executive summary - australian public service commission · web viewthe scope of this strategy is...

Executive summary..............................................................................................................................3

Introduction..........................................................................................................................................6

Strategy outcomes............................................................................................................................6

Methodology....................................................................................................................................7

What are the environmental factors and business drivers impacting and shaping the APS?..............9

Prominent business drivers impacting the APS in 2014..................................................................9

Long-term business drivers impacting the APS............................................................................11

What does this require of the APS as an institution?.........................................................................13

Institutional characteristics............................................................................................................13

Workforce characteristics..............................................................................................................15

What does this mean for the capabilities of our people?...................................................................16

Leadership practices......................................................................................................................16

What leadership gaps and opportunities have been identified?.....................................................18

Management expertise...................................................................................................................20

Core and foundation skills.............................................................................................................22

What are the development priorities for 2014-15 and 2015-16?.......................................................25

Leadership practice priorities.........................................................................................................25

Management expertise, core and foundation skills priorities........................................................26

How will these capabilities be developed?........................................................................................31

Development in practice: the differences between leadership and expertise development...........31

Developing leadership practice......................................................................................................31

Developing management expertise, and core and foundation skills..............................................32

Managers as developers of people.................................................................................................33

How will progress against this strategy be evaluated?......................................................................34

Evaluation of the strategy..............................................................................................................34

Evaluation of learning programmes...............................................................................................34

Appendix A: A note on the nature of strategy...................................................................................35

Appendix B: Leadership practices that support a contemporary institution......................................36

Appendix C: A compact between learners, the APSC, Secretaries and agency heads.....................37

Appendix D: Strategic Centre learning programme evaluation framework......................................38

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Executive summaryThe Strategic Centre for Leadership, Learning and Development (the Strategic Centre) was established to improve leadership development and talent management across the Australian Public Service (APS), enhance core and management skills learning, and improve the efficiency of the APS learning and development system.

The scope of this strategy is to identify and prioritise the APS’s learning and development investment in building the leadership practice, management expertise, core and foundation skills required for the APS institution to perform its role supporting government and citizens to the highest standard in the current and long-term business environment.

The long-term drivers impacting the APS include a tight fiscal environment, a drive to improve productivity, a requirement to rethink the role of government and the need for transformational change. In this business environment the APS will need to focus on being highly efficient and effective, establishing innovative business models and getting the most out of every government programme. It will also need to be a highly agile institution, able to transform its business in anticipation of external change and by generating big ideas from within.

In this environment characterised by a drive for improved productivity, a drive for improved efficiency and effectiveness and transformational change, the APS will require specific leadership practice, management expertise and core skills to successfully serve government and citizens. This includes:

Leadership practice. In the current business environment, the leadership practice of engaging people to make progress on challenges, to innovate, collaborate and move towards a new vision of the future is critical for the APS to have the institutional agility required to continue meeting the needs of government and citizens. Effective leadership anticipates future change, enabling organisations and people to proactively manage change before circumstances force change upon them.

Management expertise. Specific management expertise will be required to support the APS to improve efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. In a tightening fiscal where there is a requirement to balance ongoing change with business-as-usual, developing business-oriented and people management expertise will provide an important opportunity to realise productivity and efficiency gains. This includes specific expertise in areas such as planning and managing change, designing business models, purchasing services, programme evaluation and organisational design.

Core and foundation skills. Today’s APS requires employees who are responsive to the business environment and who have the knowledge and skills to: operate within the frameworks and values expected of the APS; understand and support government processes; collaborate within and across teams/agencies to solve problems; and apply effective public-sector professional skills within their area of expertise to deliver public value. They also require the foundational skills needed to operate successfully in the workplace.

For the full set of capability and skills identified for development in this strategy, refer to Table 3 on page 21 (leadership practices for development), Table 4 on page 24 (management expertise) and page 26 (core and foundation skills).

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The strategy establishes a programme of work prioritising the Strategic Centre’s investment in developing the required capability and skills on the basis of business need / urgency. The programme of work spans 2014-15 (Table 1) and 2015-16 (Table 2) and includes the design and development of new learning programmes, whilst delivering and improving existing programmes.

2014-15 development priorities

Leadership Management expertise Core and foundation skills

Executive level 2 talent development programme

Decision-making and judgement

Designing government business models

Business acumen – purchasing services for government

Risk management

Personal responsibility and public sector accountability

Creating public value

Applying ethical and legal frameworks

APS frameworks

APS decision-making and risk

APS risk management

Executive level 2 leadership programme

Professional public service skills

Delivery management

Programme evaluation

Working with stakeholders and jurisdictions


Delivery

Working with stakeholders

Developing a business case for government

People and organisational development

Organisational design

Working within and across teams

Cross-agency working

Foundation skills

Analytical thinking

Table 1: Strategic Centre development priorities 2014-15

2015-16 development priorities

Leadership Management expertise Core and foundation skills

Executive level 2 transition to role programme


Financial management and budgeting

Programme and project management


Policy development and implementation

Regulation

Early career talent development programme



Regulatory frameworks and practices


APS procurement essentials

APS contract management


Business planning


APS people management

Table 2: Strategic Centre development priorities 2015-16

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The Strategic Centre’s work developing skills and capability is performed on behalf of the Secretaries Board, which sets the overall direction for the APS, drives collaboration, prioritises collective resource use to achieve cross-boundary solutions and gives priority to the creation of a One APS shared culture. As such, this strategy and its development priorities were endorsed by the Secretaries Board in May 2014. Approval will be sought for any changes to these agreed priorities, for example due to an emerging urgent business need.

The effectiveness of this strategy will be assessed as part of a broader evaluation of the Strategic Centre’s operations, which is scheduled to commence at the end of the Strategic Centre’s third year of funding (June 2014).

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IntroductionThe Strategic Centre for Leadership, Learning and Development (the Strategic Centre) was established in July 2010 to improve leadership development and talent management across the Australian Public Service (APS), enhance core and management skills learning, and improve the efficiency of the APS learning and development system.

To ensure that the Strategic Centre’s work is focused on building the leadership capability and core and management skills required in the current and emerging business context, the Strategic Centre is responsible for delivering an annual learning and development strategy.

Due to resource constraints, it was agreed that the Strategic Centre’s initial focus would be limited to leadership development. Consequently, the APS Leadership Development Strategy was released in May 2011 following endorsement by the Secretaries Board.

In 2012, the Strategic Centre expanded its focus to include core and management skills. The APS Leadership and Core Skills Strategy (2012-13), which incorporated an analysis for core and management learning requirements into the existing 2011 strategy, was released in September 2012 following endorsement by the Secretaries Board.

Strategy outcomesThis strategy aims to build a leadership and learning culture across the APS that contributes to delivering on our objectives as an institution: to serve the government of the day; deliver outcomes to citizens; operate as One APS; and be a highly efficient, effective and ethical public service.

It does so by contributing to the achievement of four human capital objectives that relate to leadership, learning and development. The human capital objectives this strategy contributes towards are:

enhanced capability of current and future APS leaders

enhanced core skills of the APS workforce

an efficient and effective leader and core skills development system

enhanced agency leadership, learning and development performance.

While this strategy is concerned with learning and development, coordinated effort is required across all human capital levers1 to achieve these four objectives.

This work is performed on behalf of the Secretaries Board which sets the overall direction for the APS, drives collaboration, prioritises collective resource use to achieve cross-boundary solutions and gives priority to the creation of a One APS shared culture.

