Wisdom From Public Sector Leader/Scholars

Session Submission Type: Panel Discussion

Short Description

How are successful public leaders adapting their leadership approaches to address emergent, complex issues? Senior Dutch professionals working in the public sector — who are simultaneously enrolled in institutions of higher education and conducting academic research on leadership in practice — will share how they have used leadership theory to inform or improve their leadership practice. Panelists will explore a series of questions on context, relevant theories, and bridging practice and theory, with special attention being paid to ethics in good governance. They will share insights on their experiences applying integrity leadership, adaptive leadership, dialogical leadership, servant leadership, and connective leadership theories in their daily practices.

Detailed Abstract

Session Design and Learning Outcomes
A panel of Dutch scholar practitioners will explain their leadership context, approach, and relevant theories for five different contexts. The chair will pose a series of questions to presenters around their context, relevant theories, and applications to practice in various contexts.

The chair will introduce how leadership theory and public leadership practice are linked. This common thread weaves through presentations about Dutch leadership approaches navigating the turbulence found in the public arena. The presenters are all reflective practitioners: senior professionals in the public sector who are simultaneously enrolled in institutions of higher education and are conducting academic research on leadership in practice.
Academic theory and daily practices are interrelated and combined leading to new insights, practices and questions (van Dijk, 2016). The introduction and 10 minute presentations will be followed by time for audience questions and shared experiences.
The session highlights framing that centers around the creation of learning opportunities in public leadership practice. Presenters will share how public leaders engage in action learning, learn about leadership, and center responses on learning and ethics in good governance. For instance, sustainability raised the issue of value to the public, considerations of ethics, and diverse approaches to the co-creation of solution. Relevant concepts in leadership theory informed leadership practices in the Netherlands.

Potential solutions: Using theories to improve leadership practice in context

Concept 1: Leadership for Integrity

Confluence of destructive leaders, susceptible followers, and conducive environments results in a toxic triangle (Padilla et al, 2007). The presentation will provide a case study in the public sector within the Netherlands. The organizational characteristics of organizations with a high risk of integrity violations will be discussed. Together with integrity leadership focus how to reverse this confluence.

Prof. dr. Rob van Eijbergen

Concept 2, Adaptive Leadership

Public leaders within Dutch municipalities are confronted with increasing network society. Society has become more complex and more fluid. How are they dealing with this type of changes? As it has been argued that this type of changes requires adaptive leadership, there is no guaranteed method available. Therefore, it becomes important to understand how public leaders learn in this context. This presentation presents two research practises. The first one results on developed practices by public leaders responsible for social welfare. The second one presents the results of a PhD study, on leadership practices of Dutch city managers: do they embrace adaptive leadership? Is there a gap between theory and practice?
The presentation gives insight into the gap between theory and practice, including explanatory factors of this gap and an exploration on plausible effective interventions.

Claudia van Mourik MSc, Rene Grotens PhD

Concept 3, Dialogical leadership

Local governments require social institutions to co-operate with each other to jointly demonstrate their added value and enlarge it. Public leaders have to deal with turbulence, complexity and obscurity by operating on this 'cutting edge’ of organizations, bij establishing network organisations. Little is known about the effects of this complex assignment for the individual leader as ' Self ' and its effects on the success of the co-operation in the public networks. How does the internal dialogue of public leaders develop? What are the effects of this development on the dialogue and relations between public leaders? What does this mean for committing effective interventions by leaders in the public network?

Drs. Sabine Margés

Concept 4, Servant leadership

Public managers have to cope with network complexity, shrinking distance, successive crises and diminishing resources. These rapid changes require a new kind of leadership, servant leadership: aimed at empowering, inspiring and caring.
Servant leadership in the Corporate Service of the executive organization of the Ministry of infrastructure and environment will be discussed. Do those Leaders, characterized by a history of bureaucracy and a hierarchical culture embrace servant leadership? What key individual leader characteristics are needed to be an authentic servant leader? What are the differences in the perceptions and responses to servant leaders among directors, department heads and employees?

Radenka Vucovic msc

Concept 5, Connective Leadership

A major problem in Dutch IT education is the difference between the knowledge and skills of recent graduates and the knowledge and skills that are needed in business; there is a gap between theory and practice. Especially in cyber security, educational institutions have failed to keep up with the developments in the field. The ‘Innovation Lab for Cyber Security’ features a network organisation in which three stakeholders, students, teachers and business representatives, take part to close this gap. Connective leadership approach is needed to converge interests of the involved participants. This presentation elaborates on the helping and hampering factors to make the innovation Labs work.

Reza Esmaili


Presenters will focus on critical leadership concepts to leadership practice in context:
• Integrity leadership in public organizations with high risk of integrity violations
• Concepts & Practices in Adaptive Leadership within Dutch Municipalities and social welfare
• Dialogical Leadership as in establishing network organizations ue: Auditing a Network of Responses with Diverse Stakeholders in the Public Arena
• Servant leadership as an answer to increased complexity Corporate Service of the executive organization of the Ministry of infrastructure and environment
• Connective Leadership to establish network organisation in IT College Education
Learning practitioners will share key implications and conclusions.
1. Leadership focus on integrity: to divert integrity risks in Dutch public organisations
2. Dutch Municipal leaders used adaptive leadership theory and practice in leading Dutch municipalities and in social welfare programming.
3. Individual leaders explore concepts of “self” leadership to enhance success in public multi-stakeholder networks.
4. Servant leadership development in practise, in Corporate Service Department
5. Connective leadership in network organisation in Dutch IT College Education

Sub Unit

• Public Leadership

Chair

• Gerda M. Van Dijk, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Presenters

• Rene Grotens, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Claudia van Mourik, Nieuwe Netwerken

• Sabine Marges, ProBiblio

• Radenka Vukovic, Rijkswaterstaat

• Reza Esmaili, Hogeschool van Amsterdam