Overview of the Challenge
“Leaders must necessarily be motivated to harness and strengthen cooperation. Ideally leaders have the capacity to benefit from feedback and continuous learning. Leadership in medium and longer-term situations should necessarily be developmental and responsible. Given the functional nature of leadership, it is often understood as a means to achieve outcomes and progress towards outcomes; however leadership can also involve management and development of issues that lie beyond the boundaries of common concerns and knowledge. Leaders in the public sector (or elsewhere) face a vital challenge to be relevant and to satisfy public interest considerations. They also need to be competent and robust. Leadership, to be effective, needs focus and needs to give priority to any situation needing attention” Kendal (2003: 51).

Identification of Leadership Competencies

In Australia, and elsewhere throughout history, there has been a marked focus on studying the leadership competencies of great men and women, in order to help identify future leaders. For example, study of political, military and religious leaders has been a constant source of the behaviours and skills that leaders must exemplify to be effective. However it was not until the late 1980s and the 1990s that the management and personal-development sections of bookshops began to evidence the quest to prescribe the factors which could make, at the organisation and community level in Australia, the ordinary worker great leaders. These changes in perspective have raised some questions for Australian society. By the late 1990s, there were many (often conflicting) theories of every aspect of leadership and leading. The underlying reason for this is that leadership is so complex, and so open to many variations in organisations and the community, that it cannot be explained by one set of prevailing theories and practices. Despite the deficits in understanding and developing policy to support leadership skills both at the organisation level and community-wide, there arose a need to convince many executives in organisations-and those with responsibility in the wider community-that good leadership makes an essential contribution to effective management while poor leadership brings about frustration of objectives and other poor results Working Futures (2005). Holden (2006: 1) is of a similar view:
“It is no exaggeration to use the word crisis in relation to leadership. We seem to be getting something radically wrong on a massive scale, so let us try to think through what it might be”.
 

What Leaders Must Do
At the organisational level (and often elsewhere), there has been a shift away from a relatively steady state, predict-and-provide organisational model. Leaders are now expected to stimulate, and be creative, in a fast-paced and unpredictable world. Organisations-and the Australian community-need leaders who are capable of coping in these circumstances. Outsourcing of previous internal functions has meant reliance on outsourced labour and services. This has been the result of dramatic changes to the public sector, and to the internationalisation of the Australian economy, which has had such dramatic impacts on the ways Australian companies do business. The consequence is that leadership must now operate across networks to be effective.

This can mean that a leader has to get things done even though not the controlling authority. It can also mean that, due to these pressures, talented and well-qualified staff or community members can be a challenge for effective leadership because they will not simply be told what to do. Motivating others, given the origins of this challenge, is thus a key competency of a leader particularly in a sophisticated organisation. Furthermore, leaders now increasingly faced with challenges where they are expected to bring about effective leadership even though their store of knowledge rapidly becomes inadequate and dated by events. We need to get better at leadership if Australia is to thrive in a dramatically changed world where creativity and innovation are the drivers of prosperity Holden (2006).
 

Leadership Competencies in the 21st Century
Given these requirements, leaders today need a new set of competencies such as:
• “Be driven by external circumstances and contexts rather than following the internal logic of their own organisations
• Be able to harness and manage creative people who simply cannot be ordered about
• Be constantly open to new learning. Be adaptable, flexible and willing to change
• Be able to create trust between people in an organisation, and to destroy cultures of blame, because blame is the enemy of innovation and improvement
• Be confident enough to distribute leadership out of their own hands and across a wider group of people
• Be able to work across networks as well as within organisations” Holden (2006: 4).
The development of such competencies has led to discussion Australia-wide on the meaning of leadership. For example, in there has been a tendency to view leadership through a management lens as many public sector managers (for example) tend to over-emphasise management at the expense of leadership. Agreeing most Australian jurisdictions have developed competency frameworks for their senior executives. Their approaches vary but these frameworks share an implicit assumption that leadership and management is much the same thing. The support for this view can be found in Enterprising Nation, Report of the Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills, now better known as the Karpin Report. Drawing on the findings of specially commissioned research, Craig and Yetton (1995) the Task Force took the view that, rather than trying to distinguish between leadership and management, the more pertinent questions centre around the broad areas of competence that managers require Industry Task Force (1995: 135).
In their research report Craig and Yetton noted (1995: 1185) that there had been numerous leadership studies which had failed to discern any traits that could be reliably used to set leaders apart from others to form the basis of leadership selection and development. They concluded that it was pointless to try and find or develop specifically Australian leaders, leaving open enterprise, sectoral or community solutions to picking out successful leaders. Craig and Yetton (1995: 1213) believed that action was therefore justified to identify and develop management competencies as there were established theories and methods, which demonstrated such factors to have significant influence as to whether performance was excellent or poor. The emphasis on management competencies identification, and support through policy, concerned several of the reforms suggested by the Task Force for the up-skilling and training of Australian mangers. For example such considerations led to the adoption of what became known as the Frontline Management Initiative Rozario and Hampson (2005).