1 Examples of other human capital levers include workforce planning and recruitment.

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Purpose of this refresh

The 2014 refresh of the APS Leadership and Core Skills Strategy updates leadership and skills investment priorities based on the demands of the APS’s specific business context in 2014. The refresh clarifies the Strategic Centre’s evolving understanding of leadership practice and management expertise (and their interrelationship) in the APS, and reflects learning from early experimentation and implementation.

This refresh also draws the leadership, management and core skills components from the 2011 and 2012-13 strategies into a single cohesive strategy.

Scope

This strategy aims to identify existing gaps and opportunities to develop capability and skills across four related development areas:

Leadership practices that mobilise others to make progress on challenges and that set the culture of our workplaces. This strategy understands leadership to be a practice rather than a position and leadership is practiced at all levels.

Management expertise which builds on core skills, developing the knowledge and skills that allow individuals in positions of authority to successfully negotiate public service systems and processes.

Core skills that comprise public sector-specific knowledge and skills that are essential to the public service institution and of relevance to all public servants.

Foundation skills, essential workplace skills which are relevant to employees at all levels. These skills underpin core skills and management skills, and they are essential for operating effectively in an organisation.

Job family or agency-specific skills are beyond the scope of this strategy.

Methodology

Refresh methodology

This refresh used a human capital strategy development approach (see Appendix A for a note on the nature of strategy): APS business drivers were analysed to identify requirements for and to prioritise investment in developing leadership capability, management expertise and core and foundation skills across the service.

As this was a strategy refresh, research and consultation activities were highly targeted, with consultation focused on senior APS employees and respected private sector Chief Executive Officers with a strong interest in leadership learning and development.

The refresh addresses six questions, which will be revisited in future strategy refreshes. The six questions addressed by this strategy are:

1. What are the environmental factors and business drivers shaping the APS?

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2. What does this require of the APS as an institution?

3. What does this mean for the capabilities of our people?

4. What are the development priorities for 2014-15 and 2015-16?

5. How will these capabilities be developed?

6. How will progress against this strategy be evaluated?

The APS Leadership and Core Skills Strategy in context

The first two questions assessed in this strategy (What are the environmental factors and business drivers shaping the APS; What does this require of the APS as an institution) are about the APS institution, while the remaining questions are more narrowly focused on capability requirements.

To ensure that the capability development response identified in this strategy aligns and supports the APS institution to respond to its business environment, it was necessary to address broad institutional issues before identifying capability development responses.

The authors acknowledge that learning and development / capability responses are not the sole means of achieving the institutional transformation demanded by our environmental context. Indeed, it would be inappropriate to consider capability development to be the sole means of achieving transformational change across the APS.

Addressing the institutional transformation identified by these two institutional-level questions requires a range of change levers to be pulled. These include addressing organisational structure, culture, systems and processes, and human capital responses. However as the scope of this strategy is limited to learning and development (which is one sub-lever within the human capital suite), the strategy does not propose a broader set of responses. Figure 1 demonstrates.

The APS serves the government of the day and delivers improved outcomes for citizens by operating efficiently, effectively and ethically

Employment conditions

Performance management

Workforce planning

Recruitment & retention

Learning & development

Our role as an institution

Strategy question 1

Strategy question 2 Institutional response to the business environment Explicit institutional choices about what needs to change and what should remain

Factors impacting how the institution performs its role

Increasing productivity

Tight fiscal environment

Transformational change

Rethinking government role

APS Institutional factors

Environmental factors and business drivers impacting the institution

Organisational culture Human capitalOrganisational

structureSystems & processes

Levers to achieve institutional change / transformation

Shaping standards for behaviour, practices and

workplace interaction

Optimising the effectiveness and use of

our people resources

Optimising the institutional structure to

achieve cohesive outcomes

The systems and processes used to deliver policy, programs, services

and regulation

Human capital responses to support institutional change(not a comprehensive list)

Learning & development responses to support institutional change

Strategy questions 3-6

Human capital

responses

Figure 1: The APS Leadership and Core Skills Strategy in context

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What are the environmental factors and business drivers impacting and shaping the APS?The APS must position itself to respond effectively to the environmental factors and business drivers impacting it, including global trends, national priorities and internal imperatives. The long-term trends identified in the APS Leadership and Core Skills Strategy 2012-13 and in the APS Leadership Development Strategy 2011 remain relevant, with some shifts in emphasis reflecting the environment in 2014.

The following section sets out the long-term business drivers that have been consistently shaping the APS since work was undertaken on the first strategy in 2010 and will also outline key business drivers that gained particular prominence in 2014 with significant implications for the APS.

Prominent business drivers impacting the APS in 2014

A National Commission of Audit

In 2014, the work of the National Commission of Audit will play a particular role shaping what and how the APS carries out its work on behalf of government and citizens. The National Commission of Audit’s terms of reference identified a number of themes that will shape the APS into the future, including reviewing Commonwealth government activities to identify:

Whether there is a compelling case for the Commonwealth to continue with an activity, and if so, whether there is a strong case for the continued direct involvement of government, or whether the activity could be undertaken more efficiently by other sectors.

Options for greater efficiencies in Australian government, including:

Increasing contestability of services;

Rationalising the service delivery footprint to ensure better, more productive and efficient services; and

Consolidating government support functions.

Improvements to the overall efficiency and effectiveness with which government services and policy advice are delivered, including ensuring taxpayers receive value for money for each dollar spent and eliminating wasteful spending.

A tighter long-term fiscal environment

The 2012 strategy identified that the APS had entered a period of tight resourcing, which was expected to persist for some time. The 2014 budget confirmed this with a number of measures to reduce expenditure. As a result the environment continues to be one in which the pressures of delivering with fewer resources and responding to increasingly complex policy challenges will continue.

A tighter long-term fiscal environment will mean the APS will need to find new ways to meet government objectives. This will demand a new focus on innovative approaches to delivering the government’s agenda and reinforces the requirement for the APS to remain forward looking, with a

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focus on getting better results from government programmes through sound problem analysis, creative design and rigorous programme evaluation.

Increasing APS productivity

The 2012 strategy identified that the public service faced the challenge of delivering in emerging areas within tight budgets and timeframes2, together with a drive for improved public sector productivity. This has been confirmed with the Government’s policy agenda including a significant focus on boosting productivity and the tight long-term fiscal environment requiring the APS to find new ways to improve the effectiveness or reduce the cost of public sector activities.

The State of the Service Report 2012-13 identified three key areas for boosting APS productivity: improving the efficiency of administration across the APS; obtaining better results from government programmes; and maximising public value by improving organisational effectiveness (including building capability, effective organisational design, work assignment and achieving high performance).

Rethinking government’s role across all sectors

The Government’s policy agenda and terms of reference for the National Commission of Audit signal a fundamental rethink of government’s role and scope. This includes reconsidering whether existing activities should continue, determining whether there is a case for government’s direct involvement in an activity or whether it could be undertaken more efficiently by other sectors or jurisdictions, and the principle that government should only do for citizens what they cannot do for themselves.

A re-examination of government’s role will have likely repercussions across the APS and beyond, ushering in a period of transformative change as the APS takes on new roles, ceases activities and modifies others.

From a rapid pace of change to transformative change

The 2011 strategy identified the rapid pace of change, particularly in the area of technology as a key driver shaping the APS’s approach to doing business. Change is also central to the nature of APS work, which is characterised by rapidly changing policy priorities and drivers. This is unlikely to change in the near to medium-term.

