A crowdsourced person spec for future chiefs

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23 June, 2011

Today marks the launch of the LGC Future Leaders Network, which will support up-and-coming officers. The aim is to connect them with peers and some of today’s local government luminaries to help them shape their thinking and forge relationships for the future.

The first stage is to nominate our Future Leaders, which involves asking what skills and attributes the sector will need from its future leaders. I was pleasantly surprised by the respectable response when I sought opinion from local government people on Twitter.

I began proceedings with this message: “What should we be looking for in next generation of #localgov chiefs and senior officers? Starter for 10: creative thinker, collaborative”

Responses soon started rolling in – and the debate started. There are some leadership qualities that might be taken as given, such as charisma, humility and a sense of humour. But as several participants were quick to point out, the question was about leaders of tomorrow – so what qualities might differ from those expected today?

To answer that question it is necessary to consider how councils will look in the future – easier said than done. “Localism means generalising about Local Government is pointless,” argued one participant, who thought councils should be segmented into several types.

Without deviating into trying to answer that larger question, we can say that broadly, to a greater of lesser extent, councils are likely to be undergoing significant change, becoming smaller core organisations, relying more on partners to deliver outcomes (whether that’s private, voluntary or public sector, or individual citizens), and looking for new ways of doing things.

Or as one participant put it: “current= large org, direct accountability. Future= looser network influence by relationships”

These three organisational characteristics will require particular attributes and skills from the leaders of tomorrow:

1) Change

Leading change is much talked about and less often achieved. Future chiefs and senior officers will need to embrace change. They must embrace working with politicians to set the future direction. They will need to set a compelling vision and need to be able to set and take staff with them – even as some of their peers are left behind.Qualities suggested on Twitter included:

Resilience
“Motivational/inspirational” and “enough charisma to inspire her/his people”
Empathy
Conviction: stemming from “genuine belief that your heart is in it and you are 100% committed”
Ability to “really make things change. Being good at running things as they are is not enough”
“I’d throw in bouncebackability, humility and sense of humour!”
“The most effective I’ve seen are able to set tone, vision, values etc without dominating. Tough balance”

Participants observed that “you get the people working for you that you deserve” and that the “acid question for a leader is - will your people gladly suffer for you?”

2) Partnership

One of the changes that is almost inescapable under the funding constraints is working with other organisations and citizens to achieve outcomes. This is a significant change in dynamic: future council chiefs will need to achieve change by influence and leverage, often without the help of hierarchical levers. Twitter participants suggested:

“People who push collaboration, instead of pulling”
“an understanding of the dynamics of local communities”
“understands the important role played by the media, especially digital”
“empathy”
unwavering loyalty to everyone who works for them

Partnership may also require future chiefs to be more commercially and technologically aware.

3) New solutions

Finding new ways of doing things will require creative thinking and calculated risk taking. And that creative thinking will need to come not only from the senior team but from the whole organisation, service users, citizens and partners. Twitter suggestions included:

Innovative
Courageous/brave
Entrepreneurial
Commercially/tech aware
“I’ve always admired people who have created the space in which others can try things out / adapt / perform / learn / do better”
willingness to allow others to lead?
willing to take a chance & mge failure & encourage that through the org
focused on ensuring all are involved and have a say, holistic rather than cult of individual leadership style
enabling/creating space vital to the delegation etc. I’d add bring the best out in people
enabler, especially of others to take risks
good leaders make you feel like you can try it at least

The risk-taking issue is, perhaps, the most difficult. Popular wisdom says that that if you never fail you aren’t innovating. But failing is a very real fear for many in the public sector, because of the UK’s strong and endemic blame culture.

New vs current

Of course many of these characteristics are possessed but the current cohort of senior local government people. Twitter participants began to discuss whether that meant “more of the same” for the future, or whether there are things that the next generation needs that current one doesn’t have.

On Twitter we didn’t really discriminate between skills (which, within the confines of aptitude, can be learned) and attributes (which are more difficult to alter, but not impossible for those with sufficient self-awareness).

There are areas where the sector generally is lacking in skill, experience and senior capacity. Most obvious are commercial skills, technological awareness and communications savvy. Commissioning skills might also be added to the list – if the so called commissioning or hub council models take off, there will doubtless be a capacity issue.

These, in particular, are areas where the sector as a whole should be focusing its development efforts – both among current senior people and the up-and-coming.

Career path

In 2009, as councils were contemplating the looming financial squeeze, LGC asked existing chiefs and directors what professional background they thought would best prepare the chiefs of tomorrow. I was curious when 40% said finance. I think the above discussion shows why that is a misnomer.

Dealing with the financial crisis will require commercial and finance nous. But it will demand people and communication/relationships skills in equal measure. Finance people may, of course, have these skills. But they are by no means the only group suitable for the job. The sector will benefit most if future chiefs come from a balanced portfolio of backgrounds.

Also read:

More on the Future Leaders Network, kindly supported by BT as part of our year-long leadership programme: LGCplus.com/FutureLeaders

Careers in the local government of tomorrow (from 2009 but points still stand)

With thanks to the following kind souls for their participation in my unofficial focus group:

Readers' comments (1)

David Marlow | 13-Jul-2011 7:13 pm
a belated contribution at http://wp.me/p1Dy2l-1I - a hopefully enjoyable input to the debate...but not totally tongue in cheek!
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