TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: HOW EACH CIVIL SERVANT CAN CHANGE THE PERCEPTION OF CITIZENS REGARDING THE ROLE AND PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT

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TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIPHOW EACH CIVIL
SERVANT CAN CHANGE THE PERCEPTION OF CITIZENS
REGARDING THE ROLE AND PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT

• Robert F. Rich
• Institute of Government and Public Affairs
• University of Illinois
• Keynote Address
• 4th Quality Conference Regarding
• the Public Sector in Belgium
• November 20, 2007

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It is impossible to have a great life unless it
is a meaningful life. And, it is very difficult
to have a meaningful life withoutmeaningful
work. Perhaps, then, you might gain that
raretranquility that comes from knowing that you
have had a handin creating something of
intrinsic excellence that makes acontribution.
Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of
allsatisfaction knowing that your short time
here on this earthhas been well spent and that
it mattered.Jim CollinsGood to Great
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• There is no worse mistake in public leadership
  than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept
  away.
• Winston Churchill

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Political Influences That Have Shaped the Past
and Will Shape the Future (1)

• Voter apathy
• Citizen alienation I cant make any difference
  anyway
• We do not have a sense of community
• We want to blame others and not take a sense of
  personal responsibility
• Lack of civic pride
• We dont want our children to go into politics
• Lack of trust in government

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Political Influences That Have Shapedthe Past
and Will Shape the Future (2)

• Regionalization/Consolidation
• Continued development of public-private
  partnerships
• Continued pressure to increase governmental
  performance and increase the effectiveness of
  management
• Continued economic pressure
• Growing concerns over public safety
• Is there a need to trade-off civil liberties with
  public safety?

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Transformational LeadershipGaining More Citizen
Confidence in Government

• Five levels of leadership
• Highly Capable Individual
• Contributing Team Member
• Competent Manager
• Effective Leader
• Executive

Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away
from themselves and into the larger goal of
building a great company. It is not that level 5
leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed,
they are incredibly ambitiousbut their ambition
is first and foremost for the institution, not
themselves Adapted from Jim Collins, Good to
Great (2000)
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Attributes of the Transformational Leader

• Humility Professional Will Passion
• Ambition for the Organization Setting up
  Successor for Success
• Unwavering Resolve for What Must Be Done
• The Window and the Mirror
• Focusing on the Who not the What (Getting the
  Right People on the Bus and the Wrong People Off
  the Bus)
• Focusing on What We Can Be the Very Best At
• Retain Faith in What You are Doing and Confront
  the Brutal Facts
• Being Rigorous Not Ruthless

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The Leadership Styles of Great LeadersPredictabi
lity versus Mystify?

• Abraham Lincoln
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Winston S. Churchill
• Harry S. Truman
• Robert F. Kennedy
• Willy Brandt
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Ronald Reagan

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Major Leadership Challenges

• Development of critical and strategic thinking
  skills
• Vision
• Learning to communicate effectively
• Emphasis on performance measurement and
  accountability
• Dealing with times of rapid change
• Promoting innovation while maintaining the
  organizational culture
• Using information technology and the Web
  creatively
• Developing strategic marketing skills
• Managing information
• Balancing forces of centralization and
  decentralization (globalization and locality)

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Key Elements to Effective Communication

• Simplicity
• Metaphor, analogy, and example
• Multiple forums
• Repetition
• Explanation of seeming inconsistencies
• Give and take (two-way communication)

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LeadershipThe Most Desirable Qualities

• Ability to interact easily and productively with
  others
• Ability to think critically
• Ability to think creatively
• Ability to organize and summarize
• Ability to generalize and synthesize
• Ability to communicate ideas orally and in
  writing
• Ability to listen effectively
• Ability to think introspectively
• Understanding critical issues in thought and
  action
• Self-awareness and self-understanding

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Visionary Leadership

• The right vision attracts commitment and
  energizes people
• The right vision establishes a standard of
  excellence
• The right vision bridges the present and the
  future
• The right vision creates meaning in the lives of
  city workers and citizens

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Properties of an Effective Vision

• It is appropriate for the city and for the
  times
• It sets standards of excellence and reflects high
  ideals
• It helps to clarify purpose and direction
• It is well-articulated and easy to understand
• It helps to inspire enthusiasm and encourages
  commitment
• It is ambitious, it represents undisputed
  progress and it expands the citys horizons
• adapted from Burt Nanus, Visionary Leadership,
  San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1992.

