Chapter 7: Leadership and management

Abbreviations

A list of the abbreviations used in this report is available in the Glossary

Leadership and management are critical aspects of the business of the APS. They are integral to our performance and affect both our capacity to deliver policy and programme outcomes for the Government, and the level of confidence that the public has in the APS as an institution. Leadership and management also have an influence on employee engagement.

Although related, leadership and management describe different, but important, aspects of the business of the APS. Leadership is important in the context of identifying and defining organisational goals and desired outcomes, developing strategies and plans to achieve those goals and deliver those outcomes, and guiding the organisation and motivating its people in reaching those goals and outcomes.¹ Management tends to focus on a range of more practical tasks including financial, contract, project, risk and people management skills, which are also very important.

The importance of both leadership and management skills is reflected in the APS leadership model developed as part of the Integrated Leadership System (ILS), which illustrates the shift in emphasis between technical, managerial and leadership roles as work becomes more complex at higher classification levels (see Figure 7.1). The model is underpinned by five capability clusters also reflected in the Senior Executive Leadership Capability framework (the SELC framework): achieves results; cultivates productive working relationships; communicates with influence; exemplifies personal drive and integrity; and shapes strategic thinking.

Figure 7.1 APS Leadership model

Figure 7.1 is a diagram illustrating the shift in emphasis between technical, managerial and leadership roles as work becomes more complex at higher classification levels.

Both the managerial and leadership aspects of APS employees’ roles require capabilities from all five capability clusters. However, the managerial component has a strong focus on the achieves results capability cluster and the leadership component has a strong focus on shapes strategic thinking, achieves results and cultivates productive working relationships. At all levels, technical knowledge and capability are linked to effective performance and credibility, but with increasing seniority, the requirement for technical knowledge shifts from a requirement for depth of knowledge to one of breadth of knowledge.

It is worth noting that leadership, critical to how we deal with the complexity and uncertainty that has come to characterise the modern public sector environment, is expected of a broad range of APS employees. The extent to which leadership is required will, of course, vary at different levels, and, to a lesser extent, in different positions. The fact remains, however, that public servants today need to be more agile, and to have the ability to respond quickly to governments’ changing agendas and to the fast-moving pace of our operating environment. Events of the last few years have shown that public services need to be adept at, and in a continual state of readiness for, dealing with crisis situations and other challenges, whether these arise from natural disasters or security and terrorism incidents. We also need to have the skills to carry forward an increasingly complex and important whole of government agenda. All of this puts a high premium on effective leadership and management.

Additional questions were included in this year’s employee survey to develop a greater understanding of both what attributes employees value in senior leaders and immediate supervisors, and their perceptions of the quality of leadership and management in their agencies. This chapter draws on the results from the employee and agency surveys and a range of other data to make an assessment of how effectively the APS is performing in these critical areas.

In this chapter

Chapter 7: Leadership and management	PDF	Word	Excel
Leadership and management
Figure 7.1 APS Leadership model
Leadership
Table 7.1: Attributes employees would like to see in senior leaders, 2005–06
Figure 7.2: Methods agencies use to identify future leaders, 2005–06
Figure 7.3: Proportion of employees who rated their immediate supervisor as ‘high’ on leadership capabilities, 2002–03 to 2005–06
Figure 7.4: Leadership development activities offered by agencies, 2005–06
Management
Table 7.2: Level of agreement by employees that immediate supervisor is good at managing people
Table 7.3: Attributes employees would like to see in an immediate supervisor, 2005–06
Figure 7.5: Proportion of relevant employees agreeing with performance pay statements, 2002–03 to 2005–06
Key chapter findings

National Institute for Governance, Public Service Leadership: Emerging Issues, December 2003, <http://governance.canberra.edu.au>

Next page: Leadership