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Introduction
Sources of information on Leadership have been collated following research by PSBS.
These references will be useful to those concerned with various aspects of leadership,
including the effect of electronic government on leadership.
The sources contain references to websites, guidance material, articles, books, case
studies, etc. However, it is by no means exhaustive and will be updated periodically by
PSBS.
There are, of course, a host of sources of information/advice/training on leadership
ranging from books to Internet sites.
It should be noted that while PSBS make every effort to keep the links current, the site
managers are constantly updating their pages. If clicking on the hyperlink does not take
you to the appropriate website, try typing in the web address directly into your search
engine yourself. If this, too, is unsuccessful, or if the link is not current, you should go to
the websites’ home page (eg. organisationname.co.uk) and conduct a search of the site
for the part that interests you. It would be appreciated if you could also advise PSBS that
the link needs to be updated.
Those who would like to find:
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others with whom they can exchange information and experience on good
practice should get in touch with the PSBS Help Desk who will try to provide
details of appropriate contacts; and/or
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information on specific aspects of organisational culture not covered here should
submit an enquiry to the PSBS Help Desk.
For contact details of the PSBS, please turn to the last page.
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Contents
Sources of information relating to leadership in general
The Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership
Service Delivery Agreements
Additional Information on Leadership in Government
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Guidance Produced by Other Countries
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Leadership and Electronic Government
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Leadership in relation to Change Management
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Leadership Training
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Public Sector Leadership Scheme
Prime Leadership Course
Additional Sources
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Sources of Information Relating to Leadership in General
This section provides prime sources of information relating to leadership in general
including definitions and the sorts of leaders needed in modern public services, where
appropriate, drawing on private sector experience.
“Strengthening Leadership in the Public Sector”,
The Performance and Innovation Unit, available on the Cabinet Office’s Strategy Unit
website at:http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/leadershipreport/00/default.htm
This reports on the findings from a project undertaken by the Performance and
Innovation Unit that sought to improve understanding in the public sector of how it can
attract the leaders and the leadership to deliver public services for the 21 st century.
The report contributes to the broader debate on the factors that contribute to better
leadership in the public sector. It looks at the environment needed to promote good
leadership, the recruitment and development of future leaders and suggests some
possible next steps for developing leadership the public sector.
The report provides:
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case studies illustrating differing aspects of effective leadership; and
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a summary of the public sector leadership initiatives and details of leadership
colleges and centres in public service. (The link for this is
www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2000/leadership/leadershipr…/content06.ht).
“Leadership”, Directors’ Briefing HR12 (Scotland),
available at www.scottish-enterprise.com/publications/hr12lead.pdf
This briefing aims to show how to make leadership work in practice by covering:
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The leadership functions of a manager and those of a managing director including six
tasks leaders normally undertake;
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Leading successful teams; and
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How leaders can achieve more.
“Leadership – Sustainable Partnership”,
Wolverhampton Health Care NHS Trust, available at the following link:
www.partnership-at-work.com/cgibin/webdata_ipapaw.pl?fid=1043406901.80704&query=Subject%3DLeadership%2B%2BSustainable%2BPartnership%26pagenum%3D1%26cgifunction%3DSearch&cgifunct
ion=form
This short article provides a list of the attributes of a good leader derived from a working
group that was set up as part of a project to develop partnership working.
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“Peak Performance – The Key Characteristics of Best Practice”,
Fit for the Future Newsletter, Spring 2002 available at www.fitforthefuture.org.uk (click
on newsletters and then on the one in question)
Leadership is the subject of the first chapter of this report, produced as part of the Fit for
the Future campaign (led by the CBI and backed by the DTI). This provides an overview
of the findings of a research project undertaken by DEMOS on leadership “Leadership –
the challenge for all?” In this, key characteristics of leadership were compared with
peoples’ perceptions of leaders. Ways of bridging gaps in desired leadership qualities are
also considered and case studies illustrating what can be achieved are included.
“Developing Leaders”, Managing Best Practice, No 103, produced by the Work
Foundation, March 2003.
This provides information on best practices in the field of developing leaders following a
survey of 6,000 organisations from a range of sectors. The survey looked at:
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Differentiating leadership from management;
Valuing and promoting leadership;
The importance of good leadership;
Competency at different levels;
Individual development plans;
Recent leadership development;
Planned development; and
Evaluation
Case studies on the following organisations’ programmes for developing leaders are
included:
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Asda Stores;
COI Communications;
The Learning and Skills Council;
Marsh Incorporated; and
The Metropolitan Police.
Finally, the report provides an overview of the findings of other recent surveys
undertaken in the field of leadership in general and source documents and reports are
listed.
