Lead to succeed

Jean HartleyProfessor of Public Leadership

Open University

NHS Scotland conference June 2013

Aims of this session

• To consider the current context of public services, as the starting point to understand leadership

• To examine leadership with political astuteness as a way to address collaboration across interests which are sometimes aligned but sometimes competing

• To reflect on when and how political astuteness fosters effective leadership and engagement with the workforce and other stakeholders

Tough times in Europe and the USA• Global financial crisis• Triple-dip recession…. Economic depression• Families and communities under stress • Increase in coercive, bullying and blaming cultures in

some workplaces• High unemployment and under-employment• Health and social care challenges due to an ageing

population, with chronic illness etc• Climate change • Loss of trust in professions, politicians and institutions• Loss of hope and sense of direction in society

5

The leadership challenges

• The crucial distinction between ‘tame’ and ‘wicked’ problems (Rittell and Webber, 1973; Grint, 2000; Hartley and Benington, 2010)

• Tame problems – complicated but resolvable; likely to have occurred before; agreed approaches to address. Leadership role is provide processes and resources to solve the problem

• Wicked problems – complex, interconnected with other problems; lack of agreement over problem or how to tackle it. Leadership role – ask the right questions and get the right stakeholders involved.

What do we mean by leadership?

Person

Position

Process

Performance

Projection

Leadership – not solely about people in

particular positions or their qualities but

about the mobilising of the attention,

resources and practices of others towards

particular goals, values and outcomes.

What counts as successful leadership? • Public leadership is often controversial and contested,

and with (at any point) the full glare of publicity• Multiple and complex goals – and many “wicked”

problems• Is successful leadership where goals have been met?

Where public value has been created? Where the next generation of leadership is created?

• Who decides on what is success? Over what time-frame?

• Attributions can vary

Collaboration to achieve quality in healthcare• Collaboration is important in the context of wicked

problems (complex, not clear about cause or solution to problems, may not have been encountered before)

• But collaboration is not easy, and it is not just about finding common ‘win-win’ approaches, sometimes there are conflicts which have to be resolved between collaboration partners

• And sometimes partners and other stakeholders do not want to collaborate

• So political astuteness is a critical skill for leadership

Political astuteness

political ‘n

ous’

political acuity

political intelligence

‘Metis’

savvy

Dealing with big p

and small p politics

Political awareness

Political antennae

5 KEY QUESTIONS TO EXPLORE

What are the situations in which leaders use political awareness skills in their jobs?

What do we mean by politics in the workplace?

What are the key components of the skills of political awareness?

How do leaders acquire and develop their political skills?

Can public servants lead with too much political astuteness?

Three research projects:1) UK on managers across all sectorsJoint research with the Chartered Management Institute (UK

professional body for managers) Literature review – Managing with political awareness Hartley and

Branicki, 2006 3 focus groups (London, Birmingham, Cardiff) – 41 senior managers National survey of senior managers, n= 1,495 12 interviews Review by Steering Board

Report: Leading with political awareness (2007), launched at the House of Lords. Journal papers and book chapters.

Co-authors: Jean Hartley, Clive Fletcher, Christoph Ungemach, Petra Wilton and Patrick Woodman

2) UK, Australia, New Zealand with public managers

3 country study

• 1012 responses to the survey • 42 interviews with very senior, senior and middle ranking

public servants across UK, Oz and NZ

• Co-authors: John Alford (Melbourne) Owen Hughes (RMIT), Sophie Yates (ANZSOG);

• Report to be published in August. Also journal papers and a book chapter in press.

