Former BBC director-general Greg Dyke called upon public sector HR professionals to rally round their chief executives to inspire change in their organisations.
Speaking at the Public Sector People Managers Association (PPMA) conference in Brighton this morning (1 May), the chairman of the British Film Institute said that HR “lacked the credibility to lead a change” without support from the very top of the organisation.
“You can’t do this on your own,” he told delegates. “If your chief executive is not prepared to stand up and lead then you in HR don’t stand much chance of leading meaningful change.”
Dyke explained his rules of leadership, using examples from his time at the BBC.
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“When I joined, the BBC was short on leadership and long on management,” he said. “What people achieved, they achieved despite the management and I think that’s more prevalent in the public sector than the private sector.”
Dyke worked closely with then HR director Stephen Dando on building the ‘Making it happen’ change programme at the BBC before he resigned over the Hutton inquiry in 2004.