Further information about this is available from the Work Foundation (tel: 0870 165
6700 and website www.theworkfoundation.com).
The Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership
The Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership, set up in April 2000 by the
Secretaries of State for Education and Employment and for Trade and Industry, provides
a range of excellent reports on research (www.managementandleadershipcouncil.org).
Examples of these follow.
“The Nature and Quality of Management and Leadership in the Professions: A Qualitative
Study”, available at: www.managmentandleadershipcouncil.org/downloads/r13.pdf
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This reports on the findings of a study of a cross section of the professions in the UK
including those who work in public services to explore the nature and quality of
management and leadership. The study sought to address the following issues:
What are the key areas of management and leadership as seen by professional
practitioners?
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What are the key areas of management and leadership as seen by professional
bodies and/or associations?
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What are the key areas of management and leadership as seen by trainers,
developers and educators working with professionals?
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How do professional practitioners learn and develop management and leadership
in practice?
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What management and leadership education, training and development do the
professional bodies/associations provide?
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What management and leadership education, training and development do
trainers provide?
“Measuring Corporate Management and Leadership Capability”, available at
www.managementandleadershipcouncil.org/reports/r8.htm
This report was produced by the Cranfield School of Management investigating the case
for corporate reporting and disclosure in the field of organisational management and
leadership.
“Indicators of Management Capability: Developing a Framework”, available at
www.managmentandleadershipcouncil.org/reports/measurement.htm
This report provides the findings of a study undertaken by the Institute of Employment
Studies (IES) to develop a framework of performance indicators in relation to the
development and utilisation of management and leadership capability and the
performance benefits arising from its application.
“Comparing Entrepreneurship and Leadership: A Textural Analysis”, available at:
www.managementandleadershipcouncil.org/reports/r6.htm
This is a paper that sought to differentiate between entrepreneurship and leadership in
the context of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).
Service Delivery Agreements
Many examples of Service Delivery Agreements can be found online. Two such sites,
each of which has a section on leadership, are:
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Ordinance Survey (http://www.ordsvy.gov.uk/sda/section-d.htm
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Charity Commission (http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/tcc/ccsdae.asp)
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Additional Information on Leadership in Government
The following link on the UK government website gives a host of other links to various
aspects of leadership at different levels:
http://www.ukonline.gov.uk/Search/SESearchResults/1,1059,~801b22~fs~en,00.html?
qt=leadership&mt=0&sr=0&ha=7&callingPage=globalSearch&id=%7E801b22%7Efs%7E
en&nh=20&cs=utf-8&x=9&y=9
Guidance Produced by Other Countries
Canada
The Treasury Board of Canada website (http://leadership.gc.ca/) is being developed and
maintained by The Leadership Network, a branch of the Treasury Board of Canada
Secretariat. Its mandate is to promote, develop and support networks of leaders
throughout the Public Service of Canada and to assist them in the continuing challenge
of public service renewal and modernisation.
There are a number of linked pages on this site, covering a range of leadership topics,
including a number of sites that provide quizzes, surveys and strategies to help assess
your leadership qualities. These include the following topics:
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Assessing Leadership and Management Talent
How Do You Influence Others?
Identifying Managers and Leaders
Is it Leadership or Management?
Leadership – Self-Assessment
Leadership and Learning Guide
Leadership Characteristics and Skills Survey
Leadership Competency Assessment Tool
Leadership Style Survey
There is a section with links to sites that list Leadership Competencies so that you can
recognise your strengths and weaknesses in this field; another section with links to sites
providing practical tools to improve your leadership skills; and a section on Best
Practices and Success Stories. The site also has a virtual copy of the following book that
is being used by Canadian Government departments to apply the principles of
leadership.
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Tools for Leadership and Learning’, Bob Chartier, available at:
http://leadership.gc.ca/static/leaderskit/tools_e.shtml)
This covers:
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A Leadership Profile
How can we build and strengthen our team?
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How can we bring all employees into the “big picture”?
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Learning team
Learning Centre
Brainsqueezer
open Space Conference
The 12-minute Briefing
Benchmarking
The service standard
How can we consult the people we serve
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The
The
The
The
How do we do better in our work?
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The Team Charter
The Workout
The Win-Win Tool
How do we make learning part of our group’s culture?
