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Public Sector Delivery Challenges – can ‘Conversations’ make a difference?
According to the director of Forensic Health Services in South Africa's Free State province, the answer is yes.The current ‘global meltdown' will exacerbate the challenge of addressing the public's expectations of service delivery and declining confidence in the ability of the public sector to deliver services. This challenge should be seen as an opportunity for leaders in the sector to engage its employees in methods to change negative perceptions through improved, visible service delivery. Dr Mofalali Monatisa, director of Forensic Health Services in the Free State, says that, through the Nine Conversations in Leadership™ intervention, he has noticed a change in the attitudes of his colleagues. "Those working through the conversations have matured in their attitudes and have been able to take on more responsibilities. They are definitely more promotable and their 'can-do' attitude is going to ensure the success of my department," he says.
Consulting Director of WorldsView™ Consulting, Ngoa Motsei, says that the Nine Conversations in Leadership™ intervention assisted the Forensic Health Services department of the Free State department of Health on its transformational journey after the transfer of the Forensic Health Services department from the South African Police Service. She says that the organisation's employees constitute the key audience that needs to be reached in the context of creating sustainable delivery and results.
"Employee engagement is necessary to inspire and sustain the high level of commitment needed for improving delivery on the ground. When employees are fully engaged, that promotes a symbiotic relationship. When employees feel that they matter, they make a difference. They care about their role in contributing to the success of the organisation, which, in turn, leads to increased productivity," says Motsei.
Through its best-practice conversations-based transformational interventions, WorldsView™ Consulting is partnering with the public sector to address some of the many challenges. One of the interventions is the Nine Conversations in Leadership™ which acts as a catalyst for long-term leadership development throughout the organisation. Unlike other leadership programmes, the Nine Conversations in Leadership™ intervention works at the levels of 'knowing, being and doing' – head, heart and hands – to achieve holistic leadership growth. The conversations take place over a period of time, with application in the workplace to ensure that participants are not isolated from the environment for which they are responsible.
The Nine Conversations in Leadership™ intervention adapts to the organisation's context and that of the participating members in a collective approach that narrows the ‘leadership divide'. Another WorldsView™ Consulting intervention, which Motsei says is catalytic in enhancing employee and team engagement, is Purposeful Teams™ – a powerful and participative intervention that moves teams to purpose-led execution of tasks.
One of the sessions in the Institute of People Management (IPM) 52nd Annual Convention, held at Sun City from 4-7 November 2008, was a workshop entitled ‘Public Sector Engagement for Sustainable Delivery and Results'. The workshop was facilitated by Motsei, who has extensive experience as an organisational development intervener and as a team and leadership development facilitator. She has also served at senior management level in various public service enterprises and consults on strategic challenges to public and private corporations, non-governmental organisations and international development agencies.
"We will be demonstrating the benefits of using strategic conversations in a creative process that leads to collaborative dialogue, sharing of knowledge and the creation of possibilities for action. This conversation-based approach is a deliberate method of having conversations that matter, around key questions that focus on bringing the participants closer to desired solutions," says Motsei.