I recently attended a debate and dinner arranged by the Guardian newspaper and the British Association of Social Workers at the National Children and Adult Services Conference in Bournemouth. The debate was entitled "Dangerous deficits? Fixing leadership and management gaps in social care practice" and was very capably chaired by David Brindle the Public Services Editor at The Guardian.
The premise of the debate was that we are lacking leadership in social care at a crucial time, when demands on social services are going up and funding is going down. Front line staff are under increasing pressure and morale is low. Whilst the focus was on social care the themes discussed would be familiar across all public sector services as well the private sector.
The “leadership gap” reference to social care has equal resonance in children’s services. These were some of the insights that had an impact on me:
- The sector as a whole is heavily regulated which makes decision-making risk averse at a time when leaders need to become more innovative in their thinking. Innovation and risk aversion pull in opposite directions, hence the implicit challenge posed in the title of the debate.
- There is a culture of avoiding failure rather than driving success. This leads to a conservative approach to problem solving.
- Leaders are more comfortable being good administrators (nobody got fired for following the rules) rather than creative thinkers and inspirational people managers (which is what front line staff want and need).
- Leadership doesn't have to come from the top. Managers need to be able to spot people at all levels who can drive good practice and inspire others (both staff and the broader community).
Regulation is absolutely necessary but it can hinder the ability of individuals to grow, to trust their own judgement. This has consequences. It leads to bureaucracy which can mean slower than ideal response time to problems; this impacts on efficiency and adds more cost to already underfunded services.
Lack of resources is a common problem. However, there is an acknowledgement that “austerity” is a given. Funding cuts are here to stay but solutions still need to be found. Energy needs to be focused on innovation, more creative ways to deal with challenges. The conundrum is that innovation in highly regulated sectors is not easy.
Managers don’t have a monopoly on new ideas. Leaders can be found throughout the organisation and the wider community. There are many talented and committed people on the front line. The task of management is to search out and find ways to support these people; giving them authority to act on their judgement; enabling them to be motivated by the rewards of success rather than fear of failure.
This will require the sort of cultural shift in organisations which many will struggle with. The impression I got from sitting in on the debate was that there were many managers willing to try.