Central Government Partnership Network, 8- 9 October 2024

In today’s fast-paced world, trust and transparency have emerged as the cornerstones of effective leadership. But how can leaders cultivate these values in central government?

At our 2024 CGPN event, Tina Churcher, Chief Delivery Officer at DVSA Digital and Data, Yorath Turner, Chief Operating Officer (Digital) in the Scottish Government and Paul Turner, Head of Change at Department for Business and Trade took part in an exciting panel discussion where they offered practical insights and thought-provoking perspectives on what it means to lead with transparency.

Collaboration and leadership challenges

It takes a collaborative effort to drive real change. Unfortunately, government departments often operate as isolated entities with their own priorities, processes, and systems, making collaboration difficult. This approach often leads to inefficiencies across organisations, duplications of work and missed opportunities to share resources and best practices. And it’s not just about overcoming the systems in place, as many teams themselves are resistant to change.

During the start of the session, Paul talked about the fragmented handling of services such as HR and finance in the Matrix program. The Matrix program saw nine different teams come together and agree to move to one system. Although the nine different teams had already agreed to break down these silos and work as one, there were still disagreements about which approach to take. He stated, ‘The sickness and leave policies, all this sort of stuff, which you would think is quite minor, can cause fights between departments about who’s going to get their way.’ As Paul stated, each department has their own needs and ways of thinking and are passionate about keeping their own practices in place, which can then cause conflicts across departments.

Silos can also extend beyond individual departments into larger government frameworks. Yorath described efforts in the Scottish Government to move away from siloed decision-making toward a collective approach. He mentioned the challenge of having ‘15 different versions of the same functionality’ and emphasised the importance of prioritising and pooling resources to enhance outcomes.

Transparency and trust

In order to drive change, you need to build trust, and in order to build trust, you need to build a safe environment for your team. When talking about his approach to leadership, Paul talked about the need for psychological safety. He stated, ‘I’m big into psychological safety, it’s a bit of a side hustle of mine. I do presentations for various departments around how to improve psychological safety in teams, because it’s authentic leadership and it’s about how you get the best out of people.’

Authentic leadership is about being open and honest with your team – even when it doesn’t paint you in the best light. By admitting his own mistakes and owning up when he didn’t know something, Paul felt that he was able to build trust with his team members. He commented, ‘There is a level of trust because we are all fallible. I do that from the get-go, and I try and get other people to do that from the get-go because it brings everybody along with you.’

During the session, the panellists emphasised the importance of consistent and honest communication, even during uncertain periods, to counteract the spread of misinformation. Paul stated, ‘Even if there is nothing to communicate, you need to keep communicating. It’s not weak to say, you don’t know yet, but you’re working on it.’ In order to build trust, leaders must be forthright about setbacks, shifting priorities, or structural changes, balancing the need for clarity with empathy for those affected.

When it came to communicating with teams, storytelling was highlighted as a powerful tool, with leaders using relatable narratives to convey purpose and build emotional connections. As Tina explained, stories can help make complex or abstract initiatives more accessible and engaging for teams. She stated, ‘Storytelling humanises leadership. It allows us to connect, to show that we are all in this together.’

Tina also talked about its ability to build trust with others in your team. She continued, ‘There’s a real point where you realise other people are looking at you like you used to look at others. Sharing your story, including your vulnerabilities, helps others feel less alone.’

Building trust with data

Yorath highlighted the importance of data when it comes to making effective decisions, particularly in the complex and resource-constrained environment of the public sector. ‘We’re building the data to allow us to make decisions effectively, which means people need to actually report and follow the things we put in place.’ By providing accurate, timely, and actionable insights, data allows leaders to prioritise investments and allocate resources efficiently.

However, this can sometimes cause conflict when data doesn’t point to a desired outcome. Yorath spoke about the potential for senior leaders to dismiss the validity of data when it conflicts with their expectations or established practices. He stated, ‘If you’re saying you don’t trust [data], and you’re the senior person here, we’ve got a fundamental issue about our data, which we need to address.’

When leaders question the reliability of data, it’s not just a governance issue – it’s a trust issue that can ripple through the entire organisation. Tina spoke about holding leaders accountable when rejecting the use of data and suggested a way to combat this issue. She stated that ‘leaders need to be held accountable for their decisions when they reject sound evidence. Documenting and auditing these decisions ensure transparency and trust in the process.’

Join us at CGPN next year

Want to take part in future discussions? Register your interest to join us at CGPN on 14-15 October!