In 2014, the convergence of a tight long-term fiscal environment, the drive for APS productivity improvements and rethinking the role of government will see this trend shift from a rapid pace of change to a requirement for transformative change across the APS institution. This will include adopting new business models and new ways of working across sectors. In this environment, the APS will need the ability to anticipate and respond quickly, efficiently and effectively to the drivers of change.

2 Australian Public Service Commission (2012). The APS Human Capital Environmental Scan. Australia: Commonwealth of Australia

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Long-term business drivers impacting the APS

From increasing citizen expectations to shaping citizen expectations

The 2011 strategy identified that the APS was facing the long-term trend of increasing citizen expectations. The 2012 strategy expanded on this, noting that the rapid pace of technological change together with the proliferation of personalised services was shifting the expectations of government, with citizens and business expecting services to meet their unique needs by delivering tailored, place-based services that make use of modern technology.

Delivering improved citizen outcomes is at the heart of the APS’s work and citizens should expect a high level of service, including joined up services. However in a tight fiscal environment the APS also has a critical role in shaping citizen expectations about what government is able to do for them. This will require leaders with the ability to shape meaningful engagement with the community, together with the ability to make effective use of modern technology whilst proactively managing implementation risks.

Demographic change – a diverse workforce is the future for the APS

Across the nation, businesses are anticipating the impact of changing workforce demographics. By June 2050, around 22.6% of the Australian population is projected to be aged 65 and over3. Over time, there will be a reduction in the available workforce and an increase in the competition for talent. For public sector organisations, it will be essential to attract and retain a diverse workforce, including different generations, cultures and minority groups. This will require an APS with skilful people managers.

With competition for talent at a premium, it is essential that the APS attract and retain a diverse workforce, including different generations, cultures, values and minority groups. The focus on Indigenous outcomes is a significant priority for the Government, and the APS and its employees are significant contributors.

A contested environment for public policy

In an expanding market for policy advice, the public service will need to remain mindful of balancing responsiveness to government with providing robust, impartial advice. In an expanding market offering policy and service delivery, the APS must respond effectively to the changing nature of work while making sound decisions within APS values and frameworks.

This means the APS will need the ability to scan the environment to understand the future drivers of policy and change, strong professional public sector skills and the ability to remain ethical and values-driven.

Increased quantity and speed of information

Technology-enabled communications have transformed the workplace into one where workers deal with more data and information than ever before. Faced with vast quantities of information and

3 Commonwealth of Australia (2010). Australia to 2050: Future Challenges, The 2010 Intergenerational Report. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

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competing priorities, public servants today require the skills to plan and prioritise, quickly identifying the important from the critical.

With the trend towards ‘big data’, the APS will need to harness and manage more information than ever before, while maintaining trust by managing risks and privacy implications in line with the high accountability standards of citizens and government.

Multi-faceted challenges in a large, complex interdependent system

In today's environment, the APS is increasingly confronted by complex, adaptive challenges such as climate change or water allocations. These are challenges that have no clear answers, no easy solutions and often result in policy being highly contested4.

The nature of today’s work requires collaboration between multiple stakeholders with a range of expertise and experience. This includes operating as One APS by engaging with other agencies to progress challenges, as well as seeking solutions outside the APS by working with citizens, across governments and across sectors. The current agenda includes a particular emphasis on making progress on the challenge of Indigenous disadvantage.

4 Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

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What does this require of the APS as an institution?

It is up to us [the APS] to adapt to the expected leaner operating environment. To do so we need to boost our productivity … [including by] investing in systems and cultures that ensure effort is applied in line with changing priorities, that the contribution of each employee is as high as it can be, and that we are proficient in planning for and managing change. Ensuring our workplaces are open to ideas and routinely generate innovations both in policy work and in delivery systems ... Building a culture that is up for transformational change – one which readily accepts that what may have seemed previously unthinkable is not only thinkable but achievable.

- Dr Ian Watt, Secretary Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 6 December 2013

Institutional characteristicsSuccessful and enduring organisations are generally those that identify long-term trends shaping their business and take proactive action to ensure their organisation is positioned to succeed in this environment.

The long-term drivers impacting the APS include a tight fiscal environment, a drive to improve productivity, a requirement to rethink the role of government and the need for transformational change. For the APS institution to successfully serve government and citizens in this long-term environment, the institution needs to work towards implementing changes or reinforcing existing practices that ensure the APS is:

Highly efficient and effective – an institution that gets the most out of every taxpayer dollar, establishing innovative business models to get the most out of government programmes.

Transformative – a highly agile institution able to anticipate changes and find novel ways of delivering public value.

Enduring – an institution that serves the government of the day, providing impartial advice in the public and national interest.

A highly efficient and highly effective institution

Faced by a tighter long-term fiscal environment and a drive to improve productivity, a successful APS institution is one that is highly efficient and highly effective. As an institution responsible for administering taxpayer resources, the APS has a strong imperative to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public programmes and agency operations.

In the current long-term business environment, a highly effective APS institution is one which works effectively with other sectors and jurisdictions, including the private sector, not-for-profit sector, states and local government. Given the cross-cutting nature of much of the APS’s work, with policy and delivery challenges rarely the sole domain of a single agency, an effective APS is one that works with a One APS ethos, collaborating to find genuine solutions.

In pursuit of efficiency, the APS institution will need to be commercially adept, designing and implementing new business models (including commercial partnerships) to deliver services and advice. In some instances, this will include transitioning from taking a direct service delivery role to being a purchaser of services.

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As a highly efficient and effective institution, the APS also needs to:

Engage effectively with risk – being neither so averse as to stifle creativity, nor so blasé as to ignore real hazards;

Rigorously evaluate programmes to have assurance they achieve outcomes for citizens and to ensure every dollar is spent efficiently; and

Be composed of efficient and effective organisational units.

A transformative institution

A fundamental rethink of the role of government combined with drive to achieve ever greater levels of efficiency and effectiveness will require the APS to be an agile, flexible institution able to transform itself in anticipation of external changes and by generating big ideas from within.

Truly transformative organisations aren’t those that simply respond to external drivers – transformative organisations are those that are able to understand and anticipate changes, and proactively transform their business to position themselves for success. As with transformative private sector organisations, a transformative APS institution will be one that engages with experimentation and learns from failure. It will also be one that seeks out innovation, delivering improved public value by testing novel approaches, new methods and better solutions.

An enduring institution

The APS plays an important role in our system of government, with public servants exercising authority on behalf of the Australian Government and managing significant resources. The APS’s work touches the life of every Australian, and government and citizens rightly expect the highest standards of conduct and professionalism from the APS.

Given the important role the APS plays, even in the face of great change the APS needs to be an enduring institution, one which will:

Continue to provide highly professional support to the government of the day and deliver improved outcomes for citizens;

Perform its functions ethically, underpinned by strong values and a proud Westminster tradition; and

Attract, retain and leverage diversity to deliver business outcomes – drawing capability and policy insights from a workforce that reflects the rich Australian community we serve.

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Workforce characteristicsAn APS institution that is enduring, transformative, highly efficient and highly effective requires a workforce with both transformational and enduring qualities. That is, there are current / enduring workforce attributes that are central to the APS maintaining the confidence and trust of government and citizens. Equally, the APS workforce will require transformative qualities in order to change and innovate.

