Public Sector Leadership Institute

Step out of your comfort zone and become a more successful public sector leader. This program helps develop the knowledge, practical skills and strategies you need to enhance your leadership and management skill sets.

An innovative six-module executive leadership program for Ontario Public Sector Department Directors, Senior Managers and Agency Heads designed to develop the knowledge, practical skills and strategies required to be successful in leading their public service entity to excellence in service delivery.

The program is aligned with the various priority areas of the OPS Leadership Framework (Connects, Delivers, Inspires, Transforms, Integrity, and Self Awareness); it is enhanced by tapping into relevant elements of the Rotman executive development curriculum with learning broadened and deepened by exposure to a careful selection of leading public and private sector leaders who bring unique perspectives to the learning.

Key Benefits

This certificate program is designed to develop the knowledge, practical skills and strategies for participants to be successful in their public sector leadership roles, through many different experiential learning opportunities and challenges that are designed to lift participants out of their comfort zones.

Participants are introduced to management tools and techniques to enhance their leadership and management skill sets.

They are exposed to leaders and situational cases from outside the public sector to encourage higher order conceptual thinking to extract the principles of leadership, management decision making and integrative thinking.

A key feature of the program is the use of the co-consulting process, in which small teams of participants from different public service departments and agencies act as peer mentors throughout the course, and by mutual agreement, beyond.

This co-consulting process is centered around the design and implementation of each participant's chosen personal organization improvement project, conducted during the course of the program.

Feedback and reflection is integral to personal growth and effectiveness. This program integrates a process for soliciting external feedback about personal effectiveness, offering feedback about program effectiveness, and requiring participants to identify and carry out a workplace project for which participants set outcome expectations to focus the application of program learning.

The curriculum is designed to align with the OPS Leadership Framework.

Schedule

The Institute progresses through six 2.5-day modules over the period of a year, with six associated Learning Themes*:

Module 1 - Leading for Impact

Be introduced to concepts for effective leadership and strategy. Engage in reflective dialogues with noted leaders from various sectors about focussing resources on strategic priorities. Begin a process of trust building for peer coaching relationships with fellow co-consultant course colleagues in guiding a personally identified and led, organization improvement project. Review an outline of the course; hear clear expectations of participants, and the approach to assessing program effectiveness.

Module 2 - Managing Organizational Change

Gain new strategies and a new way to think about driving change in your organization, considering both what is needed to achieve your vision and what is possible in terms of time, resources and collective motivation. Experience a simulation that challenges leaders on their change management communication effectiveness. Gain a clearer understanding of the implications of the perspectives of a diverse workforce on organizational effectiveness. Continue co-consulting dialogues.

Module 3 - Leadership and Integrative Thinking

Be introduced to a conceptual framework for leadership, management and strategy. Be introduced to the principles of integrative thinking that help leaders consciously seek out and evaluate the factors and data needing to be considered in strategic decision making. Continue the co-consulting dialogues.

Module 4 - Governance and Finance

Learn about good governance and ethical behaviour, including the leader's role in supporting the board in its responsibility to set and guide strategic direction, oversee and monitor financial performance and disclosure. This module also examines how to structure boards with the appropriate set of director skills and experiences. Work through the essentials of sound financial management and reporting. Explore the issues of privacy and transparency in public sector operations. Consider best practices in managing outsourcing. Continue deliberations with co-consulting colleagues.

Module 5 - Communication

Learn how to frame external communications for maximum impact with full consideration of the needs and expectations of various stakeholder audiences. Sharpen internal communication skills in guiding the organization. Experience a crisis management case and communicating effectively about it. Continue to deliberate with co-consulting colleagues.

Module 6 - Developing Self and Others

The focus is on developing talent for a strong organization. Learn the ingredients necessary for conducting difficult conversations to confront performance gaps. Integrate the learning by collaboratively reflecting on the leadership and management tools and concepts experienced in the course. Celebrate the learning journey in a graduation ceremony.