but that doesn't mean having to scream at people," says Fisher. "Anger is not good and bad; we simply have to learn to communicate and express strong feelings properly. We also have to learn how not to be scared when someone else is being angry – to be assertive when the line has been crossed, but also to listen, and not take it personally."

View from the top remains positive

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:47:57 GMT

It is clear that substantial cuts in public sector spending are inevitable, but public sector managers remain positive about the challenge ahead

As we begin to emerge from the deepest recession that the UK has faced in recent times and with a General Election looming, it is clear that substantial cuts in public sector spending are inevitable.

Against this backdrop the Institute of Leadership & Management set out to see how public sector managers are facing up to these circumstances, asking them about the challenges they deal with now and how they will change in the coming 12 – 18 months, their levels of satisfaction and their frustrations.

The research dispels the negative stereotype of unmotivated public sector workers, so often portrayed by the media or in folklore.

By contrast, we discovered a group of motivated managers, highly satisfied in their role, with a strong commitment to serving the public. They have a real appetite to banish bureaucracy, introduce more efficient processes and develop innovative solutions to the budgetary pressures that they will undoubtedly face. When surveyed about the future they're upbeat and motivated for the challenge ahead.

Interestingly, they also indicated that the next few months will present a welcome opportunity to deal with poor performance - cited by 25% of respondents as an important reason for dissatisfaction in their roles.

However, public sector managers are well aware that the real pain is yet to come. High levels of job satisfaction, optimism and goodwill alone are not enough to deal with the increasing challenges highlighted in our research.

The managers surveyed anticipate renewed pressure as cost cutting impacts on day-to-day operations, with increased concerns about personal job security, the threat of redundancies and headcount reductions.

Working at full stretch

This will only exacerbate the pressure they face. Three quarters of managers say that their team is working at full stretch with minimal room for cost reductions – suggesting that there will be little wriggle room for further cuts in budgets and resources without significant disruption to public services.

Skilled leaders and managers are required, both now and in the future, to deal effectively with the challenges identified. There is a danger that if these are mismanaged, essential frontline services will be compromised.

The public sector certainly has the managerial raw materials to make change happen, but needs to ensure these managers are engaged and developed to deliver on their demands for more innovative solutions.

Managers should not be tasked to improve efficiency by implementing crude cuts and be expected to continue with a business as usual approach but under greater pressure and with fewer resources, as this can only impact adversely on service delivery.

Fundamentally, the government, policy makers, HR directors and organisational leaders, need to capitalise on the spirit of optimism and opportunity identified by this research. Strong leadership is required to support and empower public sector managers, allowing them the freedom to make decisions that are appropriate to the circumstances, so that they can drive innovation, productivity and performance

Our research has revealed a strong commitment by managers to the services they deliver and a desire to do their best with the available resources. The challenge for policy-makers now is not to see public sector managers as barriers to achieving goals, rather as allies in their campaign.

Penny de Valk is chief executive of the Institute of Leadership & Management

• Click here to read the research report, Leading Change in the Public Sector, and to join the debate

Public sector jobs hold up

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:31:38 GMT

It's not all gloom and doom for public managers, as recruitment looks up in finance and accountancy

There are some signs that, despite the pressure on public sector budgets, employment in some area of the public sector may increase.

According to a recent survey by recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark, more than a third of public sector employers plan to recruit accountancy and finance professionals in 2010 and procurement is another sector where opportunities are set to open up.

Commenting on recent reports on job cuts in the public sector, Nicola Linkleter, executive director of public sector at Badenoch & Clark, said: "With an ongoing deficit blighting the British public sector, employers will certainly be under pressure to show value for money in the run up to the general election. However, our findings show that the outlook is not entirely bleak."

Linkleter said the results are partly due to public sector bodies opting to employ interim managers, rather than management consultants. "Some specialist public sector organisations will be exercising caution though, in particular the not-for-profit sector, three quarters (76%) of which told us they have no plans to recruit into accounting & finance roles during 2010."