A Community Leadership Initiative is Required
The Karpin Task Force in its final report looked beyond the commissioned research findings of Craig and Yetton, and concluded that it would be of value to enhance the status of leadership in the community by providing training and visibility both to outstanding leaders and potential leaders. It considered that in looking at how Australia can place more emphasis on the importance of leadership in the wider community and our enterprises, Australia should look to the development of leadership programs similar to those in the United States, which are seen in that country as a most effective means of further developing leadership skills which can assist the development of communities and provide leadership to many public and private organisations Industry Task Force (1995: 203). The Task Force believed that the establishment of Australian-based programs in each Australian capital city could achieve recognition of the importance of leadership skills in Australia. The Task Force believed that each state capital city leadership program could be based on the already developed Williamson Foundation program (based in Melbourne). It also suggested development of a national program for each of the participants in the city leadership program Industry Task Force (1995: 205).
 

One aim of the leadership program suggested by the Task Force was to identify the competencies needed (for developing and supporting through appropriate policy and resourcing) after assessing the results after implementation of the program. The competencies for an effective leader were not identified in the Karpin report and knowledge in this area needs further investigation and research. Importantly, questions such as the differences in competency which may be required for leaders at the organisational level (irrespective of the sector in which they operate), and those of the wider community leaders remains an open question and was not investigated by the Task Force.
 

Survey data in 2002 obtained by the Williamson Foundation has investigated the qualities expected of a leader in Australia. The Foundation found that Australians were unsure about what constitutes leadership but were practical about the issue. The Survey indicated that, as a whole Australians, (wherever they live, or their age, employment or social outlook), value the same attributes in leaders. The characteristics identified as important are:
• Honourable
• Trustworthy
• Honest and truthful
• Respectful to people they lead
• Achieving results and finding solutions
• Responsible and compassionate
The qualities often associated with good leaders-charisma, popularity and power were not considered important. Significantly (suggesting a high degree of open mindedness), Australians in the survey did not think that is vitally important for a good leader to have no personal failings Leadership Victoria and Quantum Research/Australia Scan (2002: 17).

Developments since 1995
Since 1995 community-based leadership development programs have been initiated along similar line and objectives to the Williamson model in cities and towns around Australia-including individually focussed nationally based programs such as that for women-but the further development for example of a comprehensive national program remains to be promoted by appropriate action. After consideration of the findings of the Williamson Foundation in 2002, it seems very clear that almost all Australians share strong agreement on the qualities of good leaders, especially honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, respectfulness to others, accepting responsibility, and a focus on achievements and results. These may be less exciting to many than power and charisma but they do seem be building blocks for a civilised society and the many organisations and sectors that compose it. These community expectations should be supported by appropriate Government and private sector action to provide for the well being of the community, and to be the basis for careful selection of leaders in any operating context. The influential Karpin Task Force did not resolve this issue.
 

There is also a need for further policy development to evaluate the provision of leadership programs (and especially identify any deficit in approach) in the community (or those that are enterprise based) and to evaluate feedback, on the criteria devised to select successful leaders, which was an important suggestion of the Karpin Task Force.

References
Craig, J and Yetton, P 1995 ‘Leadership Theory, Trends and Training: Summary Review of Leadership Research’ in Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills 1995, AGPS, Canberra April.
Holden, J 2006 ‘The Culture of Leadership’ [on line] http://www.ozco.gov.au/news_and_hot_topics/speeches/the_culture_of_leadership/ [accessed 11 March 2007].
Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills 1995, AGPS, Canberra April.
Kendal, S 2003, ‘Leadership Competencies’, Canberra Bulletin of Public Administration, 106 February, pp 49 – 52.
Leadership Victoria and Quantum Market Research/Australia Scan 2002, Leadership in Australia June 2002, [on line] http;//www.leadershipvictoria.org/resources_surveys.htm [accessed 12 March 2007].

Rozario, A and Hampson, I 2005, ‘Management Development as Public Policy: The Case of Australia’s Frontline Management Initiative (FMI) 1995 – 2002, Paper prepared for presentation of the 28th Labour Process Conference 2005’ [on line] http://www.hrm.strath.ac.uk/ILPC/2005/conf-papers/Rozario-Hampson.pdf. [accessed 12 March 2007].
Working Futures 2005, ‘The Knowledge Exchange’ [on line] http://www.marcbowles.com/sample_courses/frontline_v5/fma1b.htm [accessed 12 March 2007].
 

