Creating a Culture of Leadership: Lessons, Experiences and Food for Thought?

1. Creating a Culture of Leadership: Lessons, Experiences and Food for Thought? Professor Andrew Beer Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional PlanningSchool of Social Science University of Adelaide

2. Introduction • Conventional wisdom in Australia • Alternative perspectives from Europe • How can Australia move forward with leadership for and through regions • Conclusions

3. The Conventional Wisdom in Australia • The Australian understanding is: • Largely derived from business studies into the nature, origin and functioning of ‘leaders’ • Often trait focussed on individualistic accounts • Leaders seen to be the ‘vision holder’, able to communicate with the broader community • Leaders able to mobilise resources independent of formal governmental processes • Focussed on entrepreneurs and those working with the private sector • Often presented within the context of individual action or group action, independent of the structures of government • Inclined to overlook the formal processes of politics, • though not in all cases (Sorenson, Gray).

4. The Conventional Wisdom in Australia • At a program level: • Regional leadership in Australia often encouraged by governments, with schemes in place now or in the recent past in WA, SA and Queensland • Non government organisations also active • Links to a ‘self help’ ethos and policies that encourage communities to create their own future • Leadership is subsequently often conceived as something operating at a very local scale

5. The Conventional Wisdom in Australia • An example of success: • Revival of fisheries and development of an aquaculture cluster in Port Lincoln, SA • Led by the ‘cappuccino’ club of tuna boat owners • Wealthy, immigrants, high profile • Significant investment in pen rearing of tuna, leading to investment in abalone, mussels, sardines, an integrated supply chain

8. Alternative Perspectives from Europe • Emphasis on the leadership of regions or places is differentiated from conventional accounts of leadership in business • Greater focus on public sector leadership and the role public agencies can play in initiating change • In the context of a larger public sector, European Union, adoption of subsidiarity, often unitary states • Regions and regional leadership as metropolitan as well as a non metropolitan phenomenon

9. Alternative Perspectives from Europe • Leadership often seen to be comprised of networks of agents or actors, including regional development professionals • Explicit attention paid to relationships between leaders and central governments • Leadership not constituted in individuals, but often held collectively • And often enacted on a large scale: populations of a million or more

10. Understanding Regional Leadership in Europe • An example of success – • Advantage of West Midlands • Established when BMW sold out of MG Rover • Created to prepare West Midlands for life post MG Rover • Reduced total regional impact of MG Rover closure in 2005 by 100,000 workers by diversifying regional economy • 90 per cent of redundant MG Rover workers in full time employment after 12 months • Significant role more recently in responding to the global financial crisis and subsequent economic recession

11. Leadership as a Relay • Soturatua • innovation in both the public and private spheres often involves a ‘relay’ of leaders • individuals and groups may be important, and play varying roles, over different time periods • In his work on the development of a stem cell jaw he noted a chain of actors • Regional development academics • Economic development practitioners • Government officials and hospital administrators • Stem cell researchers • Surgeons • Regional development academics • Economic development practitioners

12. Regional Leadership in Australia and Europe Compared • Australia • Small scale, community focussed • Community building • Private sector orientation • Short term success possible, but long term? • Independent of government processes • Leadership as a characteristic of individuals • Weak relationship with politics and governance • Europe • Large scale • Perhaps community blind • Embraces both public and private sectors • Significant engagement by professionals • Capacity for both short term and long term success • Leadership as an achievement of groups • Diffuse, shared, enduring • Engagement with formal politics and government

13. Moving Forward – Leadership Costs • Leadership costs • Time, effort and money • How can we distribute those costs? • Vail – distributed across individuals and across time • Vail’s leadership has been an on-going sequence

14. Moving Forward – Is it Hierarchical? • Leadership is often presented as something bestowed from above by the great and the good • Often eulogised individuals • But there are other models of leadership – ‘the leadership of the led’ (Collinge 2010) drawn from work on the ATLAS project • Leadership is often shared, a network of actors and leaders • Eg the Vail video of development in the 1960s

15. Moving Forward • Perspectives that emphasise the role of the charismatic, transformational leader leave little ground for leadership development • Independent reviews of leadership programs in Australia are not flattering • Perspectives that emphasise the process of leadership contain scope for a more systematic approach • Developing and strengthening the supply chain of innovation • Building the vision across sector for the region or place • Engaging with different agents, at varying points of time for diverse roles • Collective ‘ownership’ of the vision • Capacity for professional support for that vision and engagement with government

16. Moving Forward – Leadership can be Learned - by Groups and Individuals • Role of tacit and formalised knowledge • Learning to take and manage risk, to share a vision, and to look belong obstacles • Something Australians do poorly • Success in leadership can feed upon itself • But it is an episodic process • Important to plan for succession • Not present in Port Lincoln

17. Moving Forward • Rethinking leadership as a property of communities of interest rather than individuals empowers places • Can work for, and toward, leadership • Recognises the roles of paid leaders • Acknowledges the differentiated but equally important parts people play • Accepts and defines roles for both the public and private sector

18. Conclusion • Australians often fail to acknowledge the importance of leadership in our regions • We know leadership takes time and effort, but we often focus on the qualities of leaders, rather than the quantity of their work • A more systematic approach to leadership both sheds more light on the issue, and can help all regions grow and become more creative