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Principles of Leadership (1)

• Seek and require access to reliable and
  up-to-date information
• Spend time letting your constituency know that
  you are firm, resolute and committed in the
  performance of your duties, doing so will gain
  their respect and trust
• When you extinguish hope, you create desperation
• On issues that affect the city as a whole,
  conduct full and frequent consultations with the
  heads of affected departments and with other key
  stakeholders
• If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow
  citizens, you may never regain their respect and
  esteem
• You should be consistently fair and decent, in
  both the professional and personal sides of your
  life

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Principles of Leadership (2)

• Always keep in mind that once a subordinate or
  colleague is destroyed, he/she ceases to
  contribute to the welfare of the city as a whole
• Dont be terrified by an excited populace and
  hindered from speaking your honest sentiments
• The probability that you may fail in a struggle
  ought not to deter you from the support of a
  cause you believe to be just
• It is not entirely safe to allow a
  misrepresentation to go uncontradicted
• Do the very best you know how the very best you
  can and keep doing so until the end
• Dont surrender the game leaving any available
  card unplayed
• You must come to grips with the paradox of
  providing employee security while encouraging an
  environment for risk-taking

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Principles of Leadership (3)

• When you are in deep distress and cannot restrain
  some expression of it, sit down and write out a
  harshly worded letter venting your anger, but
  dont send it
• Remember that compromise does not mean cowardice
• When making a decision, understand the facts,
  consider various solutions and their
  consequences, make sure that the decision is
  consistent with your objectives, and effectively
  communicate your judgment
• If you are an effective leader, when your work is
  done, your aims fulfilled, your constituents will
  say We did this ourselves!
• When your subordinates come up with good ideas,
  let them go ahead and try, but monitor their
  progress
• Never forget that your city does not depend on
  the life of any one individual

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Principles of Leadership (4)

• Sometimes it is better to plow around obstacles
  rather than to waste time going through them
• Your task will never be done nor attempted unless
  you watch it every day and hour, and force it
• Give your subordinates and followers all the
  support you can, and act on the presumption that
  they will do the best they can with what you give
  them
• Coach and counsel a new city administrator and/or
  city manager so that he/she may get off on the
  right foot remember, you want him/her to succeed
• If you never try, you will never succeed
• Remember that the very best leaders never stop
  learning and never stop promoting learning
  organizations

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Principles of Leadership (5)

• Surround yourself with people who are smarter
  than you and who really know what they are
  doing, and avoid yes men
• Extemporaneous speaking is your avenue to the
  public
• Prepare yourself thoroughly for your public
  speaking engagements
• Remember that there will be times when you should
  simply not speak, say to your listeners, kindly
  let me be silent
• Effective visions cant be forced on the masses
  rather, you must set them in motion by means of
  persuasion

Still the question recurs, can we do better?
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to
the stormy present. The occasion is piled
high with difficulty, and we must rise with the
occasion. As our case is new, so we must think
anew, and act anew. -- Abraham Lincoln,
Annual Message to Congress, December 1,
1862
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Leadership Lessons

• First things first
• Develop and communicate strong beliefs
• Prepare relentlessly
• Study, read, learn independently
• Everyone is accountable, all of the time
• Surround yourself with great people

• Reflect, then decide
• Under promise and over deliver
• Organize around a purpose
• Be your own man
• Loyalty the real virtue
• Stand up to bullies
• Weddings discretionary, funerals mandatory

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Conclusions

• Continued importance of building trust in
  government
• How politics facilitates and impedes leadership?
• How leadership affects politics?
• Who will be the leaders of the future?
• What are the major leadership attributes that we
  need in the future?
• Vision
• Courage
• Passion and commitment
• Communication skills
• Integrity and moral mentoring
• Being a transformational leader
• The mysteries of leadership