Overview of the Challenge
“Leaders must necessarily be motivated to harness and strengthen cooperation. Ideally leaders have the capacity to benefit from feedback and continuous learning. Leadership in medium and longer-term situations should necessarily be developmental and responsible. Given the functional nature of leadership, it is often understood as a means to achieve outcomes and progress towards outcomes; however leadership can also involve management and development of issues that lie beyond the boundaries of common concerns and knowledge. Leaders in the public sector (or elsewhere) face a vital challenge to be relevant and to satisfy public interest considerations. They also need to be competent and robust. Leadership, to be effective, needs focus and needs to give priority to any situation needing attention” Kendal (2003: 51).
Identification of Leadership Competencies
In Australia, and elsewhere throughout history, there has been a marked focus on studying the leadership competencies of great men and women, in order to help identify future leaders. For example, study of political, military and religious leaders has been a constant source of the behaviours and skills that leaders must exemplify to be effective. However it was not until the late 1980s and the 1990s that the management and personal-development sections of bookshops began to evidence the quest to prescribe the factors which could make, at the organisation and community level in Australia, the ordinary worker great leaders. These changes in perspective have raised some questions for Australian society. By the late 1990s, there were many (often conflicting) theories of every aspect of leadership and leading. The underlying reason for this is that leadership is so complex, and so open to many variations in organisations and the community, that it cannot be explained by one set of prevailing theories and practices. Despite the deficits in understanding and developing policy to support leadership skills both at the organisation level and community-wide, there arose a need to convince many executives in organisations-and those with responsibility in the wider community-that good leadership makes an essential contribution to effective management while poor leadership brings about frustration of objectives and other poor results Working Futures (2005). Holden (2006: 1) is of a similar view:
“It is no exaggeration to use the word crisis in relation to leadership. We seem to be getting something radically wrong on a massive scale, so let us try to think through what it might be”.
What Leaders Must Do
At the organisational level (and often elsewhere), there has been a shift away from a relatively steady state, predict-and-provide organisational model. Leaders are now expected to stimulate, and be creative, in a fast-paced and unpredictable world. Organisations-and the Australian community-need leaders who are capable of coping in these circumstances. Outsourcing of previous internal functions has meant reliance on outsourced labour and services. This has been the result of dramatic changes to the public sector, and to the internationalisation of the Australian economy, which has had such dramatic impacts on the ways Australian companies do business. The consequence is that leadership must now operate across networks to be effective. This can mean that a leader has to get things done even though not the controlling authority. It can also mean that, due to these pressures, talented and well-qualified staff or community members can be a challenge for effective leadership because they will not simply be told what to do. Motivating others, given the origins of this challenge, is thus a key competency of a leader particularly in a sophisticated organisation. Furthermore, leaders now increasingly faced with challenges where they are expected to bring about effective leadership even though their store of knowledge rapidly becomes inadequate and dated by events. We need to get better at leadership if Australia is to thrive in a dramatically changed world where creativity and innovation are the drivers of prosperity Holden (2006).
Leadership Competencies in the 21st Century
Given these requirements, leaders today need a new set of competencies such as:
• “Be driven by external circumstances and contexts rather than following the internal logic of their own organisations
• Be able to harness and manage creative people who simply cannot be ordered about
• Be constantly open to new learning. Be adaptable, flexible and willing to change
• Be able to create trust between people in an organisation, and to destroy cultures of blame, because blame is the enemy of innovation and improvement
• Be confident enough to distribute leadership out of their own hands and across a wider group of people
• Be able to work across networks as well as within organisations” Holden (2006: 4).
The development of such competencies has led to discussion Australia-wide on the meaning of leadership. For example, in there has been a tendency to view leadership through a management lens as many public sector managers (for example) tend to over-emphasise management at the expense of leadership. Agreeing most Australian jurisdictions have developed competency frameworks for their senior executives. Their approaches vary but these frameworks share an implicit assumption that leadership and management is much the same thing. The support for this view can be found in Enterprising Nation, Report of the Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills, now better known as the Karpin Report. Drawing on the findings of specially commissioned research, Craig and Yetton (1995) the Task Force took the view that, rather than trying to distinguish between leadership and management, the more pertinent questions centre around the broad areas of competence that managers require Industry Task Force (1995: 135).
In their research report Craig and Yetton noted (1995: 1185) that there had been numerous leadership studies which had failed to discern any traits that could be reliably used to set leaders apart from others to form the basis of leadership selection and development. They concluded that it was pointless to try and find or develop specifically Australian leaders, leaving open enterprise, sectoral or community solutions to picking out successful leaders. Craig and Yetton (1995: 1213) believed that action was therefore justified to identify and develop management competencies as there were established theories and methods, which demonstrated such factors to have significant influence as to whether performance was excellent or poor. The emphasis on management competencies identification, and support through policy, concerned several of the reforms suggested by the Task Force for the up-skilling and training of Australian mangers. For example such considerations led to the adoption of what became known as the Frontline Management Initiative Rozario and Hampson (2005).

