PNoy = Hope.

This is the general sentiment of the people about the new administration.

Despite a few notable gains, our country has been in an economic and social standstill in the last decade, primarily because of the many failures of our past leaders – failure to manage and appropriately use government funds; to deliver basic goods and services; to address the pressing issues and concerns of the people. We are now hoping for a turnaround with Aquino at the helm. On a broader sense, we are hoping for social change.

Clearly, PNoy and his Cabinet cannot do this by themselves. Our leaders only borrow power from us, the people, and it is therefore critical for us to be involved. As PNoy puts it, “Kayo ang boss ko.” Getting a sense of what changes we want to happen and the kind of leaders that we want to have now, more than ever, becomes important.

The Leadership Development for Social Change Conference held last July 27 and 28 provided a venue for leaders and practitioners in the critical sectors of government, corporate, NGO and youth to come together, share leadership experiences, surface issues and suggest ways on how each can help to effect this change. This event was a joint undertaking of the Asian Institute of Management – TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides, TeaM Energy, the Development Studies Program of the Ateneo de Manila University, the Ateneo School of Government, Ayala Foundation, Galing Pook Foundation, the La Salle Institute of Governance, the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance and Coca-cola Corporation. The event was also sponsored by the Ayala Corporation and the AIM Center for Developmental Management.

Everyone a leader

For Secretary Jesse Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), leadership is about making a difference through service.

“All of us have an opportunity to lead, not for our own good but for the service of others,” Robredo said.

He zeroed in on local governance and said that LGUs should be models of good governance by championing transparency, accountability and public participation. He used as examples the programs and people’s councils that he institutionalized in Naga. Now as the head of the DILG, he is working to promote the same in the department. As an initial step, all agencies under the department are now required to post their financial reports on their website (www.dilg.gov.ph).

“Transparency and public participation are key to reform and good governance,” he said.

Collaborative, principled leadership

The key sectors, during the focus group discussions, were able to come up with important insights on how leadership development should be done.

The government sector for instance, identified the hallmarks of leadership, represented by 4 Ps: Philosophy/principle (leadership framework, strategy), Person (leader’s self-mastery), Participation of people (interpersonal relations), and Perspective (societal context). A leader must have the proper grounding in these areas for him or her to become effective, ethical and innovative.

The corporate, NGO and youth sectors also pointed out the importance of institutions and what they can contribute to this endeavor. Aligning the targets to development goals, monitoring the impacts of leadership development programs, and investing resources to ensure the sustainability of such efforts were some of the identified action points.

Another key insight raised during the plenary is the value of continuing dialogue and collaboration. Building a community of leadership practitioners and training providers means opening channels of communication (online, face-to-face) among the various organizations to allow continuous sharing and learning from one another.

“We are not competitors. We are partners,” said Prof. Jacinto Gavino of the AIM’s Bridging Leadership Program during the plenary presentation.

The high level of passion and enthusiasm shown by the participants attests to our desire for genuine, service-oriented leaders who can help bring genuine social change in the country.

The search for true Filipino leaders is now on. Are we up for the challenge?

(The author is the Communications director of the Ateneo School of Government)