The concept of leadership can be understood as the Managing team performance in pursuit of organizational goals and values through guidance and influence over individuals.Thus, in the context of the public sector, the performance of leaders is of fundamental importance for the modernization of management, since it depends above all on a cultural change and the management body is largely responsible for inspiring behavioral patterns and guiding priorities.
Given this scenario, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other organizations from various countries, including Brazil through the National School of Public Administration (ENAP), have focused their efforts on studying and developing matrices of essential competencies for high-performance leadership in the public sector. Although the listed competencies vary widely according to the context of each nation, two aspects can be noted in common:
- Focus in soft skills: Given the constant advancements and changes, technical knowledge and skills quickly become outdated and are insufficient to guarantee the quality of work performed by public sector leaders.
- Emphasis on innovation: Given a global scenario that presents multifaceted and increasingly complex challenges, high levels of innovation are required to solve public problems and meet citizens' expectations.
In this sense, the innovation dimension received special attention from the OECD, which published in 2017 the report entitled "Credential Competencies for Innovation in the Public Sector," which was recently, in 2020, referenced and used as a basis for the preparation of the publication entitled "Leadership for a High-Performance Public Service."
In the aforementioned document, the OECD defined and explored six competencies considered fundamental for promoting innovation in the public sector, which should be spearheaded by senior leadership. Let's explore them below:
- Iteration: Innovation is the ability to develop policies, services, and products incrementally and experimentally, through experimentation, testing, and the adoption of prototypes. It is related to the fact that innovation needs to be agile and allow for constant changes and adaptations.
- Data literacy: It is the ability to make decisions based on data and evidence. To ensure greater effectiveness of public actions, the study of data prior to the formulation of public policies, and not only for later evaluation, is fundamental.
- Focus on citizens: It is the ability to understand and consider the real needs of citizens in order to solve public problems or provide services. As a public agent, the leader needs to keep in mind that society is always their priority and their ultimate client;
- Curiosity: It is the ability to seek and experiment with new ideas or ways of working. Innovation only materializes through novelty, therefore an innovative public leader needs not only to be curious, but above all to stimulate and inspire curiosity in their team;
- Storytelling: It is the ability to establish communication and explain changes in a way that wins the support of the organization and the team. The engagement of other leaders and employees in a given innovation is a determining factor for its success and institutionalization: it is common in the public sector to see incredible ideas that never went forward due to lack of support;
- Insurgency: It is the ability to challenge the status quo and work with unusual patterns and partnerships. To generate innovation, the leader needs to break their own limiting beliefs and step outside their comfort zone, encouraging teams to do the same.
Finally, it is important to consider that these skills, while fundamental for the implementation of innovative actions in the public sector, are not sufficient in isolation. In other words, for them to be properly performed, they need to be accompanied by other attributes already widely addressed by the various competency matrices developed in recent times, such as strategic thinking, collaboration, and a vision for the future.
Interested in learning more? See the full version of the publication: https://www.oecd.org/media/oecdorg/satellitesites/opsi/contents/files/OECD_OPSI-core_skills_for_public_sector_innovation-201704.pdf