A Community Leadership Initiative is Required
The Karpin Task Force in its final report looked beyond the commissioned research findings of Craig and Yetton, and concluded that it would be of value to enhance the status of leadership in the community by providing training and visibility both to outstanding leaders and potential leaders. It considered that in looking at how Australia can place more emphasis on the importance of leadership in the wider community and our enterprises, Australia should look to the development of leadership programs similar to those in the United States, which are seen in that country as a most effective means of further developing leadership skills which can assist the development of communities and provide leadership to many public and private organisations Industry Task Force (1995: 203). The Task Force believed that the establishment of Australian-based programs in each Australian capital city could achieve recognition of the importance of leadership skills in Australia. The Task Force believed that each state capital city leadership program could be based on the already developed Williamson Foundation program (based in Melbourne). It also suggested development of a national program for each of the participants in the city leadership program Industry Task Force (1995: 205).
One aim of the leadership program suggested by the Task Force was to identify the competencies needed (for developing and supporting through appropriate policy and resourcing) after assessing the results after implementation of the program. The competencies for an effective leader were not identified in the Karpin report and knowledge in this area needs further investigation and research. Importantly, questions such as the differences in competency which may be required for leaders at the organisational level (irrespective of the sector in which they operate), and those of the wider community leaders remains an open question and was not investigated by the Task Force.
Survey data in 2002 obtained by the Williamson Foundation has investigated the qualities expected of a leader in Australia. The Foundation found that Australians were unsure about what constitutes leadership but were practical about the issue. The Survey indicated that, as a whole Australians, (wherever they live, or their age, employment or social outlook), value the same attributes in leaders. The characteristics identified as important are:
• Honourable
• Trustworthy
• Honest and truthful
• Respectful to people they lead
• Achieving results and finding solutions
• Responsible and compassionate
The qualities often associated with good leaders-charisma, popularity and power were not considered important. Significantly (suggesting a high degree of open mindedness), Australians in the survey did not think that is vitally important for a good leader to have no personal failings Leadership Victoria and Quantum Research/Australia Scan (2002: 17).

Developments since 1995
Since 1995 community-based leadership development programs have been initiated along similar line and objectives to the Williamson model in cities and towns around Australia-including individually focussed nationally based programs such as that for women-but the further development for example of a comprehensive national program remains to be promoted by appropriate action. After consideration of the findings of the Williamson Foundation in 2002, it seems very clear that almost all Australians share strong agreement on the qualities of good leaders, especially honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, respectfulness to others, accepting responsibility, and a focus on achievements and results. These may be less exciting to many than power and charisma but they do seem be building blocks for a civilised society and the many organisations and sectors that compose it. These community expectations should be supported by appropriate Government and private sector action to provide for the well being of the community, and to be the basis for careful selection of leaders in any operating context. The influential Karpin Task Force did not resolve this issue.
There is also a need for further policy development to evaluate the provision of leadership programs (and especially identify any deficit in approach) in the community (or those that are enterprise based) and to evaluate feedback, on the criteria devised to select successful leaders, which was an important suggestion of the Karpin Task Force.

References
Craig, J and Yetton, P 1995 ‘Leadership Theory, Trends and Training: Summary Review of Leadership Research’ in Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills 1995, AGPS, Canberra April.
Holden, J 2006 ‘The Culture of Leadership’ [on line] http://www.ozco.gov.au/news_and_hot_topics/speeches/the_culture_of_leadership/ [accessed 11 March 2007].
Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills 1995, AGPS, Canberra April.
Kendal, S 2003, ‘Leadership Competencies’, Canberra Bulletin of Public Administration, 106 February, pp 49 – 52.
Leadership Victoria and Quantum Market Research/Australia Scan 2002, Leadership in Australia June 2002, [on line] http;//www.leadershipvictoria.org/resources_surveys.htm [accessed 12 March 2007].

Rozario, A and Hampson, I 2005, ‘Management Development as Public Policy: The Case of Australia’s Frontline Management Initiative (FMI) 1995 – 2002, Paper prepared for presentation of the 28th Labour Process Conference 2005’ [on line] http://www.hrm.strath.ac.uk/ILPC/2005/conf-papers/Rozario-Hampson.pdf. [accessed 12 March 2007].
Working Futures 2005, ‘The Knowledge Exchange’ [on line] http://www.marcbowles.com/sample_courses/frontline_v5/fma1b.htm [accessed 12 March 2007].
 

Normal
0

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act a new. We must disenthrall ourselves, and we shall save our country (Abraham Lincoln 1862).

