7 | CSL Leadership Review . News from the CSL: The 2007 International Conference Proceedings

The Centre for Studies in Leadership (CSL) hosted an international leadership conference on “Public Sector Leadership in the 21 st Century” from May 4-5, 2007. With over 100 participants representing various levels of government, uniformed services, academia, and the private sector, the two days were interactive and multi- disciplinary. Speakers addressed the two conference themes in relation to their own organizations. This pro- vided a situational context for leadership in the public sector.

Conference Themes

Transforming the Public Service Through Leadership, Learning and Culture Change

Transforming the Public Service Through Leadership, Learning and Knowledge Transfer

The conference was held at the Lifetime Learning Centre in the historic Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) building on the University of Guelph campus. The location was ideal for a two-day dialogue on leadership and the public service. Organized sessions were conducted in the main lecture hall and break-out rooms; informal sessions emerged from the hallways, dining halls, display areas and even parking lots. The first day began with an address from Maria Barrados, President of the Public Service Commission of Canada (read comments in this issue). She stressed the difficulties in recruiting, training, and overseeing fed- eral public servants in Canada and abroad. Madame Barrados was followed by a session on the challenges of Public Sector Leadership in the 21 st century which highlighted the similarities and differences between fed- eral and provincial public service. This session explored the leadership training currently being conducted by both the federal (represented by Denise Amyot, Vice President of the Leadership Network...read comments in this issue) and Ontario (represented by Kim Bellissimo, Director of Executive Programs and Services for the Centre for Leadership and Learning ) govern- ments. Pamela Bryant ( a former Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigra- tion in the Ontario government and Fellow in the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto) also offered her perspective on the challenges public servants face. After the break, a dialogue on ethics was led by Allister MacIntyre, Associate Professor at Royal Military College, and Daniel Lagacé-Roy, Researcher at the Canadian Forces Leadership Institute. They explored the definition and meaning of ethics and ethical leadership using military education and real world military situations as case study material. They posed significant ques- tions about ethics and leadership including: “does a leader have to be ethical to be an effective leader;” “do values lead to behaviour, or does our behav- iour determine our values;” “how do leaders establish the necessary condi- tions for an environment that convey ethical conduct;” and “why do some people know what is right, yet choose to do something that is wrong?” The conversation on situational leadership continued in the afternoon ses- sions with a look back in time. This afternoon session explored public sector practices in the past and present from the perspective of political scientists Ontario Veterinary College, and historians. Richard Phidd, a CSL Associate and retired Political Science professor, explained the changes in the organization of the public service University of Guelph www.csl.uoguelph.ca 8 | CSL Leadership Review . from the 19th to 21st centuries (see Phidd et al. in this issue). Tim Mau, a CSL Associate & Assistant Profes- sor in the Department of Political Science at Guelph, and Patrice Dutil from the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University, also provided insight into the nature of the public service as an entity in the 20 th and 21 st centuries. The final session of the first day was presented by Bryan Evans and John Shields of the Department of Poli- tics and Public Administration at Ryerson University. Evans and Shields spoke of their research findings in a study that surveyed deputy and assistant deputy ministers in Ontario. The focus of the research was on the demographic makeup of the public service as a matter of great interest because of concern regarding the rep- resentativeness of the non-elected components of the state in a liberal democratic society. The questions they asked included, “how closely does the demographic profile of the public service reflect the population at large?” The study’s findings revealed that the Public Service Executive is “under-representative, when meas- ured as a mirror reflection, of women, visible minorities and aboriginals in Canadian society.” In this process, they shed light on the demographic profile of leaders in the On- tario public sector.

Day 1 of the conference closed with a banquet presentation on parliamentary leadership and the media by David Akin, Parlia- mentary Correspondent for CTV News, one of Canada’s major national television networks. Drawing heavily on his years of ex- perience on Parliament Hill, David Akin described the relationship between the media and prime ministers from Jean Chrétien to Stephen Harper, and the role of charismatic leadership in Can- ada’s highest elected position. Day 2 of the conference introduced the second of the conference themes: Leadership, Learning and Knowledge Transfer . The The Arboretum, University of Guelph featured speaker of the day, William DeMarco, CSL Research Di- Site of Conference Banquet rector, introduced his culture model for sustainable leadership transformation (see the article by Cox and DeMarco in this issue). The multi-disciplinary model, based on over twenty years of empirical study, focuses on the main elements of individual, societal and institutional cultures. This presentation set the context for the Day 2 session on transformation leadership and talent man- agement. Session 5 on “Managing Culture and Culture Change: Transformational Leadership and Talent Management” saw speakers from the Canada School of Public Service (Ruth Dantzer), the Department of Military Psychol- ogy and Leadership at Royal Military College (Al Okros), the Canadian Forces Leadership Institute (Emily Spencer), and the Department of Psychology at the University of Guelph (Karen Korabik). The late morning sessions looked more closely at community-based leadership in various service sectors in- cluding policing (Darren Smith), health care (Marina Ellinson), politics (Marva Wisdom), municipal (Frank Miele) and provincial governments (Kim Wingrove), Ontario Power Generation (Helen Spencer) and the On- tario Trillium Foundation (Tracey Robertson). All presenters stressed the importance of leadership and com- munity engagement in their respective activities and work places. Over lunch, conference attendees were treated to a look at Canadian leadership by authors Françoise Moris- sette and Amal Henein. Morissette and Henein based their presentation on their recently published book, Made in Canada Leadership (2007) which shows common Canadian characteristics of leadership and lists areas for leadership and curriculum development across the country. The afternoon sessions then took a look at the military and the media as a case study, highlighting ethics, military education, and the perception of the military in the media. Yvon Desjardins of the Defence Ethics www.csl.uoguelph.ca 9 | CSL Leadership Review .

