If staff morale is at an all time low you know you are doing something right - Blair McPherson

Who would make such a provocative statement? The bullish minister for local government, the no nonsense leader of the council, the over confident and ruthlessly ambitious chief executive? It is in fact a quote from the chief of Ofsted from an interview he gave to the Guardian news paper (24/01/12). A sign of the times that we could imagine any one of a number of public sector leaders saying publically what they must have often thought privately. Does this indicate that in the current financial climate public sector leaders expect staff to be unhappy about the changes taking place because they view staff as an obstacle to change. I have heard this summed up in the expression “turkeys don’t vote for Christmas”. It reflects a leadership style based no imposing change by sheer force of personality. In the interview the Michael Wilshaw the chief of Ofsted is referred to as having a reputation as a “heroic head” and is quoted as saying “a poor leader runs a poor school; a good leader runs a good school”. So it is all down to the leader!

Some might argue that whilst the leader certainly sets the tone and has considerable influence success is determined by a range of factors such as team work, effective collaboration, political support, adequate resources and may be a little luck. And how far can you go by simply imposing change on a disempowered staff group?

Sometimes a leader must say” this is the right thing to do even if it is unpopular”. I have said it myself but this is very different to saying “I don’t care what staff think”. You would not think much to a colleague from another agency who announced during partnership negotiations that they “didn’t care what you thought”. So whilst low morale may be a consequence of pay freezes, redundancies and fear of unemployment it is not a measure of effective leadership. In fact to boast that morale is at an all-time low would sound like a bully not a leader.

Blair McPherson author of People management in a harsh financial climate published by Russell House. www.blairmcpherson.co.uk

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