Periodically all of us irrespective of religious belief whether it be Christian or non-Christian (and those who do not have a religious belief) need to stand back from the hurly burly of daily business, and other aspects of living to determine those leaderships skills which need rejuvenation if leaders can succeed in future circumstances.  The approach of the Christmas and end of year is traditionally appropriate for this to be done.

For example Christian ideas have prevailed over a long history of social change but Christian ideas have never been relied on sufficiently as a principal source of enlightenment and therefore the competency of national leaders at the political level, in the corporations and small businesses, the trade unions and other critical areas such as the military.

Christianity has been relegated to a back seat for much the time because of the strong conviction of many of the need for a strong secular state and the poor record of Christians in persuading much society that Christian thinking should play a very strong part in adult leadership formation. Christians have found it very difficult to compete with the realists and pragmatic when it comes to influencing top-level leaders and this has been the situation for a very long time and may well continue if nothing is done.

Christians also have had in the past a sad history of denominationalism and discrimination.  In recent years much more of an attempt has been made to improve tolerance and dialogue between the different groups of Christians as well as with non Christian religions and of course atheists and agnostics. The result has meant a great improvement for human progress and better understanding and tolerance. For some Christians this has meant a revolution in approach.

Nevertheless Christians still stumble over basic questions over unity. Much of the modern discussion concerning ecumenism has not led to significant changes in the number and divisions between the long established groups. This is a great disappointment for those seeking a more adult and permanent solution which if mature should also include many more examples of different groups joining together even using methods of governance that reflect the common nature of the beliefs when held by so many.

Too many have given priority to realists who are content to develop approaches, which only recognise for example immediate physical realities. Christians should be prepared to better equip their thinking to provide relevant inspired and orthodox ideas that can answer individual and community concerns.

Realism is not necessarily anti-Christian because it is a concern based on observation of nature that all Christians maintain was created by God. Christian leaders therefore need to take up such a challenge to better foster leadership in the community, which recognises the benefits of their inspired thinking.

Christians should not be prepared -to let others do their thinking this is the lazy way out. Christians can correct this for example through better continuing and resourcing of Christian think tanks Christian based universities and professional bodies.

As a further suggestion it might be a good idea that all Christian Clergy when being trained for their role in future be trained together for at least part of their training before going to serve the various groups which they believe they are called to. This could be achieved quite readily in some instances. The final emphasis on their training would be depth and tolerance (all desirable qualities for Christian clergy).  Other aspects of the development of clergy also need support and encouragement.

In conclusion Christians could offer more discernment and be better suited to guidance of families and the nation if regular effort were made to rejuvenate and review the effectiveness of Christian inspired thinking and values to help individuals and society a long life’s pathways.  The leadership skills of those of other religions and others of no particular religious belief may even be a source  for Christians to be better leaders if such believers are tolerant and discerning and learn from other people’s approaches.

The APS is loosing its appeal to the average Australian and this has not gone unnoticed by Australian politicians. This is due in part to the diminished role the APS and other jurisdictions play in Australia, due to wide acceptance of the ideas of New Public Sector Management, established by Thatcher and other leading politicians, such as Blair and of course Australian leaders who have followed their approaches. The effect has been that public administration is becoming a minority experience for Australians and has been perceived as lacking sufficient ability to fix problems identified by Ministers and the community.

The lack of electoral consequence that this now means for APS and those agencies of other jurisdictions is that public administration is not high on the priority for enhancement by politicians and that solutions for policy are sought beyond such jurisdictions. There is now the danger that the APS and similar agencies will loose relevance entirely.

We could have reached the end of an era and the continued future of public administration is under question. The development of this such widely held perception has become prevalent in recent times as for example through the increasing variety and good quality of reports, prepared for Ministers and Government by experts other than public sector managers which were once relied on as the premier source of this work. Private for profit lobbyists and consultants are becoming the accepted experts, for the development of new options for Ministers and Government and the originators of contestable ideas of present and past policy directions.

APS agencies for example have become increasingly given resources, opportunities and mandate to get right the mastery of routine program management approaches, which have diminished the APS role of service to assuring compliance with Ministerial wishes and parliamentary legislation, originated in a recent parliamentary term and past policy. This has meant for the APS and similar jurisdictions a restriction in role because canvassing future options has become diminished or no longer a concern.

It appears that the result is for the APS and similar jurisdictions to leave alone arrangements which continue to work in the background to current events and to play increasingly a demeaning role in the development of fresh approaches, as these are now increasingly the domain of Ministerial staffers, consultants and lobbyist because these supporting staff, are all usually better connected personally and politically to Ministers and future Ministers and can benefit often substantially for original work.

In addition the APS for is no longer an institution guaranteeing security in employment. Current legislation for example now provides increasingly for dismissals and inefficiency proceedings are also becoming more common, which can have serious damaging effects on an individual’s situation, especially in gaining further employment opportunities, which necessarily require supporting references unobtainable in most disciplinary situations and then mean alternate job opportunities evaporate.

