Transcript
Transcript: Deputy Minister Leadership Reflections Series: Defining Leadership, Episode 2
[00:00:00 Video opens with CSPS building blurred in the background. Text on screen: Deputy Minister Leadership Reflections Series. Inspiring music plays.]
[00:00:03 Yaprak Baltacioğlu, Rob Fonberg, Margaret Bloodworth, Walter Natynczyk, Susan Cartwright and David Dodge are blurred in the background. Text on screen: Defining Leadership]
[00:00:05 A text appears on screen: Susan Cartwright]
[00:00:05] Susan Cartwright Leadership to me means setting an example. I think, you know, in sort of current parlance, walking the talk, you can say lots of things and things that are important and things that are good, but unless you are actually living and demonstrating those same things, you're not, in my opinion, demonstrating leadership.
[00:00:30 A text appears on screen Yaprak Baltacioğlu]
[00:00:30] Yaprak Baltacioğlu [What] leadership means to me is to be able to make a change for the better in this world and to be able to mobilize people, organizations, to get there with you. That's what it means to me.
[00:00:47 A text appears on screen: David Dodge]
[00:00:47] David Dodge Let me start from a slightly different angle. If you're going to have a successful organization, whether that be in business, or government, or indeed, in academia, you have to have a leader that encourages internal discussion and debate. If you will, the decision table in the organization has to be one in which those at the table bring to bear their expertise, and so on, in the best possible way. And the leader has to be able to accept or listen to what they're saying, number one. Secondly, also have a degree of – I don't know what the right word is, humility? – to not put themselves front and centre, and hence, choke off the discussion that takes place.
[00:01:57 A text appears on screen: Rob Fonberg]
[00:01:57] Rob Fonberg I think I'd probably break away a little bit from what my colleagues or former colleagues would say. And I never questioned myself about leadership. I never thought about who I was as leader until I was stood up and sort of given a timeout. I always felt I had what I needed to be a leader, no matter what level I was at, from the time I was an EC5 to the time I was a deputy. And all the way through, it was a question of taking the space that was provided to you and working in that space to bring people together to find solutions to problems. And for me, that was leadership.
[00:02:31 A text appears on screen: Margaret Bloodworth]
[00:02:31] Margaret Bloodworth Well, leadership primarily for me meant creating the environment that the people working for you could do more than if you weren't there. Because in the end, if you're a leader of a large organization, not only can you not do all the jobs; you're not competent to do a lot of the jobs. And certainly [at] Transport, nobody cared whether I thought a plane should fly. But we care whether the [inaudible] civil aviation and should care. So, you want to make sure that that person and the other people can actually do the best job possible. Now, can you do everything? No. But you have a role as a leader in making sure the organization facilitates good decision making and good acting by all the people that have key jobs under you, which is most of the people there.
[00:03:17 A text appears on screen: Walter Natynczyk]
[00:03:17] Walter Natynczyk Leadership means, to me, being the best example that you can be to enable others to be successful to achieve a wider goal.
[00:03:29] Susan Cartwright It means doing difficult things. It means taking difficult decisions at times. Leadership is not easy and it's not always fun, but it is hugely rewarding to have the opportunity to lead and find that people are interested in or willing to follow you.
[00:03:57] David Dodge What I think of as being a strong leader is that you are sufficiently open; you listen well enough; you don't always put yourself in the play too early, if you will. The leader is going to have to make a decision at the end, but you want the decision to be made that – two things – that you avoid mistakes. But secondly, that you bring your troops along with you. And I would say that's no different in the public sector than it is in the private sector.
[00:04:39] Yaprak Baltacioğlu But leadership also means taking charge. Leadership also means not taking charge. Leadership can be caring. Leadership could be being tough in the face of difficult situations. It can be many, many things. But the bottom line is you try to bring positive change and, in the end, help Canada to do whatever it needs to do. And so that's what it means to me.
[00:05:08 The CSPS animated logo appears onscreen. Text on screen: canada.ca/school.]
[00:05:14 The Government of Canada wordmark appears.]
