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Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive Insight Days SUMMARY Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive Insight Days SUMMARY REPORT Learning at the highest level “It’s great to spend time with someone in a completely different business but who still has the same problems as you do. It gives you a sense that this is a shared endeavour. We are quite different but there is a huge amount that is shared. You have to go abroad sometimes to appreciate your own country; it reminds you about what matters.” Dame Ursula Brennan, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice The Whitehall & Industry Group Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive Insight Days Learning at the highest level INTRODUCTION The purpose of the independent charity, The Whitehall & Industry Group (WIG), is to build learning between the public, private and not-for-profit sectors for the public good. It does this through a wide range of briefings and workshops, cross-sector placements and leadership development programmes. This year WIG celebrates its 30th anniversary and to mark the occasion it developed a new programme of mutual learning between top leaders in the public and private sectors. The Insight Days programme consisted of thirteen pairings between Chief Executives and Permanent Secretaries, each spending a day in each other’s organisation. All participants volunteered to take part and the pairings were selected by WIG to avoid conflicts of interest. A full list of participants can be found at the back of this report. Through a combination of questionnaires and telephone interviews, participants provided feedback on the experience and the learning achieved. OVERVIEW Overall, this learning programme has shown that: 1. There is much in common in the challenge of leading large, complex organisations, irrespective of the sector. As Dame Ursula Brennan, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice (MoJ), said: We are grappling with similar problems but in a different context. Michel Van der Bel, Managing Director, Microsoft UK, put it in a similar way: The language used and the subjects under discussion were all very similar – how to change behaviour for culture change; how to do more with less; getting people behind why we do the things we do; managing the pressures. Richard Heaton, Permanent Secretary and First Parliamentary Counsel, Cabinet Office, observed: There was a large amount of read-across, an opportunity to compare and contrast the types and levels of complexity of working in government or industry. The importance of people performance and how we do it, in particular. 2. The similarities outweigh the differences. As Mark Price, Managing Director, Waitrose, put it: I was struck by the number of similar themes including cost efficiency, embracing technology, managing risk and I think as a consequence there’s scope for shared learning. Change management, project management, managing the workforce, managing big IT projects. There is lots and lots in common. Or as Chris Wormald, Permanent Secretary, Department for Education (DfE) said: The Insight Day broke down a lot of myths about the differences between the sectors. There is a great deal in common for leaders of large organisations, whatever the sector. The main similarity is keeping control of a large, complex organisation. 3. The mutual learning was valuable and a worthwhile use of top management time. At this level, the ultimate test of the value of any learning programme was whether or not the participants felt it had been a worthwhile use of their time. All agreed that their Insight Day provided them with valuable learning and, when scored on an index of 1 to 10, the value was assessed on average as 8 out of 10. The learning was assessed as valuable both to them as individuals and to their organisations, and the shadowing format over the two separate days served the purpose well. Many participants were, in fact, surprised by how much they learnt and all would recommend a similar programme of cross-sector learning to others. The whole experience was valuable in helping me to understand just how much pressure the retail industry is currently under and what impact government policy can have; but also, I think, in helping to showcase for Justin, a leading private sector CEO, how interesting, varied and important the work of the Civil Service is. Sir Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service KEY AREAS OF LEARNING The key areas of learning from the programme fell into seven broad headings as below. These are detailed in the report under Main Findings. 1. Learning and personal development for top leaders; 2. Value of understanding the other sector better; 3. Change, innovation and the role of technology; 4. People and talent development; 5. Engagement with stakeholders; 6. Strategy and prioritisation; 7. Structure, governance and risk. MAIN FINDINGS 1. Learning and personal development for top leaders The following comments by Chief Executives and Permanent Secretaries illustrate how they found their Insight Days to be a valuable learning opportunity: From a personal development point of view it was very rewarding. In particular it was fascinating to see another leader facing similar challenges whilst operating in a different plane. There are uncanny similarities. Nigel Stein, Chief Executive, GKN It was really useful. And very unusual. To spend time with someone else running a big organisation; to share thoughts on organisational design; business delivery and much more. For me to spend a day with a permanent secretary learning how government works; how the department works; how they deal with issues. It was a fantastic insight that you’re not going to get very often; learning is difficult to achieve in any other way. Mark Price, Managing Director, Waitrose It was very good to see someone else doing what you do but in a different context, providing a different and useful perspective. It makes you feel less alone. It was also good to be able to talk to him as a peer objectively without the complexities of a similar conversation with another civil servant. I’m sure this was mutual. Martin Donnelly, Permanent Secretary, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Experiencing first-hand another leader’s environment in another sector really helped their understanding: It was a great opportunity, very open and engaging, and it has given me a wider understanding of government. The cross-sector learning in particular was so useful. We work a lot with government and it really helps to understand the pressures they are under. Also, you must fight insularity! Ian King, Chief Executive, BAE Systems It gave them an opportunity to learn from another leader as well as make organisational comparisons: We, as the tax administrator, can get stuck into thinking we’re unique. We do some benchmarking with other countries and organisations but the Insight Day has widened my view about where useful comparisons can be made. If I’m honest I thought my visit would give me the opportunity to see another leader at work and I did learn from Steve as an individual because he is a powerful leader. But I also learnt that our two businesses have enough in common to provide many areas of learning, it really widened my view. Lin Homer, Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) The learning was valuable despite the relatively brief timescale: The relatively short exposure works well and is of value at this level. It would not have been so useful earlier in my career when you need to go for a longer period, a set piece secondment. But at Permanent Secretary/CEO level this shorter, focused exposure is very valuable. Chris Wormald, Permanent Secretary, Department for Education (DfE) A number of participants mentioned how singular leadership roles are; how it can be lonely at the top: I was reminded of the isolated nature of the leader, how important it is to find personal support and resilience. Richard Heaton, Permanent Secretary and First Parliamentary Counsel, Cabinet Office 2. Value of understanding the other sector better There was universal agreement amongst the Chief Executives and Permanent Secretaries interviewed that there was enormous value in getting to know and understand the other sector better; it was viewed that the two-way aspect of the Insight Days was also important: Cross sector exchange can only be positive; understanding how Whitehall works is really valuable. Justin King, (formerly) Chief Executive, Sainsbury’s It is always really useful to have a day stepping back and seeing how others go about life. Observing another organisation makes you see your own in a different light at any age or stage of your career. I think it’s a really good idea and I don’t think we do enough of this kind of thing. It leads to a better understanding between the corporate world and government and that has to be a good thing. I think it’s also really important to do it two-way as both sides learn on both occasions. Mark Lowcock, Permanent Secretary, Department for International Development (DFID) For many, the Insight Days provided an honest and in-depth exposure to their counterpart’s world: Absolutely the Insight Day was valuable learning. It was of immense benefit. I liked the authenticity of it. I’m glad it was not structured or prescribed to me. I saw it in the raw, that’s much more me. It was a great privilege and opened my eyes to a lot. It’s always good to learn. Yes, you still learn when you are a CEO but you may not always admit it! Well done for putting the programme together. Ian King, Chief Executive, BAE Systems Much debunking of myths and stereotypes was reported: Like any institution you have a preconceived view and it’s very interesting to counter that with a real overview and insight into the mechanics of government, how it actually works.
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