Transformative workforce qualities

Transformational qualities of the APS workforce will be vital to support improved efficiency, effectiveness and institutional change. In a transformational environment, the APS workforce will need the ability to apply a high level of business and commercial acumen to policy and delivery challenges in order to advise government on the most efficient and effective implementation and delivery options. This will include the ability to embrace, test and apply technology to deliver improved citizen outcomes.

In seeking to make progress on highly complex challenges, members of the APS workforce will need to embrace the behaviours that enable genuine collaboration and surface fresh thinking. This means members of the workforce will need to proactively engage, listen and seek input from others to gain a broader perspective on issues. They will also need the ability to constructively challenge thinking, assumptions and existing approaches in a respectful manner to generate outcomes.

Other transformational qualities of the APS workforce include:

Maintaining high levels of resilience and engagement in the midst of change;

The ability to constructively raise difficult questions to prompt new thinking, point out contradictions or overlooked risks, and raise missing points of view; and

Embracing continuous learning, striving for ongoing improvement while recognising that learning takes time and investment.

Enduring workforce qualities

Enduring attributes of the APS workforce are those that are essential for the APS to maintain the confidence and trust of government. This means that members of the APS workforce must accept personal responsibility for delivering on their accountabilities, making appropriate use of authority to deliver outcomes and being held to account for the efficient and effective use of resources. The APS workforce must also actively guard the APS values, call poor behaviour, display moral courage when needed and be willing to stand apart from the crowd.

Enduring attributes of the APS workforce are also those that enable the APS to deliver the highest quality advice to government and the highest service to citizens. This means that the APS workforce must have professional public sector skills in order to deliver public value and support the government of the day, together with a strong understanding of and ability to comply with legal obligations.

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What does this mean for the capabilities of our people?The scope of this strategy is to examine the leadership practice, and the foundation, core and management skills required for the APS institution to serve government and citizens to the highest standard in the current long-term business environment. The following section identifies the skills and capability needed in the APS’s current business environment.

Leadership practices

In my view, everyone in the APS is a leader, whether or not they have staff working for them. Everyone can model the leadership behaviours that help influence and set the tone for the workplace.

Everyone can behave with honesty and integrity, share their skills and expertise, encourage those around them, give praise for good work or progress and notice when someone they work with needs particular help or support. And also I want every member of the APS to be able to develop their ability to lead and to manage.

- Dr Ian Watt AO, “The APS: now and in the future”, November 2011

The complexity, pace and interconnectedness of the APS and the challenges it faces means that leadership capability is required from all public servants: political nous, strategic thinking, change capability, people and interaction skills, and the qualities associated with ‘being’ a leader are critical for the public service now and in the future.

As the environment for policy and service delivery changes, our culture needs to adapt and the APS requires effective leadership practice across the APS at all levels. While senior public servants have important roles as key decision makers and role models, they are not the sole custodians of our culture and are not alone in their responsibility to practice leadership.

What is leadership and what does it contribute in the current business context?

Leadership is the practice of mobilising people to make progress on challenges and thrive5. In the current APS business environment, which is characterised by a fundamental rethink of government’s role and significant ongoing change, the leadership practice of engaging people to make progress on challenges, to innovate, collaborate and move towards a new vision of the future is critical to the APS having the institutional agility required to continue to meet the needs of government and citizens. Effective leadership anticipates future changes, enabling organisations and people to proactively manage change before circumstances force change upon them.

What does this really mean?

Leadership is a practice: this means leadership is something a person does, it isn’t about seniority or particular personality traits. Therefore anyone, at any level, can exercise leadership. Appendix B outlines some of the leadership practices that all employees can actively display.

Mobilising people to thrive: this means leadership is about motivating, organising or inspiring others to do something useful or beneficial for the collective good. It isn’t about getting people to do what you want and it isn’t about mobilising people for personal gain.

5 From Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

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Making progress on challenges involves change. This may mean changing existing ways of doing things, existing behaviours, existing assumptions, and also determining what should remain the same. Challenges come in all forms: they can be large or small; they can involve progressing difficult opportunities or progressing tough problems.

Leadership is something a person chooses to do sometimes when faced with specific challenges. Leadership is particularly called for when a shift is required in behaviours, beliefs or values. For other challenges, management and/or subject matter expertise will be more effective than leadership practice.

Our evolving understanding of leadershipThe Strategic Centre’s understanding of leadership and its contribution to our APS business has gained clarity with each strategy iteration. The 2011 strategy recognised that leadership is about anticipating the future and navigating change, however it also argued that leadership is ‘a combination of leadership and management’ and associated leadership with a position / hierarchy.

The 2012-13 strategy clarified our understanding, recognising that the APS needed two distinct but related capability sets: leaders focused on the future change and managers able to deliver. It also disassociated leadership with level or hierarchy, recognising leadership as a practice at all levels.

This 2014 strategy clarifies the vital role of leadership practice in an environment characterised by fundamental change that demands institutional and individual agility. It remains a practice, rather than a position, and more than ever the APS needs people at all levels to exercise leadership.

Why develop leadership capability?

Transformative change. The APS is facing a period of transformative and ongoing change that demands significant institutional and individual agility. This requires sophisticated leadership practice at all levels of the APS that anticipates and responds to changes in our external environment, unlocks innovation and collaboration, and enables employees to collectively move towards a shared vision of the future, whilst still delivering programmes and services.

Complex policy and delivery challenges. The APS is at the forefront of progressing complex policy and delivery challenges. These are challenges without ready solution and often require experimentation, learning, new ways of operating and discomfort.

Making progress on challenges of this nature – whether policy, delivery or organisational challenges – requires skilled leaders who can “engage people in facing the challenge, adjusting their values, changing perspectives and developing new habits of behaviour6”.

Working across boundaries. Challenges facing the APS increasingly cut across organisational units and across agency boundaries, requiring a One APS ethos. The work of leadership is to create the environment for groups to collaborate, drawing out competing legitimate perspectives, exploring values and assumptions, helping groups to see one another as problem-solving resources, rather than battling to protect turf.

Improved performance and engagement. Research7 shows high quality leaders have a significant impact on business performance: the difference in business outcomes between top leaders and average 6 Heifetz, R. (1994). Leadership Without Easy Answers, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachussetts.7 Boatman, J. & Wellins, R.S. (2011). Global Leadership Forecast, Development Dimensions International, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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leaders is at least 50%; organisations with high quality leaders are three times more likely to retain employees and have five times the number of highly engaged leaders.

Progress check: how is the APS going?The State of the Service Report 2012-13 indicates an improvement in the APS’s leadership capability in recent years, but further work is needed:

- 41% of employees believe that senior employees lead and manage change effectively.

- 48% of employees reported that leadership is of a high quality in their agency (up from 47% in the previous year).

- 45% of employees reported that their senior leaders are sufficiently visible (up from 40% in the previous year).

What leadership gaps and opportunities have been identified?This refresh has confirmed the relevance of the five main areas of focus for developing leadership practice: political nous, strategic thinking, leading people, leading change and being a leader.

Table 3 on the next page shows the leadership practice priorities identified in this strategy. In an environment of significant change and with an emphasis on productivity, there have been some changes of emphasis in the existing framework, including an increased prominence on anticipating future change, plus the addition of practices supporting collaboration, innovation, moral courage and independent judgement.

