LOCAL AUTHORITY CHIEF EXECUTIVES ON LEARNING CURVE

Research by Bristol Business School, part of the University of the West of England has helped the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) prepare a Scheme of Continuous Learning to help its members to cope with the increasing pace of change.

Mike Broussine, a member of the Research Unit for Organisational Learning and Change at Bristol Business School, interviewed 50 chief executives over six weeks to determine what capabilities are needed to be successful and which should be integrated into the learning programme. Key findings revealed that the capacity to work within the political dimension is the aspect of the role which demands the most ability and requires a very different skills set from the chief executive's private sector counterpart.

Mike Broussine identified five key requirements that SOLACE's learning model should incorporate. These included; the capacity to work with the political dimension; to lead, change and develop the organisation; to maintain a personal perspective and self knowledge; to develop effective external relationships and to focus on strategic and long-term issues.

Bristol Business School is recommending a voluntary scheme of learning based upon individual SOLACE member's personal development plans and should include learning events and regional learning sets where best practice experiences can be shared.

Following the success of the consultation process SOLACE is hoping to have a prototype learning scheme drafted by June which, once approved, will be immediately made available to members.