GUEST COLUMN.

Though it’s difficult to generalize, one field in which it appears that the public sector is outpacing the private sector, is in an emerging leadership style, called “facilitative leadership.”

A facilitative leader brings out the best in others, fostering their ability to grow and embrace their unique talents, skills and power. These bosses aren’t afraid to collaborate or to let others shine. 

The public sector is the perfect environment to grow this leadership style, and it benefits greatly from it.  When serving the public, we align on a mission that can be more meaningful than a corporate bottom line, as we seek to make a difference in our communities. This is the fuel facilitative leaders use to inspire their teams. Empowering others makes a leader in the public sector more effective as we seldom have enough staff to take on the work – sharing responsibility and decision making is a force multiplier. 

When I was in government, I was lucky to have bosses who perfectly exemplify this leadership style – National Institute of Justice  Director Jeremy Travis in the federal government and Massachusetts Public Safety Secretary Edward Flynn in state government. 

Even now, in academia. I’ve found a facilitative leader boss in Stephen Goldsmith, Professor of Urban Policy, at the Harvard Kennedy School and one-time mayor of Indianapolis.  They took time to get to know my skills and interests while providing encouragement and the right amount of challenge so that I could grow.  Importantly, they enjoyed my success as much as or more than I did and provided their full support when the risks I took didn’t pan out.

What can a public sector manager do to grow this skill?  Here are four things I recommend that any manager start to do now:

1: Identify strengths of each team member.  By identifying where and how each team member wants to grow, and then nurturing that, a manager unlocks the potential for greater organizational impact. So, ask each team member what skills they have that are either not being used or are underutilized and build on those. This also helps map out where to create mentorship among the team.

2: Celebrate every success.  I still have a note on DOJ letterhead from 20 years ago that says “Nice job!” in the boss’ unmistakable handwriting. How many seconds did that take him?  I don’t recall what task merited his praise, but I remember how it felt.

Does anyone quit a job because they hate to be appreciated? Probably not, and there are many ways to acknowledge a job well done, or a strong effort when the result doesn’t turn out as planned.  Everyone at some point took their first steps and probably got shrieks of joy and encouragement from caregivers, which fed desire to take a few more steps. We likely didn’t get scolded for stumbling but rather got celebrated again once we got back upright. This focus on positive progress is key for facilitative leaders. 

3: Ask everyone for input.  Sometimes the best ideas come from surprising places – Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing when he came up with the automobile assembly line after seeing a Chicago slaughterhouse.  If we restrict ourselves to our own and our team’s ideas, we miss out. Former Motorola CEO Bob Galvin had a rule that to be admitted to a brainstorming meeting with him you had to bring 100 ideas. Why? Because no one gets to 100 ideas with their usual thought process – we are forced to generate unexpected ideas, and to get input from others.

A great example from government comes from Goldsmith, who said, “While mayor of Indianapolis, I used to walk around offices and talk to field crews, asking them what one thing they would change to improve their jobs. Almost everyone had a worthwhile idea.” Managers can start by making every team member feel welcomed to contribute in the way that is comfortable for them – not everyone wants to speak up in a meeting, so a good manager solicits input via multiple channels and gives people sufficient time to develop their thoughts. A benefit of soliciting input widely is increased buy-in for resulting decisions.

4: Own failure and use it to learn

I worked at the US Department of Justice during the tenure of Attorney General Janet Reno.  Only a month into the job, she ordered the operation to liberate the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.  This miserable failure resulted in 76 deaths including 20 children. The courage and integrity of her response still stun me, "I approved the plan, and I am responsible. The buck stops with me."  How can we as workaday public managers adopt this approach?  We can start with admitting small (or large) mistakes, setting an example for our teams and demonstrating for others how to learn from instead of shy away from mistakes.  Humility and humanity build respect while setting a tone of continuous improvement. 

The contents of this Guest Column are those of the author, and not necessarily Barrett and Greene, Inc

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