References are a necessary requirement in most jurisdictions and in the private sector’ to gain the support of another agency or private employer and it can be that supporting references may not be available to public sector managers caught up in the disciplinary approaches, outlined here for a considerable period with the result that such managers are unemployable. This now means that public sector managers now need to take out income insurance protection policies, to protect their interests against such measures, which have also now also become highly litigious and a feature most observers use to attribute only to countries such as the US. Litigation is now a feature of work in public administration and likely to stay.

Damage to security in employment is not restricted to the effects stemming from new disciplinary approaches adopted to manage for example APS managers’ performance. Emphasis on very high performance expectations or APS staff in meeting deadlines is common place, has now meant that established privileges such as flex time go increasingly unrecognised, as the requirement to meet deadlines has overridden such entitlements in practice and there appears little can be done to restore the flex time benefits made available as a result of APS and similar agency certified agreements.

Indeed APS managers now often work increasingly for many hours beyond standard working hours and are not being compensated later for their efforts, with time in lieu, because of the widely held perception that this is necessary for APS managers to first protect personal reputation and thus avoid inefficiency or similar proceedings (a possibility that can now arise) and increasingly utilised by senior management, bringing about at significant costs to the healthy performance of individual managers, because of much additional stress which results, especially as agencies now have insufficient support staff to give a hand to the managers to do quality checks when meeting deadlines.

We are all aware of the immense steps taken since Hawke and Keating and for example in the Howard years to reduce APS staff often explained relying on ideological ideas, as an effort to reduce the burden of the APS on the taxpayer and on the functioning of the wider community. The approach usually meant offering generous redundancy packages, to as many as possible to reduce for example APS agencies to very lean organisation reducing the role of public administration in the community.

In this regard many APS personnel for example were keen to accept packages sometimes believing that funds would not be available to repeat the exercise if they waited to see if even better times were on the horizon. Many Canberra based APS personnel who accepted the packages, needed other employment but the exercise of their redeployment to other areas of Australia and possibly elsewhere in Canberra was undertaken through reliance on the voluntary acceptance of the packages, without the assistance of a structural adjustment agency, which one might expect given the scale of the change involved, but not provided for by the APS or similar jurisdictions. Such an agency could have provided data as to where these personnel were finally relocated and also give greater transparency as to APS and similar jurisdictions management of the downsizing, which resulted.

Nevertheless the overall exercise appears to have been a success but the issues surrounding the competency of the former APS managers and any difficulties they had in finding new opportunities (through being left to their own devices) to find new situations, even though they would have had perceived deficiencies in many management skills and experience required to find new opportunities required especially by private sector bodies does not appear to have been researched sufficiently, or have proven to be a major barrier to their successful placement in new situations, many of which must have been private sector bodies.

Those who chose to exit the APS were left to develop there own development solutions, something that would have no doubt been catered for, had there been provision of a structural adjustment agency. The absence of such an agency, clearly resulted due to the lack of electoral significance for government and other politicians overseeing the changes, even though the changes involved for those choosing the exit option was considerable.

The APS staff who left their jobs in the 1980s and 1990s, must have been convinced they could do better and that the APS was a fizzer, when it came to the provision of long term benefits, such as a generous pension on retirement, once the principal attraction to commit to a life long career, which was an attraction which probably dates from the the depression years. More importantly the community has seemed broadly in tune with approaches of the Howard Government and earlier agendas, these changes went forward without public opposition. Perhaps it now the end of an era in APS public administration and that of other jurisdictions.

For example some of the beliefs and prejudices of the public sector reformers of the 1980s and 1990s and especially in the Howard years appear to have won endorsement from the wider Australian community. It was perceived that the APS and indeed other jurisdictions are not successful showpieces of management practice and leadership and not capable now of showing the way for the nation to be led.

Consistent with this belief major policy development questions in recent years have been outsourced due in part to the decreasing ability of for example the APS to provide the advice functions required.

This was in part due to the failure to establish within APS structures the benefits of the entrepreneurial spirit, which could free up development of policy options, which is so well recognised in the private sector. However APS and similar jurisdictions have both the function of wrestling with contestable ideas and compliance with the Ministers and Parliament and lack of success in reconciling these two aspects of public service has proven to be a major weakness at least at the present time.

The APS and similar jurisdictions in recognisising the importance of serving the established requirements of Ministerial leadership and responsibility have not adequately provided for the need of APS managers , to meet the requirements of public service and nurture its role, as an important vocation which can establish the public good, that lay beyond existing agendas and Ministerial requirements, and connect with the requirements of conscience and discernment and become an aspect of leadership of the community, embracing and endorsing the public service as a profession and not just a service provider to government and the wider community.

