Relational Leadership: an approach to public service capability development

A new ANZSOG Research Insights Report outlines a new approach to address system-wide challenges of leadership development, including career transitions and generational transformation, based on research conducted in collaboration with the Queensland Public Sector Commission (QPSC) and the Centre for Social Impact (CSI) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). 

Relational Leadership: an approach to public service capability development is freely available and aims to to help the QPSC, and other jurisdictions, to understand contemporary leadership science including the latest, evidence-based, conceptualisations of leadership.  

It proposes an architecture of leadership, based on the Wallace 2D leadership framework, which has the potential to provide opportunities for all members of the Queensland public sector community and beyond, to identify with a leadership journey that works for them. The Wallace 2D perspective provides a broader and richer view of the various types of leadership that are relevant across the sector that also represents the dynamic and contextual nature of leadership. 

This research was undertaken as part of ANZSOG’s Research Program, and guided by the identified needs and aspirations of Queensland’s public services as they navigate current leadership challenges and prepare leaders to lead in increasingly complex contexts, ensuring that they have a pipeline of capable leaders to steward the Queensland into the future. 

It contains clear insights on how to create leaders for the future in a way that is collaborative, people-centred, place-based, and driven by a clear understanding of the context and needs of contemporary public services. The report distils contemporary thought and research in leadership, and provides guidance that meets the needs of Queensland and has relevance to other jurisdictions. 

The report states that: 

The scientific understanding and explanation of leadership is evolving. Traditional notions of leadership, centred on the study of heroic leaders at the top of organisations, have given way to more nuanced understandings of leadership as a more collective process. For instance, evidence shows that empowering the collective to contribute to leadership is positively related to organisational outcomes. As these new understandings of effective leadership have emerged, scientists have identified theories and frameworks attempting to capture and encode concepts to provide guidance for organisations wishing to hone their leadership as well as setting a target for aspiring leaders to aim and train for. 

The report concludes that the complex nature of leadership, both across science and practice, suggests that a single leadership framework may be confining and constraining. It recommends an overall architecture of leadership with more targeted leadership frameworks and guidance sitting underneath.  

However, it finds that relational leadership has broad support in the literature for enabling better outcomes when contrasted with traditional leader-centred (or top-down)  . 

The report states: 

Historical notions of leadership, based on hierarchical structures and centralised decision-making, are known to work counter to relational aims. Tension arises between hierarchical and relational leadership because hierarchical leadership values structure and control, while relational leadership values flexibility and collaboration.  

 It concludes that evidence supports the view that the relational leadership aspects of the proposed framework provide a means to include diversity and inclusion as a core component of future leadership narrative – rather than an add-on. 

Relational leadership recognises that leadership happens at all levels, and empowers those with less organisational influence to lead in situations where their expertise is required and to challenge the formal leadership structures which may undermine the quality of their work. This is particularly important given the dramatic increase in complexity of organisations. 

The research was conducted as part of ANZSOG’s Research Model which produces original research which address key contemporary issues in public administration and policy development and provides practical assistance for governments across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. 

For more information about this research project and to read the report, click here.