Despite these caution, Linkleter said the findings "clearly demonstrate" that widespread redundancies are not a certainty in the public sector. "The coming months are likely to be challenging as all organisations endeavour to demonstrate their value. However there will continue to be opportunities for talented individuals," she said. "The best people in the market will continue to thrive and anyone who can demonstrate they are a valuable asset to the sector will continue to be in demand."

Under pressure: local councils and their ageing population

Jane Dudman — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:05:00 GMT

A report by the Audit Commission has added to the social care debate by claiming most local authorities are not preparing for the financial challenges of an ageing population, and costs will increase as a result

Local authority managers need to prepare cheaper ways to cope with older people, using technology and taking into account a person's ability to look after themselves.

A report out today from local government watchdog the Audit Commission says all councils need to prepare for the impact of an ageing population and need to plan to overcome obstacles to joint working, to reduce the need for people to go into hospital or residential care.

The report says that based on its sample, only one in 10 councils are taking account of changing demographics in their medium-term financial planning, and Michael O'Higgins, chairman of the Audit Commission, expressed concern that the issue is not being addressed at a high enough level in many authorities. "It suggests the planning is being done at the mid-management level in social care, rather than at a strategic level right across an authority," he said.

Councils will struggle to cope with the financial challenge posed by England's ageing population and may miss opportunities to innovate and save, according to the Audit Commission. Its report, Under Pressure, says most councils do not know enough about the costs of their ageing population and may also miss the savings that could flow from preventive services and better work with other organisations, particularly those involved with housing, leisure and culture, and transport.

By 2026, 40% of people will be over 50

Councils spend about £9bn a year on care services for older people, such as residential care and home care services. By 2026, 40% of people will be over 50 and the report warns that councils' costs will increase without careful planning, as the number of older people increases each year. It also says authorities should reduce residential care costs below the Department of Health's suggested target of 40% of the budget for older people's care services.

The cost of social care for elderly people is a political hot potato at the moment, following the recent breakdown of talks between all three political parties to find consensus on funding for social care [http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/14/tories-accused-over-elderly-care] and O'Higgins said the Commission's report showed that if local partnerships and providers were able to think more creatively about providing care, that need not cost more than existing services.

"In the current financial climate, that is more important than ever," he commented. "If authorities don't get this right, they will have to continue tightening eligibility criteria. "

O'Higgins said older people do not want to become dependent, but councils need to help them help themselves, so they can live at home longer - costing the taxpayer less. He says the next generation of older people will use iPhones and the internet and exploiting technology can make council services better, more tailored to individual need.

Local authorities already need to make billions of pounds of extra savings by 2013-14 because of cuts in public spending, says the report. It cites several councils already using technology to save money, such as the use of telephone care helplines, in use in Essex and North Yorkshire, which helps people obtain help in their own homes.

Jane Dudman

Is there a manager in the house?

Jane Dudman — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:01:00 GMT

Managers with a clinical background have shown to possess the ideal qualities to run hospitals, and a new study advocates that more leaders from a medical environment should be given greater responsibility

Good hospitals require good managers, preferably with some clinical training. That's one of the conclusions of a recent study of NHS hospital management into the impact of competition on leadership practices in the health service.

The study from the Centre for Economic Performance is based on a survey of clinicians and hospital managers and concludes that good management results in better clinical outcomes. It says that hospitals with higher management scores have better outcomes, such as lower mortality rates from emergency heart attacks, shorter waiting times, better financial performance and higher staff satisfaction, and it recommends that hospitals consider drawing more senior managers from the ranks of clinical staff, as happens in the US.

The results will help to shore up the confidence of health service managers, who often come under fire in relation to frontline services.

Wide variations in the management of NHS hospitals

The study shows that there are wide variations in the management of NHS hospitals and that small variations in performance make a big difference to outcomes. Improving management by a single point on the researchers' scoring scale is associated, they say, with a fall in the death rate from heart attacks from 17% to 16% – and that could result in some 400 fewer deaths a year.

