HR Pulse

Leadership development in the Western Cape Government

When the Western Cape Government (WCG) set out to develop their brand of leadership across several layers of their hierarchy, they had some specific requirements for the intervention. Director-General in the Western Cape Government Advocate B. Gerber says, "Leadership excellence is an important element of the WCG people strategy in order to support a vision-led and values driven approach."

Because of the importance placed on leadership, the WCG looked for a “meaningful and practical organisational leadership development intervention to capacitate WCG managers with the necessary skills and insight to enable a culture shift that will drive world class organisational performance towards serving people," explains Advocate Gerber.

The WCG’s website says that they create laws and provide services to the people of the Western Cape. It explains, “We work closely with the national government and municipalities in the Western Cape to ensure that the citizens of the province have access to the services, facilities and information they need. We are committed to delivering an open opportunity society for all."

The WCG consists of 13 departments and is responsible for managing a budget of R33,2bn (2010). They serve 5.4m people in a province with the lowest unemployment rate in South Africa.

In the WCG, Advocate Berber believes that, “All leaders have a responsibility to help align the organisational culture to the vision, and to do so consistently in their individual spheres of influence."

Melanie Kiley, who was selected by the WCG as the master-facilitator in the leadership intervention, says, “The WCG recognises that organisational viability depends in part on effective leadership. Effective leaders engage in both professional leadership behaviours and personal leadership behaviours. I agree with Edgar Schein’s position that the role of leaders in successful organisations cannot be underestimated. The impact of leadership on organisational effectiveness is well documented in local and international research."

Initial services from external consultants included the up-front transferring of skills to employees of the WCG. Internal facilitators were accredited through a Facilitator Accreditation workshop, enabling WCG facilitators to deliver the intervention. There were multiple benefits to this approach, according to Kiley.

“Firstly, it prevented open-ended dependence on external consultants which does so much damage to the internal capability of an organisation. Secondly, it enabled people to take on the challenging task of developing leadership with the confidence of a proven model behind them. Thirdly, as their confidence has grown, facilitation team members have been able to apply the facilitation skills they learned in the leadership programme to other interventions, multiplying the impact of the initial intervention,” says Kiley.

“In addition”, says Kiley, “what was memorable for the facilitators was the opportunity to see the transformation unfold in front of their eyes. The facilitation team and I have been privileged to observe the change in their delegates, their conversations and their commitment over the last year."

From a delegate perspective, the challenge set by the WCG for the intervention was tough. The intervention needed to:

•  Apply a consistent process
   
•  Over a long term
   
•  Addressing multiple hierarchical levels
   
•  That would adapt naturally to the context of each group

Kiley explains, “The chosen intervention consists of nine facilitated conversations that occur within a small peer group comprising up to ten people. In each conversation, participants share and learn from one another’s leadership challenges and successes. The conversations address a series of topics that span organisational, team and personal leadership themes. Through that process, participants are guided to co-create ideas and solutions from their shared learning."

The results, according to the particants, have been remarkable. Kiley shared that it has served as a catalyst for change management in the WCG, enabling greater levels of communication, trust, enrolment and employee engagement. “The process highlighted the ‘work’ that the leaders need to do within the key leadership dimensions of vision; community; alignment; leading teams; developing individuals, and developing themselves as leaders,” says Kiley. 

Building on the notion of leadership as a choice, the participants chose to contribute and commit to their own leadership journey, enabling personal, team and organisational transformation. Through the process, the leadership cells grew closer together, building spirit and connection and a sense of appreciation for each other’s roles. Doors of communication have opened and real, refreshing and authentic conversations took place, enabling straight talk, openness and ownership.

“Many participants felt that the intervention had impacted their personal lives positively, where they could see positive changes outside of the workplace. An example, was where one participant fell ill and was supported through his recovery by the valuable journaling tool that was introduced during the nine-month intervention. In addition, the Western Cape Government leaders embraced the notion of leadership being a choice and not a position, which broke down the feelings of ‘separateness’ and ‘us vs. them’,” concludes Kiley.