Charter Application and Implementation Model the Transformational Approach to Leadership. Integrate the principles of leadership and management such that results are achieved by a highly motivated team of persons. Traditional views of leadership in the public service assume that people at the top of the organisation fill the leadership role, including in particular the Permanent Secretary, CEO, the top management team, and the individuals with the authority to command and control the actions of others. Leadership is too often viewed as a position on an organisational chart and leadership programmes are tailored to address a mélange of personal improvements. Experience has taught us otherwise. Leadership development does not exist in a vacuum, neither is it a stand alone process. We are aware of many individuals trained in leadership and on completion of the training are forced to address the challenge regarding the landscape of the public service including a dysfunctional leadership culture, power distribution, rigid protocols, inappropriate rules and bureaucratic processes. These tend, more often than not, to stifle leadership roles rather than add value to it. The reality therefore is that, it is what surrounds leaders that have a powerful influence on successful leadership, namely, internal social and environmental forces in the organisation’s culture, systems, structures, policies, climate and protocol i.e. rules and regulations. The early work of Osborn et al. (2002) provides a useful frame for the concept of systemic leadership: “Leadership is not only incremental influence of a boss toward subordinates, but most important it is the collective incremental influence of leaders in and around the system.” Their focus on “in and around the system” provides important grounding for CARICAD’s model of Transformational Systemic Leadership – a focus not only on personal influence but also on influence determined by organisational context. This is why leadership is identified as a core principle under the Capacity Pillar of the Charter in alignment with competency-based Human Resource Management and Development, and organisation development. The concept of the Organisational Iceberg in Organisational Development studies portrays the organisation as an iceberg. What can be seen above the surface is only the smaller part of the whole; the majority lies under the surface and determines the direction of the iceberg. They are the internal social and environmental forces in the organisation’s culture mentioned above. They include emotions, relationships, values, cultures, systems, structures, protocols etc. Failing to recognise this hidden part of the iceberg and underestimating its size and shape can cause organisations to fail, despite all of the technical skills of leaders. The reality is that leadership in public sector organisations should be perceived and understood as more than the attribute of a single person at the top of an heirachy; it is an integrated organisation-wide system. One of the core principles of systemic leadership is that the competency of individuals is not the prime factor that determines the organisation’s performance. The system must be improved. Any leadership development programme should therefore begin, not with a focus on what the trainees may need, but of critical importance, what the public service needs from the leadership it wishes to produce. The public service should be seen as having many different components working together to transform a complex system into one that is working The new leadership agenda for CARICAD The context within which the public services in CARICAD Member States exists include volatile economies, negative environmental impacts, rapid changes in technology, and the changing needs of the workforce. There is an imperative for efficiency in these harsh times. There is a call for resilience and empowerment, and there is a mood for holistic transformation. A new leadership agenda is needed. Transformational Systemic Leadership based on continuous improvement in the public sector is about using the organisation system to drive leadership improvement and change. This can only occur if public sector organisations coalesce forces to adopt a holistic approach to leadership responsibility. CARICAD is here to help. CARICAD therefore in the context of Leadership Development is suggesting that we need to blend leadership responsibilities at all levels with what leaders know, are, and can do in the full organisational development context. Rosemund Warrington is the Assistant Director and Human Resource and Organisation Development Specialist at CARICAD. 5
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