3) Research on close working by senior civil servants with elected (and appointed) politicians

• 17 interviews with Permanent Secretaries in central and devolved government, and chief executives in local government in all 4 countries of UK

• Leading with political astuteness in daily working with elected politicians

• Report “Dancing on Ice” being published in July by Stella Manzie and Jean Hartley

THE CHALLENGEManagers and leaders increasingly have to work with a range of

stakeholders outside as well as inside the organization Strategic alliances and formal partnerships Commissioned or contracted out services run by agencies or

contractors Lobby and advocacy groups Professional and trade union groups Regulators Global governance institutions The media Formal political institutions (e.g. local councils, Scottish Parliament,

Westminster government, EU)And so on

Leading with political astuteness for managers

“Greater priority needs to be given to developing leaders with the capacity to manage the political dimension. They need an ability to see and communicate the big picture, make connections, be credible with different groups and broker relevant political and strategic relationships.”

(Charlesworth et al, 2003)

“Political skills cannot be viewed as the domain of the specialist, but as a mainstream element of leadership needed across all sectors”

(Sir David Varney)

Improving leadership theoryTraditional leadership theory emphasises: Leading a single organization rather than leading in a

network of organizations and stakeholders A leader has formal authority over those they lead rather

than sometimes only influence Assumes leader’s role is to bring everyone on board,

rather than lead in conditions of diverse, and sometimes competing, interests

Leader’s control over the boundaries of the organization rather than porous boundaries with influence on your organization

Leading with political astuteness breaks out of these traditional assumptions

What is meant by politics in the workplace?

The literature – traditional and emergent perspectives in managementFrom the management literature: Early view - politics no place in management Politics as the pursuit of self interest (‘politicking’) Politics as a means to gain market share – ‘turf wars’

From the political science literature: Politics as a public mechanism for distribution of

resources Politics in the pursuit of common purposes, and

reconciling differences Politics to align objectives; building sufficient

consensus for action

Leadership with political astuteness

Newer perspectives on politics in the management field

eg Baddeley and James, Butcher and Clarke, Hartley and Fletcher, Hartley and Alford

“Leadership both inside and outside the organization, based on working with diverse and sometimes competing interests and agendas from a range of stakeholders, to achieve organizational and social outcomes.” (Hartley and Fletcher, 2008)

The self-interested aspects of political awareness – sometimes called the ‘dark side’ of politics - remain a reality

UK survey data – “what do you understand by politics in your work as a manager”(up to 3 responses per person)

Alliance-building to achieve organizational objectives

59%

Formal processes and institutions of government

40%

Ways in which different interests are reconciled 39%

Scanning factors in external environment that organization needs to consider

38%

People ‘protecting their turf’ 31%

Pursuit of personal advantage 21%

Comparative analysis: Public servantsAustralia, New Zealand, UK (n = 1012)

Interviews (ANZUK study) • P08 (senior manager, AU): “[Politics is] primarily about

mobilising support for a course of action. Now that might be support within the organisation, that is not people that you either work for or work for you directly necessarily, but that broader base of support. It could be mobilising support in political office.”

• P06 (senior manager, AU) “it’s about how in fact you engage with those stakeholders in order to achieve what you’re trying to achieve for the organisation as a whole in support of what community objectives are.”

UK Survey data – Situations where political skills most applied (15 choices) (% saying valuable or very valuable)

Working with influential people in your organization

76%

Working with partners and strategic alliances 73%

Thinking about how public opinion has an impact on your organization

68%

Working with regional or local government 62%

Influencing regulation in your sector 62%

George Eliot’s view of politics in Felix Holt“Fancy what a game of chess would be if all the chessmen had passion and intellects, more or less small and cunning; if you were not only uncertain about your adversary’s means, but a little uncertain about your own; if your knight could shuffle himself on to a new square by the sly; if your bishop, in disgust at your castling, could wheedle your pawns out of their places; and if your pawns, hating you because they are pawns, could make away with their appointed posts that you might get checkmate on a sudden…….

Felix Holt (cont’d)

…..You might be the longest-headed of deductive reasoners, and you might be beaten by your own pawns. You would be especially likely to be beaten, if you depended arrogantly on your mathematical imagination, and regarded your passionate pieces with contempt.”