Programs for example the APS developed to support staff development, similar to those undertakings of other jurisdictions, include leadership programs based on well intended management development ideas and models, similar to those available from American texts, which clearly endorse good leadership and good practice of leadership, as a principal management function at all levels of responsibility, and enable the informed selection of good leaders and coaching of those seeking important management roles needed to deliver APS programs.

The benefits argued here, that might be looked for in establishing many more leadership opportunities for staff, than those that are restricted to the business side of public administration by also including desirable ends, such as reconnecting the links between personal inspiration (especially conscience) and factors such as community minded public service competencies, to then be used to select and promote effective public service leaders (a desirable end of public administration), especially when mangers are prepared and tolerated to look beyond the immediate concerns and restrictions of the requirements of the Minister and top management and the work place, despite the potential this can mean for occasional conflict when considering the development of the common good and the agendas of the public domain, which can arise especially because of the limitations of short term electoral concerns of a Minister and the other politicians established in public affairs of the day.

There is also increasing reduction in scope for supportive but apolitical public service in the APS because of the present emphasis in APS practice of for example of focusing only on the routines of agency functions, with the result consultants and lobbyists and Ministerial staff have become estblished as a clear alternate to APS activities. The net result has led to a severely reduced role and legitimacy for inspired thinking to public management and public sector reform in the APS and similar jurisdictions in Australia by public sector managers. This trend may not be able to be reversed unless there is significant rejuvenation of the role of the APS and similar jurisdictions.

The APS staff and those of other jurisdictions are by all accounts highly educated for their role in public administration, and this has long been a feature of public sector management in Australia. However it may have become counterproductive because of the small ask by top management to utilise all the skills available to such highly educated staff in the work place of today. The limited scope for benefiting from the highly developed and especially the brilliant aspects of the education of APS staff members thus, has a terrible consequence for the large number of APS personnel because of present restrictions to focus only on program management functions bringing about disappointment to most and result in a challenge to their personal development and public service capability while it continues.

It can as also argued here that this situation if not corrected, can lead to a less than adult approach in the work place, which has the effect of preventing much self realisation a goal supported as needed by many management theorists as desirable and seen as the principal factor underlying productivity in the work place.

Also top management in the APS and similar jurisdictions has fewer benefits than available to private enterprise counterparts and this can mean top management for example in the APS, is in fact inferior to private enterprise, because the talent needed to support the APS agencies is not sufficiently rewarded, and top public administration managers soon know they should move on. They are first class performers who are better provided for in the private sector. The attraction and rewards to top management in the APS and similar jurisdictions should not be based on philanthropic commitment and the broader public service considerations alone. The present situation is not viable and should not be continued.

There should be a better deal for the way APS and other jurisdictions in the way they approach the reward for the many other managers in public administration work.

For a long time now, many who took up APS managers roles over the years, and indeed those of other jurisdictions, have been content to accept lower wages and access to fewer benefits resulting in public administration work compared to private enterprise counterparts, whose employment is more risky but have benefits such as a share in the equity of a private enterprise organisation or even a share in profits and intellectual property rights for original work. Such benefits have never been available through public administration work, and this situation seems unlikely to be corrected unless there is overdue change.

However for many in the APS and other jurisdictions opportunities such as great retirement benefits remained a compelling advantage for those doing public administration work for many years, but these have now been diminished through newer pension schemes enacted through government legislation.

There are even those who suggest that in the future Governments of all jurisdictions will not provide pensions at all in future years as these schemes will not be affordable for the tax payer in future years. The resultant responsibility would thus fall completely on community members to provide for retirement and old age using their own resources.

These changes to APS and the conditions of work in public administration more widely will have the effect of making such employment far less attractive as a career and indeed has done much to diminish past concepts of a career path especially for young people.

The present lean nature of many APS and similar agencies has also had effects on the productivity and potential for creative fulfilment in the work place. Many managers in the APS for example, are inevitably stuck at middle management levels even though they may have progressed from lower levels and are equipped for more senior responsibilities. They learn through the world of hard knocks that it is unlikely they can progress much further because they have reached a glass ceiling of opportunities, through which very few can pass, because of the much fewer opportunities that are available for staff beyond the middle levels even though many at the middle levels of management, if given the opportunity of promotion would be very successful.

This recognition of a ceiling, to future promotion gives rise to serious motivation and productivity issues, and to the recognition of the personnel concerned that prospects for opportunities in lobbyist and consultancy organisations may be the only alternatives to their present situation, and these opportunities frequently mean greater financial rewards and recognition including rights to intellectual property and other rewards simply not available in agencies. The public sector managers of Australia – are the poor cousins of Ministerial staffers, consultants and lobbyists and their reward structures are insufficient to harness their full capability especially the requirements of original thinking.

