The Botswana-Rutgers Leadership Summit: An Application of the Leadership in the Public Sector Framework
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Brent D. Ruben, Ralph A. Gigliotti, Kathleen M. Immordino, Christine Goldthwaite and Morit Blank Shavelsky
May 31, 2020
Collaborations between academic institutions and government practitioners often involve a one-way transmission of knowledge, where academic knowledge and research are provided in order to facilitate the resolution of a problem within the government agency. However, when designed as a meaningful partnership from the beginning, collaborations among government and academia can bear fruit for all parties involved. Creating such a partnership—especially across international cultures—carries additional challenges and learning opportunities for everyone involved.
Introduction
The Republic of Botswana, located in central Southern Africa, gained independence in 1966 and has since earned international stature as a peaceful and increasingly prosperous democratic state. Despite many economic and political accomplishments, leaders of Botswana continue to address a number of serious challenges, particularly a significant economic dependence on mineral resources, including the diamond industry. Like other countries seeking to move toward a knowledge-based economy as a result of globalization and widespread environmental changes, this desired shift requires the enhancement of leadership capacity across Botswana and the intensification of public service reform efforts.
The country’s Vision 2036 strategic plan emphasizes four priority areas: a) sustainable economic development, b) human social development, c) sustainable environment, and d) governance, peace and security. As noted in the plan, “The Botswana society of 2036 will be significantly different from that of today and will be more integrated into the global community. We will position ourselves to be relevant and competitive. The country will be adaptive to adverse conditions while exploiting new opportunities provided by globalization.” To assist in pursuing this vision, senior government and public sector leaders have partnered with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
The Mahube (“Dawn”) Partnership for Transformation, initiated by Botswana President Mokgweetsi Eric Masisi and Rutgers President Robert Barchi, represents a unique effort between a nation and a university to address leadership, capacity-building and knowledge transfer.
The Botswana-Rutgers Leadership Summit, convened in May 2019 at Rutgers University, was envisioned as one of the central components of the collaborative relationship. A delegation of 16 permanent secretaries and other senior government and university officials from Botswana participated in the 12-day Summit. A second Summit was hosted in December 2019 for 16 additional permanent secretaries and senior government/university officials.
Leadership in the Public Sector Framework
To achieve these goals, the Leadership Summit programming was organized around an overarching framework developed specifically for the program and delivered by the Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership. This framework—entitled Leadership in the Public Sector (LPS) and co-authored by Ruben, Gigliotti, Immordino and Goldthwaite—provided a holistic model for transformative leadership in public sector organizations. Inspired by the Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and the Excellence in Higher Education model, this framework focuses on seven dimensions of excellence—Leadership, Purposes and Plans, Beneficiary and Constituency Relationships, Programs and Services, Human Resources and Workplace, Metrics, Assessment and Analysis and Outcomes and Achievements— that are recognized as critical for organizational design, assessment, planning and implementation. These dimensions were customized by the Center to reflect the organizational culture, structure and processes of the Botswana government.
Content sessions, supplemented by case studies, explored the connections between the seven categories of the LPS framework and the challenges, goals and vision as articulated in the Botswana Vision 2036 plan. Another distinctive feature of the program was the design and use of a template to guide participants in the development of personalized plans to advance transformative efforts within their individual areas of organizational responsibility, along with government-wide improvement plans. Monitoring and coaching of individual participants is available to members of the executive leadership team as they work on implementing leadership and organizational advancement initiatives.
Implications
As we reflect on our experiences from both Summits, we identified several implications for public administrators and academics with an interest in international leadership development:
- The LPS framework was found to be both valuable and applicable for the diverse participants of this public sector-oriented leadership development program.
- It was particularly important to build and cultivate a truly collaborative team if the effort was to succeed in fully achieving the envisioned goals. We recognized tremendous value in learning from our colleagues from Botswana, as they learned from Rutgers. Building upon the success, enthusiasm and insights from the first two Summits, a planned enhancement going forward includes Botswana-specific case studies to be developed collaboratively by the Botswana planning team members and Rutgers team members.
- From our experience, we were reminded that effective international leadership development programs require a commitment to the creation of conditions for meaningful and honest interaction and idea sharing. It is important for all parties to acknowledge the unique challenges, and to collaboratively pursue opportunities that can best address them.
The education and development of public administrators and government officials remains an important precondition for effective public administration and governance. In an increasingly connected and globalized world, international partnerships of this kind contribute significantly to cross-sector and cross-cultural learning and development.
