LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP IN THE
MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE
Lyn Russell PSM
Chief Executive Officer
City of Canning
FORCES DRIVING CHANGE
FORCES DRIVING CHANGE

Technological change/e-commerce

Legislative change

Workforce changes and the demise of “jobs for life”

Reduced government funding/grants

Pressure to drive down costs and improve efficiency

Unrelenting reform pressure from State governments

Skills shortages

The ageing population /workforce
PROGRESSIVE ORGANISATIONS’
RESPONSES

Customer focus/service centres/customer charters/surveys and feedback

New approaches to leadership

E-commerce solutions (payments, purchasing, applications/lodgements,
surveys etc.)

Alternative sources of revenue/funding (grants, sponsorships,
commercial activities etc.)
PROGRESSIVE ORGANISATIONS’
RESPONSES (Cont.)

More flexible workforces; seasonality, project management, reflecting
worker needs

Community consultation and planning

Development of a performance culture:
- measurement/KPIs
- risk assessment and management
- benchmarking
- sharing performance results with employees and customers.
PROGRESSIVE ORGANISATIONS’
RESPONSES (cont.)

Identifying new key result areas, such as:
- customer focus
- financial agility
- community strengthening
- innovation & excellence
- motivated employees
- flexibility / adaptability to change
 Innovative service delivery approaches (e.g. shared services,
insourcing)
PROGRESSIVE ORGANISATIONS’
RESPONSES (cont.)

Need for good public policy skills AND effective business management
practices

Partnering with State/Federal government/“joined-up government”

Rigorous and professional corporate planning processes, linked to
budgets and performance management systems

Receptive, not resistant, to change
THE CHANGING CULTURE OF
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
LOCAL GOVT. EMPLOYEE 1980
LOCAL GOVT. EMPLOYEE 2013
 Enforcer of policy

Problem Solver
 Rules and regulations

Guidelines
 Protect the Council

Respect the Customer
 Risk averse

Risk Manager
 Bureaucrat

Team Member
 Subordinate

Stakeholder
 Delegated Authority

Empowered
 Impersonal

Customer Oriented
 Reactive

Proactive
 Specialist


Generalist; multi skilled
Embrace change

Do the right things
 Avoid change
 Do things right
THE DEMISE OF THE “JOB”
HOW ORGANISATIONS ARE
RESPONDING

Being organised differently

Employing and paying people differently

Being managed and led differently

Developing new workforce policies

Training and developing workers in new ways and new skills
REWARDS ARE CHANGING
THE RISE OF THE “GOLD COLLAR”
WORKER
NEW FORMS OF WORK
MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP IS
CHANGING
KOTTER’S MODEL OF
LEADING CHANGE¹
The Eight Stage Process of Creating Major Change
1. ESTABLISING A SENSE OF URGENCY
 Examining the market and competitive realities
 Identifying and discussing crises, potential crises, or major opportunities
2. CREATING THE GUIDING COALITION
 Putting together a group with enough power to lead the change
 Getting the group to work together like a team
¹ John Kotter, Leading Change, Harvard 1996
KOTTER’S MODEL OF
LEADING CHANGE
Leading the Change Process cont.
3. DEVELOPING A VISION AND STRATEGY
 Creating a vision to help direct the change effort
 Developing strategies for achieving that vision
4. COMMUNICATING THE CHANGE VISION
 Using every vehicle possible to constantly communicate new vision and
strategies
 Having the guiding coalition role model the behaviour expected of
employees
KOTTER’S MODEL OF
LEADING CHANGE
Leading the Change Process cont.
5. EMPOWERING BROAD-BASED ACTION
 Getting rid of obstacles
 Changing systems or structures that undermine the change vision
 Encouraging risk taking and non-traditional ideas, activities and
actions
6. GENERATING SHORT-TERM WINS
 Planning for visible improvement in performance, or “wins”
 Creating those wins
 Visibly recognising and rewarding people who make the wins
possible
KOTTER’S MODEL OF
LEADING CHANGE
Leading the Change Process cont.
7. CONSOLIDATING GAINS AND PRODUCING MORE CHANGE
 Using increased credibility to change systems, structures and policies
that don’t fit together / don’t fit the transformation vision
 Hiring, promoting and developing people who can implement change
 Reinvigorating the process - new projects, themes and change agents
8. ANCHORING NEW APPROACHES IN THE CULTURE
 Creating better performance through customer- better productivityoriented behaviour, more / better leadership, more effective mgmt
 Articulating connections between new behaviours, organisational success
 Developing means to ensure leadership development and succession
THERE ARE NO
“SILVER BULLETS”
ATTRIBUTES OF MANAGERS
AND LEADERS
THE 4 ROLES OF LEADERSHIP¹
¹ Stephen Covey, The Eighth Habit, The Free Press, 2005
NEW MODELS OF LEADERSHIP
RESULTS-BASED LEADERSHIP -
Key elements
SET DIRECTION
(vision, customers,
Future)
DEMONSTRATE PERSONAL
CHARACTER
(habits, integrity, trust,
analytical thinking)
MOBILISE
ENGINEER
INDIVIDUAL
ORGANISATIONAL
COMMITMENT
CHANGE
(engage others,
(build teams,
share power)
manage change)
HUMANITY AMONGST CHANGE¹
¹ Ted Scott and Phil Harker, The Myth of Nine to Five, VIVA 2006
LATEST THINKING ON LEADERSHIP……
¹
¹ James Sarros (ed): Contemporary Perspectives on Leadership, Tide University Press, 2011
.
LEADERSHIP POST AMALGAMATION
AND THE GFC
¹
¹ Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Supercorp, Crown Business, 2009
MOSS KANTER (Cont.)
MOSS KANTER (cont.)
MOSS KANTER (cont.)
MOSS KANTER (cont.)