What are the key componentsof skill

Warwick developed and validated a model of the key skills of leadership with political astuteness

(now available as a diagnostic tool)

50 items in a measure of political astuteness as practised by middle and senior managers

Asked people to rate themselves – and the most senior managers in their organization they

worked with

A skills framework

Strategic Direction and Scanning

Reading People and Situations

Building Alignment and Alliances

Interpersonal Skills

Personal Skills

Personal skills Interpersonal skills

Reading people and situations

Building alignment and

alliances

Strategic direc-tion and scan-

ning

OVERALL0

1

2

3

4

54.18 4.17 3.98

3.92 3.98 4.043.54 3.59 3.95 3.56 3.68 3.66Self – mean score

Others – mean score

self and other ratings on the five dimensions and the total score

Pers

onal

Inte

rpers

onal

People

& S

ituat.

..

Alignm

ent

& a

ll...

Str

ate

gic

dir

ec.

..

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

3.99

3.63.7 3.7 3.7

4.2 4.24 4 4

4.3 4.34.1 4.1

4.2

Middle Mgrs

Senior Mgrs

Directors

Differences in political skills ratings by managerial level

Pers

onal

Inte

rpers

onal

People

& S

ituat.

..

Alignm

ent

& a

ll..

.

Str

ate

gic

dir

ecti

on

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

4.18 4.123.96 3.92 3.994.16 4.22

3.99 3.93 3.91

Male

Female

Political skill scores by gender

How did you develop your own political skills?

What have been the events, experiences, courses, etc (inside or outside your organization) which have been most important to you in developing your own political skills?

Survey data – Top sources of developing political skills (% very or extremely valuable; 24 possible sources)

Learning from own mistakes 88%

Gaining experience in the job 86%

Handling crises 85%

Good example of senior manager 77%

Bad example of a senior manager 70%

Working with other organizations 67%

Experiential learning is particularly important “I think it’s very much a living thing. I don’t feel I’ve learnt a

huge amount from reading textbooks, I’ve learnt it from people, watching them, observing them, and I suppose just life experience.”

(business development manager, facilities management company)

“I talk a lot with my boss, who is very developmental. We talk about what happened in meetings and I ask why did you do this, why not that, and it really helps.”

(Local government manager).

Key recommendations for development, given scarcity of current routes

Individual managers – Increase exposure to politically complex situations– Reflection/observation skills– Coaching and mentoring from a politically astute angle

Organisations– Audit political context/skills– Create climate for experiential learning

Professional bodies / training providers– Use a political astuteness skills framework– Use the CMI self-assessment and 360 assessment instrument

Can public servants lead with too much political astuteness?

What are the limits of political astuteness – in ethical terms, in effectiveness terms?

• Interviewees reported that some colleagues got too close to ministers, or were ‘game-playing’, or were not seen as trustworthy

• But also that too little political astuteness was problematic – not seeing the interests of others

Public servants reported:

• Reviewing the political context with their close team• Using a coach to reflect on ethics and politics• Being reflexive as a habit of mind• Checking that their actions would be explainable to

family, or the media • Reflecting on codes of conduct

They used their political astuteness to check that they were not being too politically astute.

“It’s the very air we breathe” (AU)

Limits to leadership with political astuteness

Acceptable Political

Astuteness

Too Compliant to the politician being served: not independent enough

Too rigidly promulgating formal boundaries without reflecting

appropriate political astuteness

Not political enough: Professional expertise

without political astuteness

Not professional enough: political astutenesswithout technical

expertise

Conclusions

There is an increasing recognition that political astuteness is a key skill for leaders/managers as they lead in situations with diverse interests in a dynamic context

This research represents the first major mapping of the contexts and skills

Development routes are haphazard and often painful – we can do more to make explicit the skills and help people acquire these skills

Further information and papers:

Jean Hartley Professor of Public LeadershipDepartment of Public Leadership & Social EnterpriseOpen University Business SchoolOpen UniversityWalton HallMilton KeynesMK7 6AA

jean.hartley@open.ac.uk

www.open.ac.uk