The need to look beyond existing agency opportunities can also result from other well-known considerations. The lean nature of many agencies has meant greater pressure on individual managers to meet deadlines without the benefit of support staff, often invaluable to do quality checks of important work, usually destined for the public arena and the outcome of which can greatly influence reputation. The fun and joy that could be a feature of the workplace has become insignificant.

In addition to what has been argued above, many so called public service jobs have increasing degrees of automation, significantly reducing the need for personal interpretation and value adding.

Centrelink is an example of this approach, but it is not alone. Many of its functions are highly automated, reducing a manager’s discretion in this agency to only a fraction of potential, despite wide ranging knowledge and insight into the needs of clients. The work place in these circumstances has only minor opportunities for creative understanding and much reduced satisfaction results, because of the emphasis of the automated support to the manager, resulting in reduction in discretion of the individual manager and significantly the sense of challenge, enjoyed by the manager – when providing a service to a client.

Furthermore the present emphasis, on the Minister choosing the public service as only one possible source of information and advice, has limited the advice function of the APS. No longer frank and fearless as once desired. This aspect has meant for many that the APS and other jurisdictions no longer have the trust of Ministers to do the job and a perception that public administration is loosing essential credentials to do work outside routine situations. There is no sign that this approach will change soon.

The transition of many managers to alternate employment, inside and outside their agency is not well supported, but opportunities for short courses to support personal development have been available for APS and other agencies for some years, and could possibly be of assistance but much research is needed to assist in the evaluation of these measures and their provision and to establish whether coherent benefits have resulted. Opportunities exist in the tertiary sector for example to enter the private sector or improve management skills for agencies and through courses in public administration and public policy or business, but this can be a big ask for most managers and may not be financially supported by the APS agency or other jurisdiction the staff member belongs to.

It is well established that upfront fees for such courses can be considerable, and there is at tendency for APS agencies and indeed other jurisdictions to focus on the immediate benefits stemming from the course for the work of the agency and not the development needs of the individual manager, with the result the staff member must finance his course on his own resources.

Consequently unless APS managers caught up in the glass ceiling to further advancement, can use training and education resources to develop management and leadership skills to find new opportunities, morale and productivity suffer. Furthermore with the requirement to meet deadlines now an established feature of the work place, with little prospect of time off in lieu for long hours of work, personal health must suffer, and individuals even reach the stage of burnout . The result is that the APS work place looses its attractiveness and does not sustain life time commitment, a feature of earlier years in the APS, once considered a condition of service.

Solution to these dilemmas needs to be found by the APS authorities and similar jurisdictions. Much more scope for public service in the broadest community sense needs to be reconnected to the management role and the leadership development programs rather than rely simply on the requirement that managers must focus only on agency routines to support Ministerial and Government operations, which is no longer a viable solution to APS and similar jurisdictions management and leadership solutions, if public administration is once again to have a high reputation, and be relied on to find significant solutions to problems.

This could well mean that APS and similar jurisdiction development practices, especially concerning leadership, should be broadened beyond generic management skills, to support greater creativity in the work place. Indeed the public service deal for APS managers for example that has evolved over the years, needs to include greater rewards for top management and re-examination of the approaches intended for the many APS managers and those in other jurisdictions, who have not reached top management level. It is unlikely that past conditions of service will be reinstated, because of the approaches of most sides of politics have appeared supportive of the changes, and the community appears to have supported these changes electorally. Hence the need for a better deal, which should include better monetary rewards and may be other benefits available at this stage only to counterparts in the private sector.

Opportunities for champions of the public sector to emerge are rare and unlikely. For example famous seminal works on leadership and public sector management by leading APS practioners have not emerged, perhaps because the requisite talent is not yet available and also because of the restrictions on public comment and the restrictions on creativity often found in the work place.

Thus originality and the necessary discernment have not emerged, because of the failure of APS and similar jurisdictions, to develop public service leaders who can master creatively the important synergy between community and public management concerns, using appropriate personal resources, such as conscience and inspired judgement , a much needed requisite for fresh and outstanding leadership, which could provide the insight needed for seminal works on public management to become available in this country – prepared by public sector practioners.

It should be possible but we have yet to see, many examples of public service community leadership emerge, in the APS agencies and other jurisdictions, which inspires most people to look beyond their immediate responsibilities, but the private sector has established better credentials for leadership of this type and it is about time APS agencies and similar jurisdictions, enabled and developed their managers to be enlightened enough to make such a contribution to society and be provided the appropriate rewards to do so.

Changes such as these would mean improved perception of the public sector managers as of value and lead to a fairer and more appropriate deal in conditions and rewards for them and politicians would see greater reason to trust public administration for advice and support. Otherwise the APS and similar agencies will not achieve improved status and could be come a redundant method to solve public sector issues, except of the most mundane type.