Canadian Government Executive - Volume 21 - Issue 8

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October 2015 // Canadian Government Executive / 9
Leadership
important that we take the time to ex-
plain the benefits of doing things differ-
ently, and to make the case for change
as opposed to simply imposing it.
• As leaders, we are modeling behaviour
and values whenever we are in contact
with staff and managers, whether that
involves offering tough advice to politi-
cal leaders when they might rather not
hear it; working collaboratively and
sharing information across boundaries;
treating everyone around us with re-
spect; and recognizing the work public
servants do every day and the struggles
they experience in getting the job done.
I still bump into some former colleagues
who remember me from a short con-
versation years ago in which I either
thanked them, or commiserated with
them on seeing months of hard work set
aside by a change in political direction.
Seemingly small and fleeting gestures
have a lasting impact.
All of these things are fairly straight-for-
ward and are practiced in part or in whole
by a number of managers and leaders, but
not enough of them, and not consistently.
I’m just saying that we need leaders to
lead.
Together, with the importance of grow-
ing the strength of leadership in the pub-
lic sector, the overall premise of the book
is that if we can do a relatively small
number of things really well and capital-
ize on their synergies, public servants can
accomplish great things. Citizens should
expect no less.
Tony D ean served as Secretary to
Cabinet in Ontario from 2002 to 2009
and now teaches public administra-
tion at the graduate School of Public
Policy and Governance at the Univer-
sity of Toronto.
“All of these things are fairly straight-forward and are practiced in part or
in whole by a number of managers and leaders but not enough of them,
and not consistently. I’m just saying that we need leaders to lead.”
T E L FER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT UN I V ERS I T Y OF OT TAWA
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