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Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

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too long. There is clearly an unwillingness to tackle this problem in an aggressive <strong>and</strong>systematic way.Officials expressed a desire to be part of a dynamic values-based culture that affirms strongperformance, provides frank <strong>and</strong> fearless advice <strong>and</strong> is genuinely engaged in participatorydecision making. There is no doubt that <strong>the</strong> ACTPS wants to be more responsive <strong>and</strong>effective in order to serve <strong>the</strong> future needs of <strong>the</strong> Government. During <strong>the</strong> Review, officialsspoke with great freedom <strong>and</strong> honesty – affirming <strong>the</strong> immense array of skills <strong>and</strong> expertiseacross <strong>the</strong> Service while recognising <strong>the</strong> opportunity for improvement, enhancement <strong>and</strong>innovation.As referred to in Chapter 2, <strong>the</strong> ACT faces significant fiscal constraints <strong>and</strong> to meet <strong>the</strong> futureneeds of <strong>the</strong> ACT Government, <strong>the</strong> ACTPS will need to accelerate <strong>the</strong> pace of modernisation,reform, efficiency <strong>and</strong> innovation. This Chapter considers <strong>the</strong> core enablers to improvingACTPS capacity, capability <strong>and</strong> performance.Leadership CapabilityCorporations <strong>and</strong> citizens expect government not so much to be ‘ahead of <strong>the</strong> game’(whatever that means) but first <strong>and</strong> foremost to lift its own game. They expect <strong>the</strong> publicsector to ready itself to engage far more cleverly, constructively <strong>and</strong> interactively with asociety that is bigger, more differentiated, more fast-moving, better educated, <strong>and</strong> moredem<strong>and</strong>ing than ever before. The drivers of this development are not going to go away, <strong>and</strong>governments that lag behind in adapting to <strong>the</strong>m effectively diminish <strong>the</strong>ir country or region’sinternational competitiveness <strong>and</strong> quality of life. 307Leadership capability underpins <strong>the</strong> ACTPS’s ability to deliver outcomes effectively. TheCorporate Leadership Council’s 2009 Leadership survey 308 found eight out of ten <strong>Chief</strong>Executive Officers surveyed expected significant changes to organisational strategy <strong>and</strong>execution in 2009 but few organisations had <strong>the</strong> bench strength necessary to meet <strong>the</strong>anticipated dem<strong>and</strong>s of change.High performing organisations are well led, built on clear values, operate strategically,cultivate innovation, harness information <strong>and</strong> knowledge effectively; engage <strong>the</strong>ir workforce<strong>and</strong> stakeholders; focus on customers <strong>and</strong> citizens; demonstrate accountability; manage to <strong>the</strong>triple bottom line; <strong>and</strong> critically, are outcome focused.During <strong>the</strong> Review some officials suggested <strong>the</strong>re was a disconnect between <strong>the</strong> executivestrategic leadership vision <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> realities of daily practice. Some officials attributed this tobeing too busy delivering outcomes to stop <strong>and</strong> consider how things could be done betterwhile o<strong>the</strong>rs related <strong>the</strong> issues to managers being too remote from <strong>the</strong> detail.307 t’Hart, Paul (2010). “Lifting its game to get ahead: <strong>the</strong> Canberra bureaucracy’s reform by stealth” The Australian Review ofPublic Affairs http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/07/thart.html308 See https://clc.executiveboard.com/Public/PDF/Merch/Leadership_Survey_5.18.09.pdfCapability, Capacity <strong>and</strong> Effectiveness: 242

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