Comment

Public sector managers: it's not all bad

While it is true that some mangers lack skills and confidence to lead an increasingly diverse workforce, there is evidence of excellence and inspirational leadership in the public sector. What is needed is the right training

Blair McPherson

Two recent reports, one by The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the other from management recruitment group Hays, claim to provide evidence that public sector managers are ill equipped to respond to the challenges ahead as budgets are cut.

Two examples are given of the ineffectiveness of public sector managers. The first is in relation to managing absenteeism where absence rates in the public sector are considerably higher than in the private sector.

The overall figure for the public sector is 9.7 days lost per employee compared with a figure of 6.4 in the private sector. The report claims that reduced absenteeism would result in millions of pounds saved in overtime and agency staffing costs.

The other example given of the weakness of public sector managers is in dealing with conflict. Public sector managers are characterised as shying away from challenging individual's poor performance and where managers do act on issues of inappropriate or unacceptable conduct cases drag on far too long taking up a disproportionate amount of the organisation's time and energy.

Macho management style

The public sector covers a wide range of services including the NHS, Local Government and the Civil Service. Some, like the NHS, do have a reputation for a macho management style, others are characterised by stifling bureaucracy and insensitive senior management. However, there is plenty of evidence from inspections and audits that throughout the public sector there are centres of excellence, examples of inspirational leadership and evidence of outstanding performance improvement.

Absenteeism in the public sector is higher but closer scrutiny reveals that absenteeism among office staff is no higher in the public sector than in the private sector. Where public sector absenteeism is higher is where staff are dealing with people whose behaviour can be aggressive and abusive, so for example ambulance staff dealing with drunks or people who are on drugs or staff on a social services reception desk dealing with people at a point of crisis in their lives when the frustration sometimes boils over and is directed at those in front of them.

This would indicate that high levels of absenteeism are more to do with the nature of the job rather than the culture of the organisation.

As a senior manager I have plenty of experience to support the argument that our processes and procedures for dealing with disciplinaries and grievances take far too long. A small minority of staff abuse the system, submitting grievances against managers who have quite appropriately challenged their performance or dragging out disciplinary investigations by going off sick or making themselves unavailable and so continuing to draw their pay before eventually being dismissed.

As an experienced chair of disciplinary hearings I can certainly confirm that when it comes to local government we do not tolerate people abusing their position of power and have no hesitation dismissing people who have mistreated the vulnerable people they were employed to care for.

It is, however, true that some managers lack the confidence and skills to manage an increasingly diverse workforce. If they find it difficult to challenge someone about their attendance or the quality of their work then how much more difficult will it be to challenge someone who responds by saying you are not taking proper account of my disability or you are picking on me because of my sexuality.

So how can we equip managers if the people management skills even more essential at a time of budget cuts, service reductions and changes in the way we work? How can we ensure that all managers have leadership skills and are able to inspire their staff and have the confidence to challenge appropriately and take responsibility for bringing about change?

Traditional management training does not deliver these skills, it either focuses on academic theory or on the purely practical, how to manage the budget, how to meet health and safety regulations, how to draw up a business plan.

The current financial climate requires managers with good people management skills.

360 degree feedback

This starts with managers having an insight into how their behaviour affects others. A starting point is feedback from colleagues and direct reports, one way to get this is from 360 degree feedback. Another method is executive coaching, that is an independent trainer or coach observes the manager in a range of typical management situations, for example a team meeting, a presentation to the board, a negotiation with partner organisation.

A further approach is for managers to have access to a mentor, someone outside their line management with more experience who is willing to share their wisdom. Someone the manager can confide in, someone who will offer impartial advice and support.

Blair McPherson director of community services, Lancashire county council

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