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Political nous Strategic thinking Leading people Leading change Being a leader

Scanning the political, cultural and social environment

Increased prominence in 2014: Scanning the horizon and anticipating future change

Creating a culture in which people thrive

New in 2014: Working collaboratively, facilitating interaction and innovation

Ways of understanding self and others in the world

Diagnosing situations, systems, challenges

Strategic questioning

Fostering an engaged and accountable culture

Engaging in dialogue

Emotional intelligence

Analysing stakeholders, issues, concerns, perspectives

Generating options and possibilities

Working with others to create a vision

Building alliances and partnerships

Resilience, continual learning, agility and adaptability

Political nous Gathering evidence

Mobilising the capacity, strengths and leadership of others

Brokering solutions and commitment to action

Authentic leadership

Weighing up alternatives

Fostering diversityMobilising systems Self-regulation and

social awareness

Balancing competing interests and values

Being and stewardship of an APS culture and institution

Developing and implementing plans for strategic action

New in 2014: Moral courage & independent judgement

Table 3: Leadership practices for development across the APS

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Management expertiseAs public servants move into positions of authority they require the management expertise that ensures they understand and take personal responsibility for delivering on their accountabilities, that support sound decision-making and enable them to navigate APS systems and processes to support effective execution.

What is management expertise and what does it contribute in the current business context?

Management is the use of formal authority and processes to get things done.

Good management occurs when individuals understand and take personal responsibility for delivering on their accountabilities, appropriately using the authority that comes with their role to do so. In the public sector, management responsibilities bring with them accountability for delivering outcomes and using resources effectively, together with the delegations that define the scope of a role’s management authority, particularly in relation to the use of resources.

Good management is recognisable when “things just work”. Customer queries are answered on time, correct payments are made to citizens, projects deliver their intended outcomes on time, programmes are rigorously evaluated and effective business models are designed and implemented.

What does good management look like in the workplace?

Employees take personal responsibility for, and are held accountable by themselves and their supervisors, for performing the activities they have been employed to do to a high standard.

Employees understand the authority they have as part of their job, and use that authority to get the work expected of them done. For example they make decisions they are authorised to make, they complete tasks they are employed to complete.

When something goes wrong, employees use their skills / experience and the authority that goes with their job to fix things.

Our evolving understandingAs with leadership practice, the Strategic Centre’s understanding of management expertise and its contribution to our APS business has gained clarity with each strategy iteration. From the 2012-13 strategy, management expertise was recognised as being distinct from leadership practice.

For the first time, the 2014 strategy explicitly links management expertise with taking personal responsibility for delivering on accountabilities. It also acknowledges that the current business drivers impacting the APS are likely to require particular management expertise across the APS. An emphasis on government efficiency and fundamentally rethinking government’s role and delivery approach requires improved management expertise across key areas, for example business acumen and commercial skills.

Additionally, the 2014 strategy clarifies that that leadership and management are used in tandem in daily practice, but distinguishes between the two for the purposes of capability development.

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Why develop management expertise?

Improve productivity. As with any organisation, the APS needs to operate in an efficient, effective and “business like” manner aligning resources with business priorities and making the most of every taxpayer dollar spent. In a tightening fiscal environment where agencies are called on to do more with less, and where there is a requirement to balance ongoing change with business-as-usual, developing business-oriented and people management skills provides an important opportunity to realise productivity and efficiency gains.

Unique public sector skills. Working effectively in the APS requires a range of unique knowledge and skills that are unlikely to be developed outside the public sector, and which need to be developed internally through formal training or on-the-job learning. Exercising authority without the appropriate knowledge or skills is likely to result in difficulties which could have been easily avoided with the application of the appropriate expertise.

Ongoing skills gaps. Evidence from consultations and research identified skill gaps across a number of areas including change management, people management, risk management and strategic thinking.

Progress check: how is the APS going?Data from the State of the Service Report 2012-13 indicate ongoing skills gaps:

- In an environment characterised by significant ongoing change, less than one-quarter of APS agencies believed their change management capability was at the necessary level and agencies have reported little or no improvement in their change management capability since 2011.

- There is an opportunity to lift efficiency and effectiveness by improving people management, with capability reviews and agency self-assessments indicating a requirement to improve performance management and work assignment / delegation skills.

- The State of the Service Report noted that “the bulk of productivity improvements available for organisational effectiveness essentially relate to people and how skilled, motivated, well managed and led they are”.8

What management expertise gaps and opportunities have been identified?

This refresh confirms the management capabilities identified in the 2012-13 strategy. It is worth noting that in an environment characterised by transformational change, an emphasis on productivity and an increased emphasis on working across boundaries, the framework developed in the 2012-13 strategy has been expanded to include new skills critical in this context: planning and managing change, risk management, programme evaluation, the need to develop expertise in organisational design and business-oriented expertise.

Table 4 on the next page outlines the management expertise to be developed across the APS.

8 Australian Public Service Commission (2013). State of the Service Report 2012-13, Commonwealth of Australia. Page 12.

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Decision-making & judgement

Working with government

People & organisational development

Professional public service skill

Increased prominence in 2014: Personal responsibility and public sector accountability

Briefing and responding to APS decision-makers, Ministers & Parliament

Coaching and developing others

Policy development & implementation

Creating public value Working with the Minister Building and leading high performing teams

Delivery management


Developing Cabinet Submissions

Increased prominence in 2014: Planning and managing change


Project and programme management in a complex environment

Appearing before Parliamentary Committees

Getting the most out of diversity

Working with stakeholders and jurisdictions9

New in 2014: Business acumen – purchasing services for government

Business planning New in 2014: Programme evaluation

New in 2014: Designing government business models


Increased prominence in 2014: Risk management

New in 2014: Organisational design

Table 4: Management expertise to be developed across the APS

Core and foundation skills

What are core and foundation skills and what do they contribute in the current business context?

Core skills

Core skills are the public sector-specific knowledge and skills that are essential to the public service institution and of relevance to all public servants. In a fast-paced, complex environment, public servants need the public sector-specific knowledge and skills that ensure they are able to:

operate within the frameworks and values expected of the APS

understand and support government processes

collaborate within and across teams and / or agencies to solve problems

apply effective public-sector professional skills within their area of expertise to deliver public value.

9 In the 2014 strategy, this skill has been moved from the ‘Working with government’ cluster to the ‘Professional public service skills’ cluster to better reflect the nature of the skills requirement, which is not limited to working with government.

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Foundation skills

Foundation skills are the essential workplace skills that are relevant to employees at all levels. These skills underpin core skills and management expertise and are essential for effective operation in an organisation. Unlike core skills and management expertise, foundation skills are not specific to the public sector, although they are applied differently in different public sector contexts.

Why develop core and foundation skills?

Improve productivity. As with any organisation, the APS needs to operate in an efficient, effective and “business like” manner, making the most of every taxpayer dollar spent. In a tightening fiscal environment where agencies are called on to do more with less, and where there is a requirement to balance ongoing change with business-as-usual, developing efficient and effective core and foundation skills provides an important opportunity to realise productivity and efficiency gains.

Unique public sector skills. Working effectively in the APS requires a range of unique knowledge and skills that are unlikely to be developed outside the public sector, and which need to be developed internally through formal training or on-the-job learning.

Ongoing skills gaps. Evidence from consultations and research identified skill gaps across a number of areas including the APS ethical and legal frameworks, an understanding of the Australian government system, and skills to structure work.

What core skills gaps and opportunities have been identified?

This refresh confirms the relevance of the core skills identified in the 2012-13 strategy. It confirms that today’s APS needs employees who are responsive to the environment and who have the public sector-specific knowledge and skills to: operate within the frameworks and values expected of the APS; understand and support government processes; collaborate within and across teams/agencies to solve problems; and apply effective public-sector professional skills within their area of expertise to deliver public value.

