Building a leadership and management framework

The leadership and management challenges facing social work services staff are widely shared across public services. Users and carers require integrated services that are properly focused on their needs. This will demand a cultural shift of all social work staff, regardless of level or role. It provides an opportunity to find new approaches to developing leaders at all levels who will have the vision to bring about change and improve joint working. The leadership and management framework will be consistent with those across other public services and it will embody the values, behaviours and attitudes that must lie at the heart of social work in the future.

Strengthening strategic leadership

Professional senior managers and executives will be shaping their future profession as well as implementing transformational change. They will be working in a multi-agency environment, redesigning services around the needs of users and carers. They will require, not only the capacity to lead change, but will also have to establish the objectives for their service, set the operational milestones, plan and deploy resources and motivate and support their staff. Strengthening the strategic leadership capability of senior staff will therefore be a prerequisite for the necessary transformation of the planning and delivery of social work services.

Developing the capacity, capability and sustainability of leaders and managers

Developing communities of learning to sustain leadership and management development

Continuing and professional development must be an integral part of the change programme if the leadership and management capacity and capability of social work staff is to be sustained. The Scotland in which social work is delivered will be subject to an ever faster pace of change as the pressures of a global knowledge economy impact on its social, economic, political and technological environment. In a fast changing world, communities and networks of professionals will need to support each other, learn from best practice and share ideas and resources. In this way the leadership and management agenda will be dynamic, forward thinking and self-enhancing.

Succession Planning

Changing Lives sets out an ambitious programme of change, which will be brought about as much by the leaders of the future, as by developing the leaders of today. Finding ways to identify, encourage and develop these prospective leaders, across the widest body of staff at all levels and across agencies and services, will be a major challenge but fundamental to delivering on the aspirations of Changing Lives.

An exemplar programme: Leading to Deliver

This is a leadership and development programme funded by The Scottish Government which has been targeted at middle managers in the public and voluntary sectors. This programme will be reviewed with a view to extending both its reach and effectiveness. New modes of delivery and the exploitation of its resources have the potential to strengthen and build leadership and management capacity and capability to deliver high quality, user-focused social work services. This and other programmes and tools will be explored and evaluated to support the leadership and management change programme.

Enhancing Academic Leadership

Academics and other educators have a vital role to play in the future of social work services. They will be developing the pathways, programmes and qualifications that will provide the future workforce with the skills and knowledge for the challenges that lie ahead. They will develop new approaches to pedagogy and learner support to provide the highest quality education and training best suited to the needs of their students. Their research and development will advance our knowledge of evidence based practice. Academic leaders of vision and high calibre will be needed to take this work forward in partnership with employers and practitioners.