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Welcome to Leading and Learning - the newsletter for senior public servants connected to the Jeff Whalan Learning Group.

If you have any comments in relation to this edition, or have any suggestions for inclusion in future editions, please contact us at jeff@jwlg.com.au

 

Briefing Note: June 2015

What exactly are the ‘commercial skills’ that have started to appear in some public sector job ads?  How would you go in making claims against this as a selection criterion?  And if recruiting for a job requiring ‘commercial skills’, how would you judge the suitability of an applicant?

My questions were prompted by the UK’s latest Civil Service Reform Progress Report (see page 39), and its strong message about ‘a critical skills gap’ in relation to the commercial skills of top leaders.       

Reading this, some people may think ‘this is old hat’ because they’re used to thinking of Australia and New Zealand as being way ahead of the UK in terms of public sector reform - yet some aspects of the UK reforms go further than anything I’ve seen here.   Some people may think ‘what’s this got to do with me?’ – yet I think this is short-sighted because:   

  • the UK reforms include provision of a fund that each Minister can use to buy policy advice direct from the market (so even policy purists in the heart of Westminster will not be immune to commercial pressures); and

  • anyone who aspires to a top leadership role, even in a policy agency, will increasingly need to demonstrate commercial skills, and it would be a pity to close off promotion options because of insufficient attention to this skillset earlier in a career.

I hope I may have convinced you that the UK reforms are relevant to your leadership, and that you’ll read more about the UK reforms....

 

Darren Stephenson

Darren Stephenson facilitates some of the Jeff Whalan Learning Groups - the following provides a brief background of the skills and experience he brings to the role.

 
 

Darren Stephenson is an organisation culture professional who works with companies and individual executives to help improve their performance.  He has particular expertise in creating high performing teams and a culture of United Leadership.

Darren’s public sector career spanned 14 years across 3 agencies, with a primary focus towards enhancing leadership performance within the Commonwealth.  From 2006-2008 he worked closely with Jeff Whalan at Centrelink to embed a culture of United Leadership across the organisation.  This was a catalyst for his more recent work, establishing targeted United Leadership programs for organisations/teams, designed to support senior executives achieve outstanding results through their people.

Darren is often asked what needs to happen for United Leadership to thrive in an organisation.  His response is to engage with leaders at all levels.  

 
 

It is the key to stimulating teamwork and partnership rather than siloed thinking or blame seeking disunity.  The United Leadership ‘make or break’ is about behaviour, relationships, commitment and effective systems to tie these together. 

It is clear to Darren that in any team based environment, such as the public sector, ‘behaviour drives performance’.  Breaking that down further, a high performing team demonstrating United Leadership will commit to identifying and embracing the behaviours required to deliver their goals, modelling those behaviours, reinforcing them and aligning their systems to those behaviours.  The team improves as they take ownership of their behaviour and the business results follow.

In January 2010 Darren worked with Jeff Whalan to introduce Learning Groups for those at the level just below senior executive.  This development came about in recognition of the fact that they form the future senior executive cohort, thus the future public sector capability.

Darren has been facilitating Learning Groups as part of the Jeff Whalan Learning Group since that time.  He facilitates with an open style, creating a supportive environment that is outcome focused.  In addition he actively helps Group members ‘grow their confidence’ as they navigate through challenging circumstances

 

Our library will be updated each month - please feel free to suggest links to additional resources you think others may benefit from.

 
 

APS Staffing and Efficiency 

Efficiency dividends reduce, staffing freeze lifts and centralisation grows...

 
 

New Zealand Budget 2015 

New Zealand budget at a glance. Worth a look...

 
 
 
 

Public Sector Size

A helpful summary of the Commonwealth's agenda to reduce the size of the public sector...

 

An animated cartoon from David Marquet

Why it's better to delegate rather than micromanage...

 
 

History Repeats article from The Monthly

An excellent article by George Megalogenis on the current state of politics in Australia...

Victorian Budget 2015

Victorian budget: agency winners and losers...