Why We Need to Lead
Many of us in government were drawn to public service by a desire to give back to society and try to make the world a better place. While the mission of most government organizations is inspiring, the idealism and creativity that public servants bring to government is all too often squashed by poor leadership. It doesn't have to be that way.
Wherever we sit in our respective organizations, we can each take ownership of the climate in our work unit and try to make it a great place to work that delivers results for the American people. Sometimes it's necessary to do that despite a bad boss. By taking ownership of our own attitude, finding allies, supporting our colleagues, and acting with integrity, we can each contribute to changing the dynamic. Doing so is an act of leadership.
For those of us who are already in positions of leadership, it is critical that we model effective leadership. We must be effective leaders because that is critical to unleashing the passion and potential of the public servants we lead. We must model effective leadership because we have an obligation as leaders to help grow the next generation of leaders for the public service. Someone once said that "All leaders leader by example--whether they intend to or not." As such, it is important to be deliberate about the kind of example we set.
I hope we can use this space to discuss what we can do to grow as leaders--and help others do the same.
Your thoughts are most welcome!
Wherever we sit in our respective organizations, we can each take ownership of the climate in our work unit and try to make it a great place to work that delivers results for the American people. Sometimes it's necessary to do that despite a bad boss. By taking ownership of our own attitude, finding allies, supporting our colleagues, and acting with integrity, we can each contribute to changing the dynamic. Doing so is an act of leadership.
For those of us who are already in positions of leadership, it is critical that we model effective leadership. We must be effective leaders because that is critical to unleashing the passion and potential of the public servants we lead. We must model effective leadership because we have an obligation as leaders to help grow the next generation of leaders for the public service. Someone once said that "All leaders leader by example--whether they intend to or not." As such, it is important to be deliberate about the kind of example we set.
I hope we can use this space to discuss what we can do to grow as leaders--and help others do the same.
Your thoughts are most welcome!
Tags: development, growing, leaders, leadership
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kara Stith on -
Hello, my name is Kara Stith and I will be graduating from the Governmentwide Acquisition Intern Program with the Department of the Interior in July and will have a permanent placement with an agency that participated in the program. I am look for ways to become more of a leader instead of shying away from opportunites to lead from fear of not knowing enough of having enough experience in my field. I have learned a lot in the program I am in but would like to work my way up to a leadership position. I have always held a leadership position in everything I have done and feel that I have the qualities to be a great leader. I'm just looking for a way to stand out and be a leader when I am so new to the job
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Permalink Reply by Don Jacobson on -
Hi, Kara! You don't need to be in a leadership position to be a leader. (Lots of people in leadership positions never make the decision to lead, and lots of people who supervise no one are marvelous leaders in their organizations.) You just need to take ownership of your work and try to make things better (whether that is service to the public, service to your colleagues, innovation, efficiency, etc.). Deciding to make a difference is half the battle. If you're just starting out, I would suggest focusing on making things better within your sphere of influence. First, master your job and look for better ways to do it. Then look at how you can help your whole operation more effective (e.g. by helping make things more easy and efficient for your colleagues). Learning to lead is a life-long process. As you gain more experience, your sphere of influence--and impact--will increase. You've take the first important step in deciding that you want to learn to be an effective leader.
Best,
Don -
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Permalink Reply by Anthony Tormey on -
Don is absolutely correct. We are all leaders of at least one . . . ourselves. What makes us think we can lead others if we can't lead ourselves. Leadership is just a position, it's a state of being. Be extraordinary.
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Permalink Reply by Anthony Tormey on
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Extraordinary leaders have extraordinary character, with extraordianry character they are not afraid. Kara you are smart to NOT 'shy away' from leadership out of fear. First the extraordinary leader isn't afraid they don't know everything, they don't, they are not afraid to make mistakes, they learn from them; they're not afraid to make decisions, take risks, being wrong; They're not afraid to delegate because no one can do it as good as them, or worse, they're afraid someone will do it better. Second, have extraordianry character. Exercise the P.O.W.E.R. of Leadership. Be Proactive, plan, prepare and prevent. Anticipate problems BEFORE they occure. Train your followers so they can do your job. Be Openminded. If you are, you won't be threatened by someone having a better idea than you, conflict will be welcomed and not feared. Seek out new opportunities, new challenges and you will gain wisdom from your experiences; welcome change. Be Enthusiastic. If we're not excited about what wedo what makes us think those around us will be excited.Celebrate your successess and the success of those around you, Finally take 100% Responsibility for your life. Most people think they do when in fact they don't. We give up responsibility when we gripe, complain and blame.
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Permalink Reply by Lenn Paotinlen Chongloui on -
Dear Don!