The study also concludes that competition does work in some way.
Hospitals faced with a larger number of nearby competing hospitals have much better management practice, it says. "Even in a regulated environment, where monitoring agencies and regulators decide how well a hospital is performing, the number of hospitals will have an impact," says the study.

"In an area with many hospitals, it is easier to assess the performance of each hospital by comparing it with its neighbours."

A more competitive environment also tends to attract high-quality managers: "With more hospitals nearby, it is easier for managers to look out for employment opportunities."

These findings on the competitive nature of hospitals may have implications for the proposals to centralise clinical practice into larger centres of excellence, which by definition would have fewer close "competitors".

One of the less surprising conclusions in the report is that hospitals located in marginal constituencies are much less likely to be closed than hospitals in safe seats.

Jane Dudman

Uncertain times call for a new style of management

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:58:20 GMT

What is the outlook for interim managers in the public sector? With the emphasis on achieving more for less, strategically their input could be invaluable, argues Gary Lawton

Last July The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development predicted 350,000 job losses in the public sector over the next five years, with its chief economist adviser John Philpott stating the recession will cause 'a bloodbath in public finances,' with major job losses.

Redundancies and pay freezes were widespread in the public sector last year, particularly in local councils who were under intense pressure to reduce spending and improve their services.

Now there is major uncertainty in light of the forthcoming election, a potential new government and perhaps further sweeping job and spending cuts. The Institute of Fiscal Studies predicts the next government will cut spending on public services by 2.3% a year from 2011, reinforcing the fact there will be tough times ahead in the public sector.

Restructure and transform

Amidst this uncertainty, interim managers are being used increasingly as a resource to help public sector organisations restructure and transform, reshape their management teams, manage change programmes and fill in senior level gaps. In many cases they are being used in favour of management consultants to provide hands-on change management programmes because they are a more cost effective option and have a primary focus on delivery.

Interims also prove a logical resource option because they hit the ground running on day one, add immediate value and bring their extensive experience to implement programmes tailored to the needs of each organisation.

Additionally, the proactive transfer of their knowledge and skills to permanent staff provides a long lasting legacy to their work. Buying solutions, the government procurement agency estimates that £2.5bn will be spent within the public sector in the next four years on non permanent staff.

This view is also supported by the latest market research from Russam GMS which shows that from July – December 2009 pay rates for interim managers working in central and local government remained steady.

This stability was notable against a backdrop of the recession and continued uncertainty around future spending in the lead up to a general election.

Interestingly, interims working in education and the NHS where there is perhaps less insecurity than in local and central government saw their pay increase respectively. Those in education experienced pay increases of 18% and interims in the NHS saw their pay rise by 5% in the last six months.

One notable change in the deployment of interim managers in the public sector over the past six months is their use in leading transformation programmes that deliver efficiencies or economies of scale.

This is evident in the design and implementation of shared services programmes in local councils - streamlining IT, HR, finance and procurement services to deliver savings and improve services.

Shared services programme

While UK councils are at completely different stages of developing their shared services programmes, interims are being used to help at all levels, with both small and large councils. Birmingham city council for example, has a well established transformation programme, saving around £120m over the last three years, while other councils are just starting out.

It is likely that this trend will continue as councils plan more radical reforms to save money. Take the 'easyCouncil' model currently being pioneered by Barnet; it will offer a range of base-line services with additional 'added-value' services at extra cost to residents.

As other councils follow suit and adopt these types of models, there will be opportunities for interim expertise to assist in council reform.

The future of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), could also prove another area of opportunity.

The Conservative party has indicated that NDPBs will be under threat and the void this would create would be filled at a more regional and local level with greater involvement of local authorities and the third sector. Interims could play a big part in helping with this restructure and managing this change.

We cannot predict with any certainty how the interim management market will evolve in the next six months given the level of change and uncertainty ahead. However, we do know that interim managers will be used more strategically than ever before to help the public sector, both centrally and locally, deliver transformation projects that will allow them to deliver more with less.

Gary Lawton is managing director, public sector, Russam GMS