Table 5 on the next page outlines the core skills to be developed across the APS. It is worth noting that in an environment characterised by transformational change and an emphasis on productivity, the core skills framework identified in the 2012-13 strategy has been expanded to include new skills or to add prominence to skills that critical in this context: developing business cases, risk management, dealing with change, working within diversity and performance management.

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Applying ethical & legal frameworks

Understanding government

Working within & across teams


APS ethics and values The role of the APS APS people management Policy

APS frameworks Understanding parliamentary processes

Increased prominence in 2014: Performance management

Delivery

APS decision-making & risk

Understanding legislative processes

Cross-agency working Regulatory

Procurement essentials Responding to the Minister’s office

Increased prominence in 2014: Dealing with change

Working with stakeholders10

Contract management Working in teams New in 2014: Developing a business case for government

Increased prominence in 2014 – Risk management

Increased prominence in 2014: Working with diversity

Table 5: Core skills to be developed across the APS

What foundation skills gaps and opportunities have been identified?

The foundation skills gaps and opportunities identified in this strategy remain consistent with those previously identified in the 2012-13 strategy:

Structuring work. In today’s fast-paced environment, it becomes even more critical for public servants to adopt more efficient and structured methods of working. This means having the skills to decompose a task into its constituent elements, planning and prioritising.

Compelling communication. Communication skills are a key part of transacting business. In the APS, employees require the ability to present an argument clearly, concisely and in a compelling manner, going to the heart of the issue with speed and clarity.

Building relationships and engagement. Building relationships and engaging in meaningful consultation with citizens and stakeholder groups and working across teams, agencies and jurisdictions goes to the heart of public service work and are critical foundation skills across the APS.

Analytical thinking. Applying analytical thinking is a critical part of work. This means having the skills to define a problem, collect relevant data, identify bias in evidence, evaluate evidence, weigh up arguments and confirm whether the evidence supports a particular conclusion.

10 In 2014 this skill has been moved from the ‘Understanding government’ cluster to the ‘Professional public service skills’ cluster to better reflect the nature of the skills requirement, which involves working effectively with a range of stakeholders.

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What are the development priorities for 2014-15 and 2015-16?

Leadership practice priorities

Progress on existing leadership priorities

Since late 2011, the Strategic Centre has been delivering an approach to leadership development consistent with this strategy. Early indications from programme evaluations indicate this new approach is proving effective in supporting the development of the leadership practices and behaviours required in an environment characterised by complex challenges that cut across agency boundaries.

As the external environment and business drivers impacting the APS continue to evolve, small adjustments are being made to our approach to ensure programmes develop the leadership practices that are critical to succeed in our environment – for example this iteration of the strategy incorporates additional practices that support transformational change and improved productivity.

Progress on high potential programmes

High potential programmes aim to build the APS’s bench strength of highly capable leaders prepared to take on more complex roles. Progress to date includes:

SES Band 3 talent development programme. This programme is scheduled to conclude in 201411. The business need for another programme will be re-assessed in the future.

SES Band 2 talent development programme. This programme concluded in 201311. The business need for another programme will be re-assessed in the future.

SES Band 1 talent development programme. This programme is a current business priority and is scheduled to be offered in 2014.

Progress on transition to role and experienced in role leadership programmes

Transition to role programmes aim to support new SES to develop their leadership capability as they learn to survive, and ultimately thrive in their senior role. Experienced in role programmes offer leadership development to all SES, supporting them to develop the leadership practice needed to assist the APS to succeed in an environment of transformational change. Progress to date includes:

SES Orientation (transition). This programme is regularly offered to new SES.

SES Band 1 leadership programme. This programme is regularly offered.

SES Band 2 leadership programme. This programme is regularly offered.

SES Band 3 leadership programme. This programme is a current business priority and will be offered from mid-2014.

Leadership priorities for development in 2014-15 and 2015-16

11 Corporate Leadership Council research suggests around 8% of employees in a cohort are high potential”. The Band 2 and Band 3 programmes have currently exceeded their target of reaching 8% of their respective cohorts.

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In 2014-16, the Executive Level 2 group has been selected as a priority for leadership development. This group has been selected as a priority as the feeder group to the SES and a group with wide organisational reach that influences upwards and downwards, directly working with a large number of employees. Focusing on this group as a priority aims to foster a high performance culture, and embed contemporary leadership practice across the APS.

In 2015-16, the Strategic Centre’s focus will expand to examine the viability of providing talent development for early career public servants. This has been selected as a priority to ensure a longer-term bench strength of talented public servants and to shift to a long-term view of leadership development.

Table 6 outlines the Strategic Centre’s leadership development priorities from 2014-16, including a recognition that the Strategic Centre is responsible for the design and development of programmes addressing new priorities while simultaneously delivering and continuously improving programmes developed pre 2014.

2014-15 2015-16

Deliver and continuously improve

Design and develop Deliver and continuously improve

Design and develop

SES Orientation programme

Executive Level 2 talent development programme

Programmes designed and developed in 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15

Executive level 2 transition to role programme

Band 1 and Band 3 talent development programmes

Executive Level 2 leadership programme

Early career talent development programme

Band 1, 2 and 3 leadership programmes

Table 6: Leadership development priorities 2014-15 and 2015-16

Management expertise, core and foundation skills priorities

A fresh approach to management expertise, core skills and foundation skills development

In 2013, the Strategic Centre began work to test a new approach for management and core skills development. Under the new approach, efficiencies are being created through a collective investment in the development of high quality, contemporary learning products required by all agencies. A central philosophy of the approach is that the APS should seek to “build once, use many times”.

The new approach follows a standard process. A learning design standard is developed for each priority, outlining the APS’s learning need and articulating a contemporary approach for developing the required skills. Subject to any copyright restrictions, where an existing APS programme satisfies the learning design it will be adapted into learning materials for use by agencies. Where there is no existing APS programme, a provider is engaged to develop learning materials with all intellectual property to be owned by the APS. The learning materials are available to all APS agencies at no cost, and are able to be customised to suit the agency’s specific business environment.

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There are a range of delivery options available to agencies. Agencies may use their own trainers to deliver the programmes; they may engage the services of a provider that has been quality assured by the Australian Public Service Commission; or, employees may attend a programme run at the Australian Public Service Commission on a fee-for-service basis.

Progress on existing management expertise priorities

The Strategic Centre has made significant progress on progressing management expertise priorities, including confirming the viability and utility of the approach outlined above. It should be noted that there has been some variation from the priorities identified in the APS Leadership and Core Skills Strategy 2012-13, for example change management programmes were brought forward in recognition of the importance of building management expertise in this area in the current business environment. All changes in priority have been endorsed by the Secretaries Board.

Completed management expertise priorities

For the following priorities, learning design standards and associated learning materials are available for agency use and facilitators have been quality assured:




Management expertise priorities currently underway

For the following priorities, learning materials are due for progressive release to agencies from July-September 2014 and facilitators are being quality assured to present this learning material for agencies:


Briefing and responding to APS decision-makers, Ministers & Parliament

Working with the Minister


Appearing before Parliamentary committees


Building and leading high performing teams

Planning and managing change


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Management expertise priorities for development in 2014-15 and 2015-16

Table 7 outlines the Strategic Centre’s management expertise priorities from 2014-16, including a recognition that the Strategic Centre is responsible for the design and development of programmes addressing new priorities while simultaneously delivering and continuously improving programmes developed pre 2014.

