By Graham LeeThis book argues that there is a direct relationship between childhood experiences and leadership style. It links rejection in childhood to autocratic and controlling leaders, inconsistent parenting to an ‘easy to please’ style and responsive and encouraging parenting to an empowering leadership style. The author believes that only by stepping into the realm of personal coaching is it possible to harness the passions and convictions that underpin leadership excellence. But he warns that without the right skills and competencies, it is not appropriate for coaches to delve deeply into personal issues with their clients, potentially stirring up issues they are not qualified to handle. He goes on to explain those key competencies required for effective coaches, including ‘psychological mindedness’ which will allow them to engage on personal issues.
The private intranet which links government offices throughout the UK, the ‘Government Secure Intranet’, or GSi, has been replaced to provide a service for the wider public sector. It provides voice, video as well as secure e-mail services and acts as the communications hub for shared government IT systems. The new GSi is operated by Energis, under a five year 40 million pounds contract.There are currently some 140 organisations connected to the network and over 280,000 direct users. It handles more than one million e-mails daily. Plans for growth include local councils, the Emergency Services Network, private sector companies providing services to the public sector, and other publicly funded organisations such as the Civil Aviation Authority. There will also be links to other networks including the Criminal Justice Network, NHS Network, the MOD and the EU. This expansion would bring the number of users to over one million.
Education and health are the latest areas to receive more managerial freedom from the grip of Whitehall. Proposals to slim down school inspection and reduce targets in the NHS are the part of a strategic move from the old-style centralization and command and control approach towards a new localism. This strategic move comes because it is recognized that because of a combination of increasingly demanding consumers, information technologies, greater competition, a premium on skills and innovation, a wide-ranging media, and varying local needs, central control cannot deliver.Ofsted, the schools inspectorate, has issued a consultation paper which proposes shorter, sharper, inspections focused on helping schools improve while reducing the burden of inspection, and ensuring that parents benefit from more timely and relevant school reports. It is proposed that the frequency of inspection would be increased from six to three years so that parents can benefit from more up-to-date information. The inspections would be much shorter, possibly two or three days, the scope of the inspection will be reduced and it will be carried out by fewer inspectors. Inspection reports will be reduced from forty to four pages. The notification period ahead of inspection would be cut from weeks to days to limit the amount of unnecessary preparation that takes place at the moment.