The leader-manager competency model for the Ontario Public Service

by Mary Margaret Powrie, George Sallay and Lynda Shephard

Organizations around the world are challenged with responding to changing economic factors, globalization, new technologies and demographic shifts. These large-scale transformations have never been more complex or come at us at such a high speed. Today’s leading organizations are also challenged with the task of building the next generation of leaders who can innovate, embrace new ideas and are capable of responding to current and emerging needs.

The Ontario Public Service (OPS) is highly regarded for its ability to respond to new and evolving challenges while providing quality-focused services to the people of Ontario. Our continued success is a direct result of our people and our ability to help them learn, lead and thrive in this changing environment.

As a modern government, the OPS recognizes the importance of addressing the leadership competency requirements of staff at all levels of the organization. We need to provide a framework for building and sustaining capacity that ensures we have employees with the right skills in the right place at the right time. We also need simple, clear and transparent competencies that everyone can understand, develop and successfully apply. The OPS Leader-Manager Competency Model supports these goals and is embedded in our 2005-2008 Human Resources Plan.

Together with the competencies, our values describe the kind of organization the OPS is and strives to be, and reflect our vision for the current and future workplace. Our overall goal is to build a world-class, modern OPS with dynamic leadership, recognizing that each of us has a leadership role to play – no matter what title or position we hold.

The OPS Leader-Manager Competency Model
The OPS Leader-Manager Competency Model identifies four competencies that provide the benchmark for dynamic leadership success.

The model reflects the balance between results-based and people-focused competencies. The model also incorporates a best practice leader-manager concept, which recognizes that today’s managers must excel at both managing and leading. The art is in knowing when to manage and when to lead.

The four leader-manager competencies – delivers, transforms, inspires, connects – integrate task-based capabilities with a people focus. In other words, what results we achieve and how we achieve them.

Complementing the leader-manager model are two fundamental personal attributes: self-awareness and integrity. Dynamic leaders must be aware of their leadership practices to understand and appreciate how their emotions affect and impact the behaviour of others. They must also demonstrate integrity and hold themselves accountable, both publicly and privately, for acting in a manner consistent with stated OPS values, principles and professional standards.

The Competency Continuum
The model provides a continuum of leadership mastery from practitioner to champion. As leader-managers progress to more senior or complex roles, they are expected to demonstrate higher levels of proficiency along the continuum with an increasing emphasis on strategic as opposed to tactical abilities.

Applying the Competencies
In the foreseeable future, the most important corporate resource will be leadership talent. It is also the resource in shortest supply. In the war for talent, not only do we have to devise more effective hiring practices, we also need to work harder to develop and retain our leadership talent.

Strategies such as Talent Management, Recruitment, Performance Management and Learning and Development are supporting the OPS HR Plan by applying the leader-manager competencies to build a solid foundation to attract, develop and engage our people.

The model is key to the future, but also in sustaining and developing our current employees.

Here are some of the ways we are making the competencies come to life in the OPS:

§     Talent Management: We assess an employee’s readiness to take on new or more complex responsibilities based on a combination of the leader-manager competency model, the two personal attributes and performance ratings. This information forms the basis for an authentic talent conversation between the manager and the employee. Learning and development strategies are targeted to the employee’s assessed needs to ensure ongoing success.
§     Recruitment: Leader-manager competencies are also an integral part of the recruitment process in the OPS. Once the appropriate leader-manager competencies for a position are identified, they become the basis for selection and increase the quality of the people we hire.
§     Performance Management: A competency-based approach supports the OPS performance management system by focusing on what results we achieve and how we achieve them. Incorporating competency language in the development of performance measures also provides a standard and a basis for focusing individual learning and development needs.
§     Learning and Development: The competencies help to focus the learning choices we make. OPS Learning & Development offers exceptional programs, courses and learning opportunities to develop all four leader-manager competencies.

The OPS leader-manager competencies recognize and awaken leadership potential and support the development of leaders at all levels, regardless of title or position. By embracing the competencies and connecting them to our vision and values, we can continue to build a culture of leadership across the organization and make the Ontario Public Service the place to work.


Mary Margaret Powrie, George Sallay and Lynda Shephard are senior learning consultants in OPS Learning & Development – part of the Centre for Leadership and Learning, Ministry of Government Services.