Capability Reviews: Progress and Next Steps - The Civil Service

In their recent 12-month stocktake of the department’s progress since the originalreport, the review team commented that “there had been a significant and positivetransformation at director level. Below that level, an increasingly strengthenedleadership community was being created, with each SCS member accepting atleast one corporate responsibility which went beyond their day-to-dayresponsibilities.” They highlighted, by way of example, “the improvements that hadbeen made in delivering strong board cohesion and effective leadership for whichthe executive team could take particular credit”.’Where departments are making less progress, we are seeing:• slower progress in making appointments to key leadership roles, including roleswith oversight and leadership of change;• little impact by non-executive directors;• a lack of clarity on individual roles on boards and on the board’s collectiveresponsibilities; and• a lack of real engagement in leadership in the department beyond board leveland their immediate reports.What is most difficult for departments in improving leadership?The biggest challenges are:• Leading change. Change leadership is difficult for departments. Expertise inchange is not recognised as a profession or specific skill within government, andconsequently some boards have found it difficult to understand how to lead andresource the complex change programmes emerging from the Capability Reviewsand other drivers. Whilst there has been progress in this area, this is by no meansuniversal. Increasingly, departments are appointing experienced specialists, withpositive results; but in some departments managing a change programme is notyet seen as a role requiring particular skills. Departments need to develop theirown capability and skills in this area and not rely on external appointment.Currently skills in leading change are not widespread in departments, and thosewith such skills are not always effectively deployed.• Getting the most out of non-executive directors (NEDs). Many departmentshave appointed new NEDs and there is now a strong cadre of external expertscommitted to improving their departments and the Civil Service as a whole. It isstill, however, early days, and we do not yet see NEDs consistently playing astrong challenge and support role for boards. The potential of this group is yetto be fully realised.• Clarity about the role of boards. The concept of Civil Service boards acting asmore than a representative forum, with the key relationships being vertical, is stillrelatively new. Many boards have slimmed down and become significantly morestrategic. But we are still seeing some departments struggling to articulate andenact a distinctive and value-adding role for the board, particularly aroundeffective leadership and decision making.30COMMON CAPABILITY GAPS: PROGRESS AND NEXT STEPS