Truth about Local Government

I sat down with Mariana Pexton, Director of Strategy and Resources at Leeds City Council, Leeds Rhinos Foundation Director and Director of Leeds Rhino Netball. We discussed the three key methods of increasing leadership capacity and capability in local authority officers and members.

A very humble and talented local authority leader, who gave some really constructive points for the listeners at home. I however managed to pronounce Mariana's name wrong, at least three times!

Thank you to Local Partnership LLP for their continued support, allowing us to bring this free content to you at home.

Great to sit down with Sam Chapman-Allen, Chairman of the DIstrict Council Network and Leader of Breckland Council. We discussed the role, motivation and journey of a district Councillor. An authentic leader with a passion for helping. Lots of helpful tips for leaders, members and anyone wanting to help their local community. One to watch for the future!

Local government change programs, need to add value for money, achieve the desired outcomes and fundamentally be successful.

I sat down with Ray Wagner, an experienced transformation programme manager and consultant. He has a proven ability in both the public and private sector to successful deliver major strategic change programmes - translating strategy into action.

He answered the below questions:

• What is a Programme and why go to the effort?
• How to scope a programme.
• What’s needed to support a Programme to be successful?
• Using methodologies
• Don’t be afraid to say “no” or” stop”

Stuart Reid is an expert in leadership coaching. His mandate is simple, he helps public sector chief executives overcome the isolation and vulnerability of their job, so they can lead with greater confidence and ease.

In todays episode I asked Stuart:

• Do you think that in modern society, the role of Chief Executives in the public sector has got tougher?
• Why are leaders feeling isolated and vulnerable?
• Where did you idea originate from to start your coaching and leadership practise?
• What are your main tips to promote confidence and reduce vulnerability in leaders?
• Working for the audit committee did that give you a different perspective?
• When do you think of OFLOG – can they be impartial? OFLOG Interim Chair Lord Morse has said it won’t take the time in its findings, saying that councils are in distress due to central government’s action, but provide constructive advice and steps as to how to improve their situation. However, Committee Chair Clive Betts has said: “if you cannot lobby and express your own views in that way, how can you be truly independent?”

If you are looking for executive coaching / leadership support add Stuart on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartreid/

Thank you to Alliance Leisure for their continued support so that we can continue to bring value add content to our community.

Vivien Holland joined Local Partnerships in 2022 as a Project Director with a focus on commercialism in local government. She is an expert in trading companies and we talked through:

• Background – since the legislation changed in 2011 lots of companies have been set up – how they have helped address funding challenges and promote commerciality
• How they have fared – some have been successful, others haven’t
• Why some have gone wrong
• What can be done to guard against failure? Good governance and financial and risk management
• Local Partnerships toolkit and support to help LG avoid failure and promote good commercialism

Great to sit down with Colin Copus, Emeritus Professor of Local Politics, De Montfort University. Visiting Professor, Ghent University on this key topic. Are we on a one way track to bigger and bigger councils and is that a good thing?

George joined the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority as Director in February 2018 and as Head of Paid Service is responsible for the management of all aspects of the Authority’s activity which is concerned with the management of a £10.5bn Pension Fund with over 170,000 members. Previously he was Managing Director of Local Pensions Partnership’s pension administration business, having led the Lancashire County Pension Fund prior to the transfer of its staff to LPP as part of the creation of a joint venture with the London Pension Fund Authority. A fellow of CIPFA George’s previous career in local government finance involved roles as Deputy County Treasurer at Lancashire County Council, Executive Director of Resources at Rossendale BC and Director of Finance at Chorley BC preceded by roles at Northamptonshire CC and Oxfordshire CC where he did his CIPFA training. George also represents practitioners on the Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board for England and Wales and is a member of the Board’s Responsible Investment Advisory Group.

Today we explored

his accidental career as an accountant and pension fund manager; how LGPS funds are connected to places and how that relates to investment and what high performance looks like for a local government pension scheme.

Will Godfrey, Chief Executive of Bath and North East Somerset Council challenges leaders that opening up whilst you are a leader is incredibly powerful to you and your teams. We are all humans and it is an unhealthy perception that leaders don't experience difficulties in their careers. After Will's brother took his life in August of last year, Will has been on a journey to understand himself and to also bring to light this often undiscussed topic in leadership.

Ian Fytche is Chief Executive of North Kesteven District Council in Lincolnshire. Ian began his career in construction, focused on project and contract management.

He spent 15 years working in sport, becoming director and chief operating officer of Sport England, where he led complex projects, including the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium and the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Ian is Vice-Chair of the DCN Chief Executives Group and has facilitated delivery of DCN projects on health economics and pathways to net zero.

Today he answered a key question, namely: How to maximise your place shaping potential as a district council.

Our conversation had 5 key sections:

1. Starting points…what is place shaping?

2. Navigating routes into place…what are key success factors in place leadership?

3. Building on experience…examples of place leadership in North Kesteven?

4. Stuff that gets in the way…barriers to place shaping?

5. Imagining the future – the place of 2030…2040…2050…?

I sat down with IT leaders from the local government supply chain, Robin Denton – Microsoft - Director of their Local Government division; and Derek Wise - Chief Product and Technology Officer at Civica.

A thank you to Fintan Hastings for facilitating this conversation and Robin and Derek for their authentic and honest views on the sector.

Today's topic was: "how technology is transforming local government, how it can tackle some of the big challenges ahead."

Our conversation was orientated around four key sections:

In Part 1 we explored:

• Looking at the art of the possible
  • Sometimes the solution for LG leaders is simpler than it might seem, such as leveraging existing technologies at their disposal (data, smartphones etc)
• Democratisation of digitalisation
  • As local authorities become more digitised, it’s vital that no citizens or communities are left behind or excluded
  • How can LG leaders harness the wealth of data they already hold to make sure this doesn’t happen?
  • Could data sharing (across public services) be part of the solution here?

In part 2, we explored:

• Getting to why?
  • Rather than just looking to technology as the solution to different problems, we need to keep drilling down to the ‘why’?
    • What are LA leaders trying to achieve: ease financial pressures? Support vulnerable people? Tackle inequality?
    • How can technology be the enabler of those goals?
    • Is the solution procuring new tech, or making smarter use of the tech they already have?
• Social value
  • This is an increasingly important topic for LG leaders
  • How can digital technologies help make SV ambitions a reality? How can LG leaders make smarter use of the data they already hold to deliver real social value?