Transformational Leadership Panel

I was asked by Rob Dowler of MGS (Government of Ontario) to moderate a panel at this year's Showcase Ontario. The panel was on "Transformational Leadership for Today's Public Service" and took place on September 23, 2009. They assembled a stellar panel for me to moderate. The panelists were:

* Shirley Hoy, former City Manager, City of Toronto and now CEO of Toronto Lands Corp;
* Tony Dean, former Ontario Secretary of the Cabinet and now a fellow in residence at the School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Toronto; and
* Alex Himelfarb, former Clerk of the Privy Council (Government of Canada) and the newly appointed Director of the School of Public & International Affairs, Glendon College.

To say this was a stellar panel would be a gross understatement. What was interesting to me was that all three worked together to achieve some substantial breakthroughs in intergovernmental cooperation. As you can imagine, entrenched interests make this kind of three level cooperation difficult most of the time. Anyway, the 10 minute presentations from each of the panelists was quite interesting.

Tony was the first to speak and he talked about 1) the importance of "people issues" in the public service including proper and enlightened leadership; 2) Complex policy issues and 3) Execution. He spoke of the need for the establishment of benchmarks and measurement which requires robust information systems to provide evidence in terms of both delivery and policy. He underscored the importance of public sector leadership in protecting the core values of the public service and building a culture of flexibility and innovation within the public service.

Alex spoke about 1) the deterioration of the policy role within government and 2) the challenge to be innovate with the current "cult of accountability". He contrasted today's Deputy Minister to DM's when he first joined government. DM's 20 years ago focused on policy and provided "fearless advice and loyal implementation", while today's DM is an executioner and provides "loyal advice and fearful implementation". He sees the reductions of the past having a significant negative impact on the policy capability of public service. As a result, there is decreased demand for policy advice from politicians. The advent of technology has resulted in the "democratization" of the policy process, where expertise has become devalued. On the cult of accountability Alex spoke to the need to be innovative (as part of a learning organization) and to take risks which has been affected by a focus on blame.

Shirley spoke of the "implementation gap" in government...how to properly implement broad policy decisions and that public servants had become too risk averse. She spoke of the need to focus on results and outcomes and using technology as an enabler for transformation. She sees that we are in a post bureaucratic model of government and that no single level of government can tackle the complex problems and policy challenges that face society today.

Following the presentations, the floor was opened up for a Q & A session. There were questions on technology as an enabler; the trend of centralization of decision making; and how to ensure innovation within public service.

A video of the session is presently being edited. Once it is complete, I will provide you with the link so that you can all watch what was a fascinating session.