Coaching Public Service Leaders

It’s important to me, as an author, to share my ideas, opinions, and suggestions in easily understandable ways. I don’t think there are any new ideas on leadership that are waiting to be discovered or illuminated. I do think that some of the ideas out there can be shared in practical, and common-sense ways; remembering that common sense is rarely common practice. I have a simple model I’d like to share with you. It’s called the Four Practices Successful Leaders Master. I believe these four practices capture the essence of successful public service leadership. A practice is like a bucket. Inside the bucket, are clusters of competencies that complement and support each other. When a leader develops mastery of a practice, he or she is fully competent in that practice. Four Practices Successful Leaders Master 1. Agilely Learning 2. Adapting to Ambiguity 3. Adopting Strategic Thinking 4. Aligning Execution and Risk-Taking Many leader development models are complex and complicated. Digesting their guidance can seem like an impossible task. To combat this trend, I’ve simplified my leader development model into four practices. To illustrate its application to public service leadership, I’ve provided dozens of real examples from agency leaders, a sprinkling of personal stories, analogies from movies and books, and illustrations of successful leadership from historic figures. I hope you find the reading educational, engaging, and thought provoking. During my years of working with federal agencies and their employees, I have had the privilege of observing and listening to a wide variety of successful leaders. The number of compelling stories I’ve heard has inspired me to investigate the complexity of agency leadership. What I discovered led me to a simple, profound conclusion. Leadership is suffering in public service arenas because the traditional leadership models have not kept pace with the ever-changing scope of challenges faced by those in leadership positions. Yet there continue to be individuals who transcend the changing environment to become pillars of exemplary public service leadership in their organizations. My personal goal in conducting this research and undertaking this writing project was to identify practices successful public service leaders master and create a short self-assessment that would measure the critical leadership behaviors required for successful public service leadership. I’m confident that the Four Practices Successful Leaders Master and the Public Service Leadership Assessment achieve this goal. Together these provide public service leaders with a way to quickly assess their leadership competence and then develop a customized and tailored development plan to close any identified gaps. There are numerous leadership models in the literature. I know there are also hundreds of leader development activities available, including assessment centers, business simulations, experiential activities, self- and multi-rater assessments, workbooks, field guides, workshops, training courses, degree programs, executive coaching, and organizational assessments. Although all are potentially valuable, accessing this enormous pool of options could take days, weeks, or months. I wanted to create a way for individual public service leaders to quickly determine their strengths and development opportunities. Once these were identified, leaders could create an individualized leader development plan tailored to their personal needs. I utilize many of the available assessment tools mentioned here (and in Chapter Six) in my work. The best of these have been statistically validated often over years of use. The Public Service Leadership Assessment and the Four Practices Successful Leaders Master have not yet been so thoroughly researched or analyzed. I am, however, claiming with great confidence that perception is reality for most workers. I have captured perceptions of the federal workforce through my own survey, which aligns with the validated survey results of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the Partnership for Public Service. I believe that public service leaders can improve their leadership successes by changing their behavior in ways that match what their constituents need. The Public Service Leadership Assessment and the Four Practices Successful Leaders Master work together to illuminate the pathway forward, guiding public leaders toward successful leadership. The Four Practices Successful Leaders Master are not linear. They are interlaced inextricably with one another. Woven together, they create a complex tapestry of leadership behaviors. Each of the Four Practices Successful Leaders Master are defined in this section and broken out into their three main components. Similarly, these three main components are not individual concepts. They do not operate independently from one another; rather, they complement, support, and intertwine with one another to form each practice. As a result of my work with federal employees and agencies, I have discovered that there is a blurred boundary between the concepts of leader and manager. Many federal employees see these terms as interchangeable. I believe this is one factor contributing to ineffective leadership. I define a leader as someone who has willing followers who perceive the leader as being credible, competent, and trustworthy. Leaders motivate and inspire others to join with them in the pursuit of a clear, compelling vision of the future. Leadership is relational—it’s about knowing and believing in your people and creating a space in which they can know and believe in you. Anyone can be a leader. Leadership is not dependent on a position, title, formal authority, education, age, gender, language, political affiliation, or religious beliefs. Leadership requires a relationship with others who want to willingly follow. Leaders motivate and inspire their followers to go the extra mile. They create a desire in their constituents to do their very best, believing in themselves and in the possibility that they can exceed their own expectations. I believe that leadership in public service is suffering. This shortfall of successful leadership is causing federal workers to become less committed and more dissatisfied and disengaged from their work. There is a growing need for successful leadership. As budgets decline and mission-critical demands expand, employee engagement becomes more critical. In the absence of successful leadership, our nation’s security and our way of life are at risk. Critical mission elements may be jeopardized. Recruitment and retention of talented workers may be impaired. We can help counteract this shortage by improving successful public service leadership.