The Qualities of Leadership in The Public Sector

The exercise of political leadership has proved the source of endless fascination since the dawn of civilisation.

Leadership is recognised as a significant foundation of the public sector. The success or failure of any public enterprise is often associated with the vision and strength of the leadership involved. 

Leadership is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon. Effective leadership is widely recognised as a key to the success of an organisation (Benmira and Agboola 2021). “Effective leadership is integral to organisational effectiveness. Effective leaders create positive organisational cultures, strengthen motivation, clarify

mission and organisational objectives, and steer organisations to more productive and high outcomes” (Ingraham and Gotha-Taylor 2004:95).

The exercise of political leadership has proved the source of endless fascination since the dawn of civilisation (Rhodes and Hart 2014; Goodwin, Moran, and Rein 2008). Arguably, public leadership is more needed in the present era than ever before, to manage multiple crises of environment, economy, health, and population, to mention just a few ongoing and compounding global issues. There has rarely been a time when vision, courage and truthfulness – among the most essential elements of leadership – were simultaneously the most in demand, and yet the most threatened of the qualities of public servants.

The Distinctive Leadership in the Public Sector

In contemplating the qualities of public sector leadership, historically there was a tendency to make direct (and often disparaging) comparisons between the entrepreneurial leadership of the private sector, and the more constrained leadership found in the public sector. However exercising leadership in public sector organisations is necessarily very different from leading private companies, due the exigencies of democratic accountability. There are significant differences in job complexity, role clarity, and job autonomy that explain why public sector leaders employ more participative approaches, while private sector leaders often adopt more directive leadership (Hansen and Villadsen 2010).

In an extensive survey of the literature of perceptual and behavioural differences between public and private sector managers by Boye et al 2022, discovered among the most significant differences confronted by most public officials in many countries are:

• A more complex stakeholder environment
• Stricter accountability demands
• More ambiguous goals
• Less autonomy
• Different and more demanding values.

Boye et al (2022) conclude that it is time to go beyond a dichotomous difference/no difference debate on public and private sector management and focus upon the substantive contextual factors and behavioural effects in the two different sectors.

Certainly, the administrative context in which public sector managers operate is markedly different from their counterparts in the market sector. The demands of the marketplace in which private sector managers work are widely understood, but the administrative apparatus of government is also a complex and demanding context in which to work, with leadership by both elected politicians and non-elected civil servants.

There are similar counter-balanced governing structures in many democratic countries, with the political leadership subject to periodic election, but the parallel administrative structure based on proficiency, experience, qualification and often lengthy service in government. Ideally this provides a balance between the ideals and policies of elected politicians in defining reforms, while counterbalanced by the experience and expertise of the administrative leadership in delivering policy outcomes.

Though great importance is attributed to the significance of leadership, there is a long and ongoing debate on what leadership actually is in the market sector, but more fundamental discussion in the public sector of what the concept of leadership is. There are many definitions and theories of leadership ranging from the cerebral to the motivational, and on rare occasions the quite bizarre (Elon Musk is not alone!). In the mainstream literature, Kouzes and Posner (1995) offer a compelling motivational definition that “leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.”

This IPPG Policy Paper 5 aims to synthesise the vast leadership literature around core ideas that relate closely to policy and practice in the public sector.

Dr Thomas Clarke
Occasional Policy Paper 5 - Published December 2025

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