Some jump before they are pushed, but when you live by results sooner or later they are going to go against you. Saying the right thing won't save you if the performance dips, if the budget won't stretch and if you ask the board for one thing and are given another. What you need is bounce back ability.
www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
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League tables are not everything they don't tell the whole story but successive governments have put their faith in this easy to understand way of judging performance. If you are in the top half of the table you are performing well. If you are habitually mid table you are coasting and need to try harder. If you are in the lower reaches of the table you are failing and urgent improvement is...
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Leaders give permission to say the wrong thing, open out as opposed to close down discussion and are prepared to manage the emotions stirred up. Leaders put the same emphasise on values as budgets and performance (and are prepared to be challenged where these appear to be in conflict for example staffing levels and budget cuts). Leaders creat opportunities for direct face to face...
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The difference between managers and leaders is managers don't always own the agenda they say things like " the board has decided", "the senior management team wants this done" or " the chief executive expects". Leaders always make it personal, "I am committed to this", "I believe we can do it", "I believe we can make this work" , some say do it for me ,some say do it because it is the right...
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We spent an enormous amount of time thrashing out a common understanding of the type of management behaviour we wanted to model and the type of manager the organisation wanted/ needed. What we identified was that the organisation was rather confused about the type of managers it wanted claiming to want leaders with good people skills who could inspire staff and who were innovators and...
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Coaching, Mentoring and management learning sets are the belt and braces of leadership development, which a manager uses is a matter of personal preference, opportunity and local circumstances. In this case the organisation decided coaching was required and mentoring was optional.
As director of Community Services I took the lead for management development within a Directorate...
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There is a constant threat of decline and sense of wrongness in the world. There are kings and king makers, trial by combat, scheming and betrayal and a delicious habit of bumping of the biggest stars. This is not some medieval fantasy or an episode of Game of Thrones this is the modern day public sector in a time of prolonged austerity. Temporary alliances form and reform, local...
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Good team work requires everyone to play their part. Everyone knows their role, no one tries to do someone else's job, experience has taught how to respond to different situations , training has reinforced best practice, the team is well organised and as a result is effective and efficient when dealing with routine circumstances and predictable challenges. Even so it can become a sterile,...
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One participant, a young woman , immediately volunteered an account of how she had confronted a member of her team about the standard of their work.
" I challenged her and she left - walked out of the building the same day". The woman said. " I had really prepared using feedback from the role play we did . It was really effective. I think I was able to stand my ground better. I...
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Passion is an over used word in local government especially in job interviews. Candidates for management posts are always "passionate" about the service, passionate about empowering staff/ citizens, passionate about choice, passionate about quality, passionate about equality but mostly just passionate. But do you need to be so passionate, is it enough to be a competent...
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That after the big post the next move is the big LA.
That being forced out of one LA means you won't be welcome in another.
That playing the political card and echoing the views of the leader will increase your survival chances.
The big Mets and the large county councils tend to dominate their regions but this just means you have more enemies than allies. Some senior...
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Stress like the public sector is not fashionable but that doesn't mean it's no longer present. Whether you regard it as bad for business that over stressed managers make bad decisions or you take your duty of welfare to your employees seriously, stress is an issue for organisations. You would anticipate that job insecurity, over ambitious efficiency targets and the difficulty of...
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Would you rather be managed by someone who has done your job all be it years ago or someone who had no experience of your work but was keen to learn? Do you think senior managers need a professional background in a service to run it properly or do you think management skills are transferable as long as managers are prepared to learn about the service and listen to experience...
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We need to talk about how we talk about diversity in the work place because the subject still has a faint air of menace about it. If people are reluctant to talk about diversity for fear of saying the wrong thing then organisations will have a tick box approach to diversity which looks impressive but doesn't change the culture. This all to common superficial approach to diversity...
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The more demanding the agenda for change, the more savage the budget cuts, the more emphases on performance the greater the management emphasis on conformity. When senior managers feel the pressure their tolerance for dissent diminishes, questioning the methods is not acceptable, their is no room for doubt therefore no place for debate. The management mantra is,"do what I say". People with the...
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MI5 have them. They are helping the secret services get the best out of their "Spooks". It was one of the reasons they were awarded public sector employers of the year. Soon every CEO, head teacher and senior manager will want one. They are the RDMs ( Reverse Diversity Mentors).
Reverse mentoring in diversity is where a senior person seeks out some one to mentor them on diversity issues as a...
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The conference like the song claims we can all be heroes. The promotional material speaks of the battles that have taken place and the battles to come, battles that have left many managers feeling bruised, demoralised and overstretched. The rallying cry is heroic leadership is not an optional extra. Which like the Bowie single is a bit of a surprise because that idea has...
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They are the,"turn round " kings. They can straddle two LA 's, they can manage two large schools at the same time, they can transform your failing hospital trust, they can restore the reputation of your children's services and they can get your adult care services out of special measures. They are the "special ones".
So when the magic doesn't work, the turn round...
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Pragmatism can be a cover for so many wrongs. It starts out as just cutting through the red tape but ends up justifying prejudice, discrimination, and self interest.
Pragmatism in the public sector is recognising there is no choice but to, outsource services, reduce management posts, make redundancies, remove services we can no longer afford, lower expectations we can no longer...
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