2014-15 2015-16



Design and develop




Building & leading high performing teams

Planning and managing change



Designing government business models

Business acumen – purchasing services for government

Risk management

Personal responsibility and public sector accountability

Creating public value

Programmes designed and developed in 2013-14 and 2014-15



Programme and project management


Briefing and responding to APSdecision-makers, Ministers &Parliament

Working with the Minister


Appearing before Parliamentary committees


Delivery management

Programme evaluation

Working with stakeholders and jurisdictions





Organisational design


Business planning

Table 7: Management expertise development priorities 2014-15 and 2015-16

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Progress on existing core and foundation skills priorities

The Strategic Centre has made significant progress on progressing core and foundation skills priorities, with some variations to the priorities identified in the APS Leadership and Core Skills Strategy 2012-13 approved by the Secretaries Board due to urgent business need.

Completed core and foundation skills priorities

For the following priorities, learning design standards and associated learning materials are available for agency use and facilitators have been quality assured:


APS ethics and values



Foundation skills

Structuring work

Core and foundation skills priorities currently underway

For the following priorities, learning materials are due for progressive release to agencies from July-September 2014 and facilitators are being quality assured to present this learning material for agencies:


Developed as a single programme: the role of the APS, understanding parliamentary processes, understanding legislative processes


Dealing with change

Working in teams

Working with diversity

Foundation skills

Compelling communications

Building relationships and engagement

Core skills priorities for development in 2014-15 and 2015-16

Table 8 on the next page outlines the Strategic Centre’s core and foundation skills priorities from 2014-16, including a recognition that the Strategic Centre is responsible for the design and development of programmes addressing new priorities while simultaneously delivering and continuously improving programmes developed pre 2014.

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2014-15 2015-16



Design and develop


APS ethics and values


Cross-agency working

Programmes designed and developed in 2013-14 and 2014-15


APS people management


The role of the APS, understanding parliamentary processes and understanding legislative processes

Responding to the Minister’s office


APS frameworks

APS decision-making and risk

APS risk management


APS procurement essentials

APS contract management



Dealing with change

Working in teams

Working with diversity


Delivery

Working with stakeholders

Developing a business case for government



Regulation

Foundation skills

Structuring work

Compelling communications

Building relationships and engagement

Foundation skills

Analytical thinking

Table 8: Core skills development priorities 2014-15 and 2015-16

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How will these capabilities be developed?

Development in practice: the differences between leadership and expertise development

Leadership and management: practiced in tandem, developed differently

In the workplace, individuals practice leadership and management and apply their skills in tandem. For example, an individual might move fluidly between using their authority (management), motivating their team towards an objective (leadership) and applying their technical skills. Although they are practiced in tandem, the approach for developing leadership capability is different from developing foundation, core and management (expertise) skills.

Leadership development is self-transformative learning that is focused on supporting an individual to develop and consciously apply different practices and default behaviours. Transforming an individual’s daily leadership practices requires a shift in an individual’s self-concept of themselves as a leader and of the work of leadership. Achieving this shift requires sustained development that spans multiple interventions, offers ongoing opportunities for practice and experimentation, and provides for ongoing reflection.

By contrast, management expertise, core and foundation skills development is primarily concerned with the development of knowledge and skills that can be applied to workplace tasks.

Development principles

Although the development of leadership capability is different to the development of management expertise and core skills, the Strategic Centre recognises that there are some common principles that should be applied to both forms of development to ensure better practice and encourage consistency.

All development, including leadership, management, core and foundation skills development will:

be based on adult learning approaches

incorporate opportunities to reinforce learning over time using a range of interventions

balance opportunities for on-the-job learning, peer-based learning and classroom learning, using the principles in the 70-20-10 model

draw appropriately on the Knowing Doing Being Framework (see Figure 2 on next page)

be driven by well-defined models with a strong evidence base

represent value for money.

Developing leadership practiceThe following principles guide leadership development, which is most effective when:

Senior leaders participate in leadership development and role model the desired culture and behaviours

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A range of learning approaches are used, including experiential and reflective approaches e.g. case-in-point, coaching, shadowing

Delivered over a period of time with multiple interventions aligned with development needs

Driven by a well-defined leadership model – Knowing, Doing, Being.

Appendix C contains the leadership development principles endorsed by the Secretaries Board as a compact between learners, the APSC, Secretaries and agency heads.

Learning from implementation to date

Manager support: is critical to success –supporting time away from the office and supporting experimentation with different approaches.

Leaders developing leaders: using previous participants to support leadership development fosters a genuine camaraderie and ‘community’ across the system.

Need for a system-wide perspective: effective development relies on the Strategic Centre, Secretaries and agency heads, agencies, supervisors and individual learners providing consistent messaging, role-modelling and demonstrating the importance of ongoing development (see next page).

Knowing Doing Being Development Framework in contextIn a leadership development context, the framework guides how capability is most effectively developed. That is, leadership capability is developed by building knowledge, through practice in real situations, and over time this leads to an evolution in an individual’s self-concept as a leader.

Figure 2: Knowing Doing Being Development Framework

In addition, in management and core skills the framework describes the content to be learnt (knowledge), the personal attributes needed to successfully apply that knowledge (being) and the observable behaviours resulting from using those skills in the workplace (doing).

Developing management expertise, and core and foundation skillsPrinciples guiding management, core and foundation skills development require that learning:

Be designed using a collaborative APS-wide process

Provide agencies the flexibility to tailor and contextualise, while maintaining the quality of the programme and the consistency of the skill development across the APS

Include multiple delivery options and methods, including e-learning and self-paced options (where appropriate) and face-to-face delivery by an agency trainer or by the APSC

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Be available for use by all APS agencies – built once, used many times – and released to agencies ‘delivery ready’

Learning from implementation to date

Collaboration: working with agency learning and development practitioners and leveraging collective knowledge and resources has resulted in shared understanding, increased cooperation and significant cost savings.

Learning design standards are critical: they clearly define the business need, the learning that can contribute to the solution, and what the solution involves in detail before going to market.

Learning design standards have application beyond identified priorities: agencies with specific educative responsibilities have worked with the Strategic Centre and used the learning design standard methodology to fulfil their responsibilities, further embedding the methodology.

Managers as developers of peopleManagers who are developers of people have a significant ‘capability multiplier effect’. Across all forms of development – leadership, management skills, core skills and foundation skills – managers are the key factor influencing the extent to which their teams engage in ongoing development, practice reflection, engage in continuous learning and strive for continuous improvement. Given their significant influence, managers are the ‘glue’ across all forms of development, enabling changes in behaviour, practice, and skill to “stick”.

Why managers shape culture and capability

Managers are leaders who have a powerful influence on culture: Research12 has found that social learning in the workplace means manager behaviour is frequently role-modelled, and this is a powerful means of transmitting values, attitudes, patterns of behaviour and knowledge.

Managers play a key role mobilising people and are enablers of high performance: Managers are often at the intersection between the strategic and operational. They play a crucial role balancing change and stability, generating creative alternatives to challenges and enabling performance.13

Managers who are learners and who coach foster engagement: A 2009 qualitative case study found that managers who are able to facilitate learning are better able to build trust and engagement with their staff.14

12 Rich (1997); Ibarra (1999); Jarvis (2010); Kenny et al (2003) in Warhurst, R. (2011), Role modelling in manager development: learning that which cannot be taught, “Journal of European Industrial Training”, Vol 35, No 9.13 Costanzo, L. & Tzoumpa, V. (2008), Enhancing organisational learning in teams: has the middle manager got a role?, “Team performance management”, Vol 14, Issue 3/4.14 Ladyshewsky, R.K. (2009), The manager as coach as a driver of organizational development, “Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol 31, No 4, pp 301.

