The headline ‘Local authority chief executive post being abolished’ fills me with huge anxiety for the local authority, its political leader and its place.
The roles of chief executive and leader are complementary, but different. In my experience, the most effective local authorities are those which benefit from a combination of excellent political and executive leadership. As a former council leader myself, I would wish to have an excellent chief executive. Their core responsibilities would be to:
– Be the principal advisor to the leader and cabinet on policy, governance and place – with a willingness to advise against, as well as to find ways to fulfil political policy aspirations. They must not block the enactment of political decisions unless such enactment would be unlawful. A good chief executive will have already been advised of, and negotiated, alternative actions.
– Be an impartial advisor to all political groups and all councillors.
– Ensure that the council’s, cabinet’s and leader’s decisions are effectively enacted.
– Lead the professional staff team and performance-manage the senior executive team.
– Ensure that the authority’s operational activities are first rate and well managed.
– Complement the leader’s and other senior councillors’ external ambassadorial role with the wider local public, voluntary, community and business organisations.
I find it almost impossible to understand how any political leader can undertake these responsibilities while still being an effective politician. The political leadership role is to:
– Develop and set the strategic objectives and direction for the authority.
– Be a leader and the principal shaper of place and a champion of citizens and communities.
– Be the primary external ambassador for the authority and the place.
– Ensure that there is a professional capacity within the authority to enable it to fulfil its duties to local people.
– Appoint and ‘manage’ the chief executive through strategic objectives, appraisal and performance management.
– Be ultimately accountable to the local electorate for every aspect of the authority’s activities and performance.
– Lead a council political group and play a wider political (usually a party political) role outside the council.
These duties and responsibilities are, in my opinion, incompatible with those of a chief executive. If a politician is being drawn or chooses to dive into management of the authority, they almost always lose their strategic focus and their political antennae are often blunted.
And, they are likely to come to a sticky political end sooner than if they had continued to play the important and respectable role of political leader.
The arguments for political leaders abolishing the role of chief executive and taking over its functions themselves are various and inconsistent. Reasons cited include:
– Cost savings – although in the overall budget of the authority, this is likely to be insignificant, especially if other officers then receive additional payments for taking on some of the former chief executive’s functions.
– A demonstration of the ‘virility’ of the leader.
– A view that such action will be popular with local people and local media (and secretary of state for communities and local government, Eric Pickles), especially if the chief executive has been paid a ‘large’ salary.
The reasons may be more commonly to do with a clash of egos, a frustration that the chief executive is blocking the political will of the leader and possibly the cabinet, or a failure to agree how the leader and chief executive will work together in a complementary manner. I would contend that a political leader may find it useful to have an executive officer to offer protection when times and issues are very difficult. This, of course, does not diminish the ultimate responsibility and accountability of the political leader.
Given the importance and critical role of the chief executive and his or her relationship with their political leader, it is surprising and worrying to witness some of the ways by which they are being appointed. A council leader should want to ensure that he or she has the best possible choice of candidates, which should usually mean open external recruitment with advertisement and executive search processes. These can be undertaken by specialist consultants or internally. The former, if good, can offer advice from other councils, constructive challenge, the facility to have ‘confidential’ conversations with potential candidates who may be reluctant to declare their hand, and offer some form of independence in assessment without undermining the right and responsibility of politicians to make the appointment. If I were a council leader embarking on such an appointment process, I would wish to ensure that there was some consensus across the council (and in a hung or a potentially hung council, to involve opposition leaders in the appointment process) on:
– A clear view on what the role, responsibilities and accountabilities are for the post.
– The kind of candidate being sought and ideally keep an open mind as to a candidate’s previous experience and the sectors that they have worked in.
– Personal specifications.
– Immediate and critical objectives for the new appointee.
– Agree the ‘rules’ for and the ‘behaviours’ expected from the councillor appointment panel – not least to avoid convergence on the candidate whom the panel members have least collective concern about – sadly, an all too common outcome.
I would also want a recruitment process that was neither too long or protracted but which nevertheless provides an opportunity to:
– Involve local external stakeholders.
– Allow potential applicants to talk ‘confidentially and informally’ to someone independent, thoroughly briefed on the appointment and, if they wish, to talk to the leader, other senior members and officers and possibly external stakeholders.
– Create a long and exciting list of candidates.
– Put this long list through some rigorous, but sensible assessment, bearing in mind that for the very best candidates, we are ‘selling’ ourselves and not just ‘buying’ a new chief executive.
– Have a rigorous process for final shortlisting by the appointment panel.
– Allow shortlisted candidates to talk informally, at the very least to the leader, but also to other senior members from across parties and officers and possibly to external stakeholders prior to the final panel.
A subsequent robust selection panel process would go beyond simple interviewing while avoiding psychometric testing to identify the ‘winner’. Chief executive appointments are critical because the role is crucial, especially in a period of austerity, cuts, change and uncertainty. Council leaders and other senior councillors should take their recruitment, objective-setting and appraisal seriously. The health and future of the local authority, the place and the council leader depend on the right chief executives doing exceptional jobs. John Tizard is an independent strategic advisor and commentator on public policy and public services. He was previously the founder director of the Centre for Public Service Partnerships and prior to that was a senior executive at Capita and at Scope. He has been a councillor and a leader of a county council.