Leadership and Listening: The Reception of User Voice Today's Public Services

Abstract

Over the last decade leadership has become a watchword public service provision, especially its association with the seemingly ubiquitous 'delivery' agenda. As leadership styles change response to developments the contemporary public service environment, it has become imperative for service providers to find ways to listen to service users. However, listening is itself widely recognized as an underdeveloped public sector competency. This article addresses the relationship between leadership and listening. Using findings from recent research, it identifies a 'listening gap' public services, before pointing to ways which this gap might be better understood and subsequently narrowed. doing so, it seeks to present new ideas about the essential balance between 'leadership' and 'listening', and how this can be struck today's public service environment. First, the nature of the user voice is examined. By talking to service users who have communicated their views different ways each of three different services (housing, social care and leisure), the article seeks to understand the nature of users' 'projects' the expression of their views. These projects are compared with those of public service leaders. Second, the congruence (or incongruence) of these projects is considered through a comparison of the world views of both users and leaders. Finally, aspects of the context are considered the discussion of the way public service organizations might go about defining the relationship between leadership and listening. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.