ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the contents of public leadership are further explored by using systemic-constructivist and collaborative approaches in learning and in training public leaders, public organisations, and government. Public leadership challenges are generally viewed as cooperation challenges, which means that traditional leadership training models no longer suffice. In this chapter, we portray how leadership development increasingly becomes something that you accomplish together in dialogue with other people and try to understand what this shift takes in terms of updating assumptions around learning and development. Participating in high-profile leadership conferences and listening to interesting keynotes and best practice presentations can still be interesting and worthwhile for public leaders, but this does not necessarily bring about learning and transformation. Teaching and learning as change-makers are reflected in this chapter from the point of view of training institutions and everyday leadership in public organisations. The six public sector leadership meta-skills presented in Chapter 5 constitute the background material for this exercise. Adopting these meta-skills is discussed particularly in the light of transformative and collaborative adult learning as enablers of human-centred leadership reform. The interviews of high-ranking civil service leaders from Finland’s central government present an important empirical case to understand the ongoing and required shift towards increased cross-sectoral boundary-spanning action and the placing of government goals into a broader human-centred perspective. The requirements for conducting training and development supporting relational, motivational, and intentional leadership are also discussed in this chapter.