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The Stand-up
The 12-minute Interview
360-degree Feedback
The daily News
Strategic partner Consultation
The Survey
The Focus Group
The future search
Selected books to further your learning
Omaha
The University of Nebraska’s website (www.unomaha.edu/~wwwsold/leadership_tips.htm)
provides a selection of virtual brochures covering a wide selection of leadership
development topics selected from a variety of sources. The brochures contain useful tips
and brief information guides including:
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Brainstorming
Communication
Conflict resolution
Delegation
Diversity
Effective presentations
Ethical leadership
Goal setting
Group advising
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Meetings
Motivation
Program planning
Publicising events
Recruitment and retention
Stress management
Team building
Time management
Leadership and Electronic Government
The following website contains an in depth paper (35 pages) supporting the author’s
argument that a broader grasp of electronic government is imperative for leaders to
position their governments, citizens, businesses and communities for sustainable
strategic advantage:
www.ieg.ibm.com/thought_leadership/Seven_E-Gov_Milestones.pdf
It identifies seven leadership milestones that the author considers integral to both
becoming an electronic government and running an electronic government:
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Integration
Economic development
Electronic democracy
Electronic communities
Intergovernmental
Policy environment
Next generation internet
The milestones are explained and discussed in detail with the author advising that they
are neither discrete nor sequential in nature, with each milestone having equal priority,
contributing to the cumulative attainment of the others. The author guarantees that that
following these milestones will end in electronic government but that this will take an
enormous leadership effort.
Leadership in relation to Change Management
The following article draws parallels between change literature and leadership literature
particularly transformation leadership concerned with capabilities to enact change
successfully:
“Transformational leadership in the context of organizational change”, Regina Eisenbach,
Kathleen Watson and Rajnandini Pillai, Journal of Organisational Change Management,
Volume 12, Issue 2 available online at:
www.managementfirst.com/profe…/csopeatoins_and_production_management.html
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Leadership Training
There are, of course, many leadership-training opportunities open to public sector
employees, e.g. the Public Sector Leadership Scheme and CMPS’ PRIME: Leadership
course, details follow.
Public Sector Leadership Scheme
http://www.publicserviceleadersscheme.gov.uk/future/different.htm
This is a collaborative venture between the Civil Service, Local Authorities, the NHS, and
the Police. It is the only scheme that embraces the whole of the Public Sector and seeks
to develop both individuals and organisations.
A key aspect of the scheme is the ability to draw people together from across all parts of
the Public Sector to form an effective network to learn together about the different
working cultures and to share good practice and the challenge of future leadership. This
is given further impetus through the Interchange Module where participants have the
opportunity to work in a different part of the Public Sector.
This scheme is based on action learning underpinned with theoretical study that can be
accredited with Birmingham University at postgraduate certificate level. Each participant
draws up their own individual learning contract to drive their learning with the support of
their sponsor, their own mentor and a Personal and Organisation Development Manager.
Central Government National Training Organisation, Newsletter, Autumn 2002, Issue 9
gives information about the Public Service Leaders Scheme and other public service
initiatives. This is available at: www.central-gov-nto.org.uk/links/newsletter_links.htm
PRIME: Leadership Course
http://prime.cmps.gov.uk/about.htm
This is an innovative new programme that has been created specifically to develop the
leadership capabilities of public sector managers by the Centre for Management and
Policy Studies (CMPS), in partnership with Epic Group plc and iMPOWER Group plc.
Content for the programme was developed in collaboration with Lancaster University
Management School.
PRIME: Leadership course includes over 20 hours of high quality e-learning on leadership
covering:
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Current thinking on leadership;
Leading people; interpersonal skills;
Developing partnerships;
Strategic thinking; analysing and developing options;
Change and organisational learning; and
Managing change.
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It aims to:
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help develop the ability to think in a strategic way;
challenge the participant to define and re-examine their views and the
leadership practices they may have adopted over time;
inform them about a range of leadership theories and provide examples of
good leadership; and
help to enhance the skills participants need to lead and inspire people by
engaging them in a range of challenging interactive tasks .
Additional Sources
“Breakthrough Leaders”, Harvard Business Review December 2001, includes a range of
articles on leadership. It also includes reviews of several useful books on the subject.
The Management First website provides facilities for a is a growing network of thinkers in
management www.managementfirst.com/practical_management/leadership_and_motivation.htm
The vision is to ‘help you become a better manager - of yourself, your job and your
organisation by providing easy-to-digest key management information.
As well as information provided through subscriptions to the site, there are plenty of free
articles. One of these gives an alternative slant on leadership by considering leadership’s
negative face, pointing out that leadership (and ‘followship’) can have a dark side.
Negative faces of leadership to be aware of are discussed under the headings:
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Mirroring
Narcissism
Emotional illiteracy
Unwillingness to let go
There is also an article on the negative face of ‘followship’ with various theories being
put forward on how follower traits can have a damaging impact on the leader-follower
relationship - but acknowledging that more research is needed in this field. The authors
warn that effective leadership can, in particular circumstances, ‘promote terrible things.’