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How will progress against this strategy be evaluated?

Evaluation of the strategyThe effectiveness of this strategy will be assessed as part of a broader evaluation of the Strategic Centre’s operations, which is scheduled to commence at the end of the Strategic Centre’s third year of funding (June 2014). The strategy will be evaluated at two levels:

Activity. As a key activity undertaken by the Strategic Centre, the strategy will be assessed at the activity level (assessing what has been delivered).

Impact. The impact of the strategy in the short and medium-term, including its impact in fostering a collective agreement on APS development priorities and its effectiveness in creating a common understanding of the practice of leadership in the APS.

The approach for evaluating the Strategic Centre’s effectiveness (including the effectiveness of its strategy work as one component of the Strategic Centre’s programme) is shown in Figure 3 below.

Evaluation of the Strategic Centre’s activities

Evaluation of the impact of Strategic Centre

activities

Evaluation of the Strategic Centre’s contribution

to human capital objectives

1. Strategy

2. Programs • High potential programs• Leadership, management, core

skills

3. System• Quality assurance, central

brokerage• Thought leadership, support, advice

The impact of the strategy in fostering a new concept of leadership across the APS.

The impact of programs in supporting behavioural shifts

and building APS-relevant skills.

The impact of the Strategic Centre in improving the efficiency

and effectiveness of APS L&D.

Delivers outcomes for citizens

Serves the government

of the day

Operates as One APS to

deliver outcomes

Operates efficiently, effectively and

ethically

Institutional objectives

Human capital LLDobjectives

Enhanced core skills of the APS

workforce

Enhanced agency LLD

performance

Enhancedcapability of APS

leaders (current and future)

Efficient andeffective leader

and core skillsdevelopment

system

Hum

an c

apita

l lev

ers (

incl

udes

L&

D)

Oth

er in

stitu

tiona

l cha

nge

leve

rs

Figure 3: Methodology for evaluating the Strategic Centre's effectiveness, including evaluating its strategy work

As shown in Figure 3 this strategy, together with other work undertaken by the Strategic Centre, aims to contribute to towards four human capital leadership, learning and development objectives. The Strategic Centre’s capability development activities are not the sole contributor towards these objectives. Significant contributions towards these objectives are also made by a broad range of other activities, including (but not limited to) employee recruitment, organisational planning and workforce planning.

Evaluation of learning programmesIn addition to evaluating the strategy, all programmes resulting from this strategy will be evaluated using a standardised, rigorous evaluation framework to demonstrate the impact of programmes on agency business outcomes.

The framework draws on a range of learning evaluation approaches, including Kirkpatrick’s model, and provides a practical, pragmatic approach to programme evaluation. The key elements of the programme evaluation framework are shown in Appendix D.

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Appendix A:A note on the nature of strategyStrategy is a high-level, long-term plan to achieve a set of objectives. Strategy assesses the current state, defines the desired future state and allocates resources in order to progress towards the planned future state.

Learning and development strategy articulates the capabilities, skills or competencies required in a sustainable and successful workforce, and sets out approaches for developing the identified capabilities and skills within finite resources.15

Effective learning and development strategy is connected to an organisation’s business: it analyses current or future changes in the organisation’s business environment in order to identify required workforce capabilities and prioritise resources allocation to build those capabilities.

Ideally learning and development strategy is aligned with a broader human capital plan, which identifies a range of interventions using multiple human capital levers (for example recruitment, performance management, employment conditions) to drive organisational performance.

15 CIPD factsheet, Learning and Development Strategy, revised February 2014. Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/learning-talent-development-strategy.aspx

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Appendix B:Leadership practices that support a contemporary institutionThis strategy argues that in the APS, leadership is a practice that can and should occur at all levels. There are a range of leadership practices that all APS employees can actively display, including:

Scanning the horizon to anticipate the future, looking up, out and ahead rather than being consumed by the here and now. Practices that support this include:

Perspective taking, using different lenses, and viewing patterns ‘as if from a balcony’ to see a context for change or to create one;

Collecting data and exploring multiple possible interpretations before diagnosing a situation and considering a course of action; and

Testing assumptions about what needs to happen before committing to action.

Using rich questioning to seek detail and information from others in order to understand a situation or issue.

Making careful observations of situations and relationships, seeking to understand the underlying dynamics, and using these to guide actions

Taking the initiative to define problems and create options for resolution, rather than expecting to be directed to do so by senior management

Having the moral courage to speak out when observing internal contradictions, unethical activities or when risks associated with particular courses of action have been unheeded.

Exercising independent judgment by staying true to a course of action and not being swayed by the potentially erroneous attitudes and beliefs of others.

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Appendix C: A compact between learners, the APSC, Secretaries and agency heads Leadership learning is a priority of the APS, acknowledged as a valued and important contributor

to a productive, progressive, innovative and engaged APS which will withstand current and future challenges:

Developing leadership capability requires a sustained and longer term development process incorporating knowledge, behaviours and personal characteristics (knowing, doing, being).

Secretaries and agency heads play a critical role in shaping the leadership of the APS, through their roles as:

The primary creator of a learning-culture, particularly through the alignment of stated beliefs and displayed behaviour.

An advocate for their employees engaging in leadership development, whether by mentoring, supporting on-the-job learning, or simply checking in.

A leadership role model and programme contributor, sharing their insights, lessons learned and currently being learned, with participants who may be on a similar journey.

APS development offerings require a shared commitment and undertaking, particularly by individuals themselves, and also by their manager, their agency, and the Australian Public Service Commission. In practical terms:

The Australian Public Service Commission through the Strategic Centre for Leadership, Learning and Development confirms its commitment to undertake comprehensive evaluation of programme offerings and to ensuring the quality of whole-of-APS programmes.

In relation to leadership development, Secretaries and agency heads will reinforce their expectations regarding the high priority attached to leadership development and continuous learning.

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Appendix D:Strategic Centre learning programme evaluation framework

What is evaluated? Data collection method Which programmes will be evaluated to this

level?

How will the data be used?

Learner reaction: evaluates how well was

the programme delivered and learner satisfaction.

Survey at the end of each module and the end of

entire programme.

For pilot programmes: Feedback from facilitators

/ observers

All programmes 1. To improve programme design, learning materials, learning methods and target audience

2. To improve delivery

3. To assist in programme targeting

Learning: evaluates whether learning took

place.

1. Pre-programme survey

2. Post-learning survey (end of module and end of programme)

Behaviour: evaluates where the participants are applying learning on-the-

job.

Interview or survey with:

1. the participant, and

2. the participant’s manager.

All pilot, high cost or priority programmes. For other programmes, when

the evaluation data indicates a requirement

To confirm transfer of learning or identify

changes to increase impact and to confirm

programme is delivering required behavioural

changes

Business objectives: evaluates whether the

programme delivered on its business objectives and provided value for

money.

Agency and employee surveys.

All pilot programmes, and every 12-18 months for high cost or high priority

programmes

To confirm programme is delivering the intended

outcomes and providing value for money

Table 9: Strategic Centre learning programme evaluation framework

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executive summary - australian public service commission · web viewthe scope of this strategy is...

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