Developing Public Service Leaders

This is the first report to examine key leadership issues across OECD Member countries, including the strategies and practices governments are adopting, and the lessons from country experiences so far.

This book presents tools, techniques, and best practices to develop public-sector leadership. Based on scholarly research as well as the authors’ professional experience as leadership trainers and consultants, it offers guidance and practical know-how for public-sector managers, civil servants and policymakers in public administration on how to create and develop leadership skills and practice. By analyzing the particular nature of political processes and public policy decision-making as well as the complex challenges of public organizations, the authors identify competencies, leadership skills and methods required for successful governance, administration, and management of public organizations. The authors also discuss different leadership styles and philosophies, cover topics such as public sector leadership training of 2020’s, and present case studies on successful public-sector leadership development and future-oriented leadership models. Balancing public-sector leadership theory with practical illustrations and examples, tools and techniques, the book helps managers master the art of public-sector leadership.

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.

Developing Public Service Leaders examines why and how governments and representative bodies in public service organizations have mounted major interventions over the last two decades to develop senior staff as leaders. A critical explanation is developed of the foundational contribution made by national leadership development interventions in the 2000s to the emergence, proliferation, and normalization of leadership development provision. Through carrying out qualitative research in England, the authors investigate the national leadership development interventions for school education, healthcare, and higher education. Whilst also looking at the contemporary legacy of these interventions within a global scale, examining the growing international movement and comparing interventions across the world. The book looks at new ways to approach leadership development, adopting a novel perspective on leadership as a metaphorical concept and coining the concept of 'leaderism', and exploring how although senior staff may be widely acculturated as leaders, they may not necessarily be committed to acting as government change agents. Leadership development makes a diffuse contribution towards the ongoing neoliberalization of public services. Developing Public Service Leaders is a comprehensive and essential read for a researcher or policymaker striving for an in-depth understanding of the field and its ramifications.

This report looks at the capacity and capabilities of civil servants of OECD countries and suggests approaches for addressing skills gaps through recruitment, development and workforce management

In Brazil, as in other countries, innovation in the public sector is a core leadership challenge. Reflection is required on who these leaders are, what they should be able to do, and how they should be selected and held accountable to achieve results. This study establishes a new assessment framework for senior civil service (SCS) systems, based on the 2019 OECD Recommendation on Public Service Leadership and Capability.

Developing Public Service Leaders examines why and how governments and representative bodies in public service organizations have mounted major interventions over the last two decades to develop senior staff as leaders. A critical explanation is developed of the foundational contribution made by national leadership development interventions in the 2000s to the emergence, proliferation, and normalization of leadership development provision. Through carrying out qualitative research in England, the authors investigate the national leadership development interventions for school education, healthcare, and higher education. Whilst also looking at the contemporary legacy of these interventions within a global scale, examining the growing international movement and comparing interventions across the world. The book looks at new ways to approach leadership development, adopting a novel perspective on leadership as a metaphorical concept and coining the concept of 'leaderism', and exploring how although senior staff may be widely acculturated as leaders, they may not necessarily be committed to acting as government change agents. Leadership development makes a diffuse contribution towards the ongoing neoliberalization of public services. Developing Public Service Leaders is a comprehensive and essential read for a researcher or policymaker striving for an in-depth understanding of the field and its ramifications.