Authors:
Brent D. Ruben
Senior University Fellow, Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership Rutgers University
[email protected]
Ralph A. Gigliotti
Director, Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership
[email protected]
Kathleen M. Immordino
Project Management Consultant, Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership
[email protected]
Christine Goldthwaite
Senior Program Administrator, Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership
[email protected]
Morit Blank Shavelsky
Project Management Consultant, Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership
[email protected]
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The Botswana-Rutgers Leadership Summit: An Application of the Leadership in the Public Sector Framework
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Brent D. Ruben, Ralph A. Gigliotti, Kathleen M. Immordino, Christine Goldthwaite and Morit Blank Shavelsky
May 31, 2020
Collaborations between academic institutions and government practitioners often involve a one-way transmission of knowledge, where academic knowledge and research are provided in order to facilitate the resolution of a problem within the government agency. However, when designed as a meaningful partnership from the beginning, collaborations among government and academia can bear fruit for all parties involved. Creating such a partnership—especially across international cultures—carries additional challenges and learning opportunities for everyone involved.
Introduction
The Republic of Botswana, located in central Southern Africa, gained independence in 1966 and has since earned international stature as a peaceful and increasingly prosperous democratic state. Despite many economic and political accomplishments, leaders of Botswana continue to address a number of serious challenges, particularly a significant economic dependence on mineral resources, including the diamond industry. Like other countries seeking to move toward a knowledge-based economy as a result of globalization and widespread environmental changes, this desired shift requires the enhancement of leadership capacity across Botswana and the intensification of public service reform efforts.
The country’s Vision 2036 strategic plan emphasizes four priority areas: a) sustainable economic development, b) human social development, c) sustainable environment, and d) governance, peace and security. As noted in the plan, “The Botswana society of 2036 will be significantly different from that of today and will be more integrated into the global community. We will position ourselves to be relevant and competitive. The country will be adaptive to adverse conditions while exploiting new opportunities provided by globalization.” To assist in pursuing this vision, senior government and public sector leaders have partnered with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
The Mahube (“Dawn”) Partnership for Transformation, initiated by Botswana President Mokgweetsi Eric Masisi and Rutgers President Robert Barchi, represents a unique effort between a nation and a university to address leadership, capacity-building and knowledge transfer.
The Botswana-Rutgers Leadership Summit, convened in May 2019 at Rutgers University, was envisioned as one of the central components of the collaborative relationship. A delegation of 16 permanent secretaries and other senior government and university officials from Botswana participated in the 12-day Summit. A second Summit was hosted in December 2019 for 16 additional permanent secretaries and senior government/university officials.
Leadership in the Public Sector Framework
To achieve these goals, the Leadership Summit programming was organized around an overarching framework developed specifically for the program and delivered by the Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership. This framework—entitled Leadership in the Public Sector (LPS) and co-authored by Ruben, Gigliotti, Immordino and Goldthwaite—provided a holistic model for transformative leadership in public sector organizations. Inspired by the Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and the Excellence in Higher Education model, this framework focuses on seven dimensions of excellence—Leadership, Purposes and Plans, Beneficiary and Constituency Relationships, Programs and Services, Human Resources and Workplace, Metrics, Assessment and Analysis and Outcomes and Achievements— that are recognized as critical for organizational design, assessment, planning and implementation. These dimensions were customized by the Center to reflect the organizational culture, structure and processes of the Botswana government.
Content sessions, supplemented by case studies, explored the connections between the seven categories of the LPS framework and the challenges, goals and vision as articulated in the Botswana Vision 2036 plan. Another distinctive feature of the program was the design and use of a template to guide participants in the development of personalized plans to advance transformative efforts within their individual areas of organizational responsibility, along with government-wide improvement plans. Monitoring and coaching of individual participants is available to members of the executive leadership team as they work on implementing leadership and organizational advancement initiatives.
Implications
As we reflect on our experiences from both Summits, we identified several implications for public administrators and academics with an interest in international leadership development:
The education and development of public administrators and government officials remains an important precondition for effective public administration and governance. In an increasingly connected and globalized world, international partnerships of this kind contribute significantly to cross-sector and cross-cultural learning and development.
Authors:
Brent D. Ruben
Senior University Fellow, Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership Rutgers University
[email protected]
Ralph A. Gigliotti
Director, Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership
[email protected]
Kathleen M. Immordino
Project Management Consultant, Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership
[email protected]
Christine Goldthwaite
Senior Program Administrator, Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership
[email protected]
Morit Blank Shavelsky
Project Management Consultant, Rutgers Center for Organizational Leadership
[email protected]
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