Its inspiring to read some of your lines, I am a consultant / Avisor for ICT/ Egov projects in the Govt. & rightly s leader is waht makes or break the Deptt. we need to build in capacities within to mkae any vision worth realising possible.
keep up the good work !
will be in the loop.
regs
lenn -
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Permalink Reply by Margaret Dixon Harrell on -
What an interesting compilation of ideas, question and aspirations. I recognize the truth in each statement made.
I confer that leadership is not based in actions instead based in fundamental "being". I support this proposition based on limited research. I had the opportunity to interview a series of executive level leaders from various walks of life (for-profit, academia, not-for-profit, civil servants,..) and asked them about thier decision making process during uncertainty. Ultimately, they responded that during times of uncertainty they used reflection to determine thier course of action. Thier experience nor authority level was sufficient to provide an answer. The "answer" lie in thier core being. I am encouraged by this finding. I interpret this to mean we all have the "answers" in our core being and the innate ability to lead. Thus I support the statement that we are all leaders not based on actions but based on being. -
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Permalink Reply by Brenadine Humphrey on
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This is an exellent reminder - at a time when I have been most frustrated at work your post reminds me to take ownership of my own attitude. Nothing holds me back more than when I become negative (as opposed to cynical and sarcastic, my normal state of being). It slows down everything I do at work and makes me less aware of the quality of work I am doing.
I pledge to spend today doing my work with a smile, to only say positive things to my colleagues and to find a new way to help my section, supervisor or a coworker today.
Thanks for the reminder. -
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Permalink Reply by Kim Salkeld on -
I agree very strongly with the idea that leadership can be exercised in whatever formal position we find ourselves in. What counts is not the job description but a readiness to accept responsibility towards the citizens we serve, our colleagues and ourselves. By the time one reaches a formal position of leadership, a disposition to accept and exercise responsibility already needs to be well developed.
Thankyou for setting up this discussion forum. -
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Permalink Reply by Erica A Morin on -
I am currently working on a project that flies in the face of what is "normal" around here. As a result, I am having to incorporate a lot of new "learning" for those who participate. Where they expect me to tell them each step to take during their project, I am only the facilitator and they are expected to govern/lead/manage/inspire/direct themselves as a group towards their common end. Very eye-opening experience for me to basically explain this project to them and then watch them watch me with blank expressions. This tells me that they are very used to being managed but not led. I have rearranged the way I do this project to incorporate more and different ways for the participants to be exposed to different types/forms of leadership (one aspect of the overall project goal). I am currently reading The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership by Steve Farber and it is blowing me away. I really love his style of writing and what he is writing about. I have given the book to several of my friends/associates who have been struggling with their own concepts of leadership and dealing with people who consider themselves leaders (as we know, giving one's self the title leader does not a leader make). I am interested in anyone's opinion of this book or other Steve Farber books and I'm looking for more materials to read also. I should tell you that I do not like "techno-babble" too much unless it has been written into a really fun read. I appreciate the big words and talk of theory but I prefer the more practical. Thanks.
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Permalink Reply by Scott Bryan on -
Greetings Don,
I was writing a blog essay about exactly this issue--how I see an attractive force between the role of leadership and the souls most suited to fill them likely to evolve--when I got your email. It's titled "How to make a public servant" (or will be when I post it.)
I believe you will very much enjoy my blog (at blogspot) because It's just a list of "outside the box" ideas I think are most important for our nation to consider seriously. It will make a lot more sense if you start from the oldest essay, which was how I thought we should react to the Iranian election crisis. In my experience, things work well because they're well engineered and don't work well when they aren't. I don't really see Gov 2.0 about reinventing government so much as it is about reinventing the electorate. I only hope I can share a perspective that helps you folks discover effective ways to engineer an infrastructure that harvests the best of our collective wisdom and insight. I think the quality of our lives, our environment, our very future depends more on what you people are doing now than anything else. That's why I'm here.
I believe that collectively the people this site is intended for have a greater opportunity to engineer a genuinely wonderful and enormously productive society than has ever existed anywhere. Like an order of magnitude better. Simply because prior to the web such a thing wasn't really possible. But with it, we really can be knit together into a cooperating team rather than a competitive mob. It's up to you guys to figure out how. And it sure looks like you're giving it your best shot. So yeah, I've never really felt this way about our government before. It's, um, just sort of unnatural I suppose. -
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Permalink Reply by Gary Berg-Cross on -
Don,
Thank you pointing out the site. You might cross post to the Smarter, Better, Open Government Discussion group at http://www.govloop.com/group/smarterbetteropengovernment/forum which is interested in this type of topic. -
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