The authors conclude by suggesting 9 ways in which those who purport to train and
educate leaders could incorporate this broader perspective into their programmes.
The website of the Business Finance Magazine provides advice on leadership primarily for
Finance Executives although, the advice is equally applicable to other areas of work:
www.businessfinancemag.com/archives/appfiles/Article.cfm?IssueID=73&ArticleID=4261
It acknowledges that managing employees who are empowered to make key decisions
about their work requires a different style of leader than in the past.
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Five critical leadership practices are identified under the following headings:
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Mission. The leader must be able to create a work environment that links the
employees’ actions to an important organisational goal, purpose or mission.
Goals. Leaders must be able to define challenging, but achievable work
objectives for employees.
Feedback. Today’s leaders must regularly give employees information and
direction that allows them to measure and improve their own performance.
Recognition. The leaders must recognise employee contributions and provide
incentives for them to improve and maintain high performance. The rewards must
meet the needs of the business unit as well as the employee.
Support. Leaders must show concern for the development of employees and
provide support and coaching.
Different leadership styles are discussed further, with examples of successful leadership
practices that people have experienced, There is also a ‘Test Your Leadership Strengths’
quiz which can be self-scored to identify how many effective leadership skills the
participant exhibits. This could also help give an insight into the culture of the
organisation.
The “Leadership Challenge”, Kouzes and Posner, is a book in which the authors’ findings
are based on 11 years hard evidence of what makes successful leaders.
It identifies and discusses Five Fundamental Practices of Successful Leaders – at all
levels of leadership.
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Although the book has to be read in full to appreciate the authors’ reasoning, the
following table gives a flavour of their findings.
Traditional view (Myth)
Best practice in reality (Authors’ findings)
Ideal organisations are orderly and
stable.
Good leaders:
Processes can, and should, be
engineered so that they run like
clockwork.
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Challenge the process;
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Change things;
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Shake up the organisation
A leader is a renegade who magnetises
a band of followers with courageous
acts.
Leaders attract follows not because of their
wilful defiance but because of their deep faith
in the human capacity to adapt and grow and
learn
Focus should be on the short term.
Look beyond the horizon of the present and
have a long term future orientation.
Leaders are prescient visionaries with
Merlin-like powers.
Leaders must have a vision and a sense of
direction but this can spring from original
thinking or represent the inspiration of
someone else.
Leaders ought to be cool, aloof and
analytical and ought to separate from
work.
Real life leaders describe feelings of inspiration,
passion, elation, intensity challenge, caring and
kindness.
Leaders are charismatic and possess
some special gift.
Leaders must be energetic and enthusiastic but
this does not come from special powers. It
comes from a strong belief in a purpose and a
willingness to express that conviction.
The job of management is primarily one
of control - resources, time, money,
materials, and people.
The more leaders control others, the less
people will excel.
Leaders command and control.
The more leaders control the less they will be
trusted.
Leaders serve and support.
Its lonely at the top.
The most effective leaders are involved and in
touch with those they lead.
The job of leaders is to detach
themselves from mundane, day to day
work and invent a grand strategic plan.
A leader’s deeds are far more important than
their words and credibility of action is the single
most significant determinant of whether a
leader will be followed over time.
Great policy promotes progress.
Traditional view
Best practice in reality (Findings)
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Traditional view (Myth)
Best practice in reality (Authors’ findings)
Those on top are automatically leaders.
Leadership is a process, not a place. It involves
skills and abilities that are useful in the front
line as well as in the executive suite.
Leadership is reserved for only a few.
Leadership is certainly not conveyed in a gene
and is not a secret code that cannot be
understood by ordinary people.
Only a lucky few can ever decipher the
mystery of leadership.
Leadership is an observable and learnable set
of practices.
The belief that leadership cannot be learned is
a far more powerful deterrent to development
than is the nature of the leadership process
itself. Leadership is everyone’s business.
Note:
To help users locate specific documents, the PSBS may have included actual pages in the
Internet reference. However, over time, the host website may move their documents
and break the link. In such cases, users are advised to try to find the document for
themselves by using the search facility on the host site in question. This will usually be
accessible via the Home Page. It would also be helpful if users notify the PSBS when
such links fail so that we can try to re-instate them.
Date last revised: March 2003
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Disclaimer: The information included was collated by the PSBS following research
on a particular enquiry and it is being made available to others via the Knowledge
Bank. As such, we recognise that it is unlikely to meet everyone’s specific needs
and members seeking additional information would be welcome to submit an
enquiry to the PSBS. Also, the inclusion of sources of information should not be
taken as an endorsement by the PSBS.
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