The drive to achieve greater efficiency out of public sector resources has led to a perceived need for recruiting individuals with important commercial skills such as an ability to innovate, effective resource management, project management and risk management.
Trends such as the drive towards partnership working in local government, a need for tighter financial management in the health sector, and a focus on driving value in central government are all creating a growing requirement for many behaviours that are associated with senior management in the private sector.
What are the most significant competencies required in the public sector? How do these requirements vary across different parts of the public sector?
Most importantly - is the public sector attracting people with the skills that they need?
I agree with Rob Roberts, that public sector management tends to lack core business skills, but also the ability to lead. There is a tendency to promote based on technical competence, which means they lose two different ways; first, taking a good worker out of the staff pool, and second, not preparing them properly for their management position. Developing leaders who can enthuse their people will go a long way to revitalising the “disillusioned idealists”, and give them the ability make the difference they came to the public sector to deliver.
I TOTALLY agree with Nick Towe’s sentiments. I have I am told, substantial transferable skills including strategy creation, implementation and development; change management; and communications. I am on the verge of giving up my search and remaining in the private sector, where my skill set seems to be appreciated. I’ve even tried the more junior opportunities approach, with a view to working up the promotion scale - forget it, it’s the ‘over qualified’ retort.
I totally concur with (nearly) all comments,it is clear from the “outside” that the public sector needs structured senior private management experience.
As posted by Nick Towe, I am also looking to be moving into the (local) public sector, however the barriers put up by the public sector are sufficient to keep private sector experience out (by insisting on public sector experience)
The synical amongst us would supect a convenient way not to cause too much change quickly, slowly does it, although change experience requirements features in every advert
I am looking at moving to the public sector from Board level in the private sector. I am finding that all of the roles I look at ask for public sector experience and they don’t seem willing to consider transferable skills. If the public sector really wants private sector skills, they need to be more open minded.
I’m in the ‘private’ sector and considering a move to the public sector, partly to be more involved in contributing to the social fabric of the country, and also because it seems there are real opportunities for those with commercial experience, including (as echoed on this blog) those with leadership and strategic experience, and an ability to integrate multi-disciplinary teams.
It is slightly depressing to discover that many in the public sector are disillusioned idealists, overwhelmed by constant new initiatives and demanding consumers, and it would be interesting to know whether this is the right impression, and if so whether those from ‘outside’ the sector have proved an ability to cope.
It seems to me that public sector managers lack core business skills. Some may have a good technical or even political background, but good business/financial planning skills and the ability to inspire your workforce seem to me to be considered less important. Business and financial planning is a good example. The private sector has a better focus on (a few clear) objectives (which are much more complex than making a simple profit), its activities to achieve those objectives, and the targets that everyone concerned can relate to.
Given the need for increased focus on the specific needs of communties, and the contraction of resources to meet those needs, improved skills in the areas of business and financial planning are a must.
As someone who went from senior management in retail to Acting Assistant Chief Executive for the London Borough of Lambeth I can state, from first hand experience, that there are a number of skills shortages in the public sector. The whole area of business intelligence and a commecial mind-set is just one example of where the public sector could improve. The private sector motive of making a profit is accentuated by either growing sales or reducing costs. Within the public sector, local authority level, there are initiatives that come down from central government, like the Comprehensive Spending Review and a 2.5% cost reduction requirement, but they don’t go far enough nor challenge the spending of authorities with enough rigour. Another area of skills development, even though this has changed for the better recently, is the lack of programme and project management skills along with fundamental change management techniques.
Having worked on the business/commercial development side of the public sector for a number of years, the skills gaps I have identified on a number of occasions include: leadership and management; negotiation and influencing skills, strategic problem solving and finally, basic business skills in terms of what motivates and drives business and how public & private work together [i.e. what are the basic building blocks required for mutually beneficial deals]. As public sector funding becomes more competitive - successful organisations are going to be those that can diversify their income streams through working across with public/private landscape
Many private sector organisations (esp “blue chip”) invest heavily in the individual leadership development of their highest potential people - to a much greater extent than the private sector does. When people move across the public sector can access that. The private sector has historically prized and developed eg project management disiplines to a greater extent (bit of a generalisation but it holds at a general level). As the public sector develops more sophisticated commercial relationships there is scope for folk with comemrcial expertise to add value in the public sector.
However, sometimes when people say they want a private sector approach they actual want private sector pace, but private sector pace emerges partly from features which have been specifically designed out of some public sector processes (eg robust accountability for spending of public money - rigorous consultation etc).
I think that genuine leadership skills are important, particularly in those public sector environments that are experiencing the most change. The old “heroic” notions of leadership are not appropriate here - it is important to prioritise engagement and collaboration and be expert in bringing about change through the winning of hearts and minds.