Program at National Defence Headquarters, Steve Lukits from the Department of English at Royal Military College, and Lew Diggs, an independent management consultant, explained defence communications, me- dia, perceptions and societal opinion on the military. The last session of the conference presented a round table discussion focused on leadership education. Moderated by Julia Christensen-Hughes, the Chair of the College of Management & Economics’ Department of Business, the panel included Ian Macdonald (Past President & Vice-Chancellor, York University), Steven Cronshaw (Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Guelph), and Michael Cox (Director of the Centre for Studies in Leadership). Plenary discussion followed. In addition to presentations and discussions on leadership in the various aspects of the public sector, atten- dees also had access to some great resources including a book table with more recently published books on leadership and the public sector by publishers John Wiley and Edward Elgar, as well as information booths on the CSL, University of Guelph’s MA Leadership Program, and the College of Management of Economics.

John Wiley & Sons Canada Limited Edward Elgar Publishing Inc.

PLATO was convinced that leadership was critical, hence his rhe- torical question: “Who should rule us?” His answer to the question was the wisest, and so he concentrated on leadership selection rather than leadership development. But while this approach has

proved very useful for the individual careers of those with Plato’s “gold” flowing through their veins, it has proved inadequate to the resolution of the complex cross-sector problems that increasingly bedevil the public sector, such as the care of children, drug misuse

and antisocial behaviour. 1 - Keith Grint

1Grint, K. (2005). The Times: Keith Grint on public sector leadership . Retrieved November 29, 2007 from http:// www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/news/timesgrintopinion/ www.csl.uoguelph.ca 10 | CSL Leadership Review

News from the CSL:News Recent from Research the CSL: & Related Activities

The 2007 International Conference Photo Gallery

Public Sector Leadership in the 21st Century:

An interactive multi-disciplinary two-day conference on “What’s Working?” “What’s Not” “What Can Be Done?”

May 4th - 5th, 2007

University of Guelph

www.csl.uoguelph.ca 11 | CSL Leadership Review

www.csl.uoguelph.ca 12 | CSL Leadership Review .

www.csl.uoguelph.ca 13 | CSL Leadership Review .

CSL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SPEAKER LIST

DAY 1 DAY 2 John Walsh, Vice-Provost and Chief Academic and Executive Officer, Steve Cronshaw, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Guelph-Humber University of Guelph Maria Barrados, President, Ruth Dantzer, President and CEO, Public Service Commission of Canada Canada School of Public Service Denise Amyot, Vice-President, The Leadership Network, Al Okros, Associate Professor, Department of Military Psychology and Leadership, Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada Royal Military College Kim Bellissimo, Director, Executive Programs and Services, Emily Spencer, Research Officer, Canadian Forces Leadership Institute, Centre for Leadership and Learning, Government of Ontario Canadian Defence Academy

Pamela Bryant, Fellow and Senior Advisor, School of Public Policy and Governance, Karen Korabik, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto University of Guelph

Michael Cox, Director, Centre for Studies in Leadership, Kim Wingrove, Communities in Transition, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, University of Guelph Government of Ontario

Allister MacIntyre, Associate Professor, Department of Military Psychology and Leadership, Marva Wisdom, Constituency Manager, Royal Military College of Canada Office of Liz Sandals, MPP

Daniel Lagacé-Roy, Researcher, Canadian Forces Leadership Institute, Helen Spencer, Acting Manager, Performance Improvement, Canadian Defence Academy Ontario Power Generation Richard Phidd, Associate, Centre for Studies in Leadership, Frank Miele, Commissioner of Economic/Technology Development & Communications, University of Guelph City of Vaughan

Tim Mau, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Geoff Smith, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean, University of Guelph College of Management and Economics, University of Guelph

Patrice Dutil, Associate Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Darren Smith, Superintendent of Training & Education, Ryerson University Unit Commander of Charles O. Bick Police College, Toronto Police Service William DeMarco, Research Director and Editor, Centre for Studies in Leadership, Marina Ellinson, Executive Director, Central West, University of Guelph Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) Bryan Evans, Associate Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Tracey Robertson, Regional Program Manager, Waterloo, Wellington and Dufferin, Ryerson University Ontario Trillium Foundation John Shields, Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Françoise Morissette, Faculty and Fellow, IRC, Queen’s University and Associate, Ryerson University Centre for Studies in Leadership, University of Guelph Chris McKenna, Dean, College of Management and Economics, Amal Henein, HR Consultant University of Guelph

David Akin, Gemini Award-Winning Parliamentary Correspondent, Yvon Desjardins, Director, Defence Ethics Program, CTV News Canadian National Defence Headquarters

L.H. Diggs, Independent Management Consultant,

L. H. Diggs Consulting Services Steve Lukits, Professor, Department of English,

Royal Military College of Canada

Julia Christensen-Hughes, Chair, Department of Business,

College of Management and Economics, University of Guelph

H. Ian Macdonald, O.C., Director, Master of Public Administration Program,

Schulich School of Business, York University www.csl.uoguelph.ca