Transforming Government Needs a Different Kind of Leadership and Here’s Why
Transforming Government Needs a Different Kind of Leadership and Here’s Why
Change in government is not new. But the mission, scale and pace of what’s underway now is different.
With mission-led reform efforts accelerating across departments, the civil service faces a defining moment. The suggested removal of 10,000 roles, the dismantling of NHS England, and the formation of centralised assurance bodies signal a shift in how services are delivered and who delivers them.
The challenge isn’t just technical or structural. It’s human. These reforms will succeed, or stall based on how leadership responds at every level of the system. And that means we need to rethink how we develop leaders across government.
We need more than new skills. We need new mindsets.
Traditional leadership programmes focus largely on horizontal development, that is learning new skills, developing knowledge, and influencing behaviours. That remains essential. Leaders navigating this wave of reform must build new capabilities to influence without authority, communicate with clarity through complexity, and collaborate across boundaries.
But what if the real obstacle isn’t what leaders know, but how they think? How do they make decisions in turbulent times, handle resistance, process loss, and create trust?
This is where vertical development comes in and why it matters now more than ever.
Vertical development builds the inner capacity to lead transformation.
Horizontal development adds to what we know. Vertical development changes how we know.
It is the process of evolving a leader’s internal operating system: their mindset, emotional range, self-awareness, and worldview. Enabling them to operate from a position of inner strength. Of confidence, authenticity, and clarity of personal purpose.
This is the kind of firm ground we need our leaders to stand on in a reform context where:
Leaders must steward difficult changes, including job losses, service redesign, and structural overhaul.
Trust and morale are under pressure, and leaders need to be the ones who hold emotional complexity, not shy away from it.
Innovation is needed but only thrives when people feel psychologically safe and included.
Take the NHS England example
Let’s take the decision to end NHS England. It’s not just about reducing headcount to make savings. It’s about reimagining integration, accountability, and healthcare delivery. To do that requires leaders who can see beyond their own function, who understand their role as system stewards, and who are willing to lead with humility, curiosity, and courage.
This isn’t just a skillset shift. It’s a mindset shift.
So how do we do both, and in the right order?
At Half the Sky, we take a layered approach to developing the leaders needed to transform their organisations:
First, we develop leaders’ inner foundation through vertical development: cultivating emotional flexibility, resilience, self-awareness and clarity of purpose. Our successful Becoming, Boost, and Beyond programmes have done exactly this supporting civil service leaders from minoritized communities to evolve how they lead, not just what they do.
Then, we introduce targeted horizontal learning: practical skills, for example in listening, influencing, building coalitions, leading across difference that are 100% aligned to the evolving needs of the organisation.
This matters because without vertical development, horizontal learning often doesn’t land. A leader who’s in a defensive, rigid mindset will struggle to apply even the most well-designed tools. But one who is psychologically flexible, connected to purpose, and open to growth? That’s a leader who can take those tools and build transformation with them.
Why does this matter now?
Transformation isn’t a one-off project. It’s an ongoing, system-wide reorientation. For government departments under pressure to deliver more with less, to innovate under scrutiny, and to re-earn public trust, leadership is the lever.
But not just any leadership. Leadership that is human, self-aware, inclusive, and forward-looking. Leaders that are ready to serve, not from a place of authority, but from a place of purpose.
The scale of public sector re-imagining and reform that is happening now requires more people to step into leadership roles.
Leaders are made not born. Developing people to be the leaders that transformation needswill be the best investment in its an organisation can make, because it is not just what leaders do but who they are that will make the biggest mark.
Sources
Tevye Markson (24 March 2025), Reeves: 10,000 civil service jobs to go in admin cost-cutting drive, Civil Service World
Tevye Markson (3 July 2025), NHS 10-year plan sets out blueprint for redesigned centre, Civil Service World
MOD (8 July 2025), Policy paper, The Strategic Defence Review 2025 - Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, gov.uk
