Transcript Leadership Academy

NACO AGM 2012
Making Civic Mayors More
Effective Leaders and Localists
Pascoe Sawyers and Welna Bowden –
LGA Leadership and Localism Team
Who are we?
The Local Government Association (LGA) is an
organisation that is run by its members.
Leadership and Localism Team:
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Leadership training programmes
Induction support
Training and development resources
Research
Leadership and Localism Quiz
Win a place for your Mayor on the Leadership Academy
Getting Your Message Across Master Class
Covers:
Training, meals, and overnight accommodation
Programme:
public speaking, working with the media, social media, personal
communication strategy and presentation skills, delivered by RADA
Where:
Warwick University Conference Centre
When:
Saturday 24 & Sunday 25 March 2012
Leadership and Localism – key skills
What do you think are the key
skills needed to be an effective
civic mayor?
Key skills of a civic mayor
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Leadership
Chairing
Organisational skills
Team working and relationship building
Communication
Knowledge
The Localism Act
• Royal Assent on 15 November 2011
• Puts the flesh and bones on the big ideas
of the ‘Big Society’
- ‘empowering communities’
- ‘opening up public services’
- ‘promoting social action’
The Localism Act – Headline areas
of impact
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Power of General Competence
Community Right to Challenge
Assets of Community Value
Council / social housing tenancies & rents
Community planning
Abolition of Standards Board
Elected Mayors
The Localism Act – some
implications and possibilities for
civic mayors
• Engaging with local people about new
‘community rights’
• General Power of Competence –
identifying community needs this may be
able to address
• Impact of directly elected mayors
Directly elected mayors
• Can provide democratically accountable
strong leadership
• Identifiable as leader of the city
• Unique mandate to govern
• Will help strengthen the governance of the
city – 4 year term of office
• But, don’t underestimate popularity of civic
mayors
Implications for the Civic Office –
A few examples
• Watford – changed name of civic mayor to
Chairman of the Council
• Doncaster – led by an elected Mayor (political
leader). Civic mayor holds ceremonial role
• Leicester – kept position of Lord Mayor and not
changed title or the role
Key thing will be to clarify how the two kind of
‘mayors’ can work together
Hackney Council
The Speaker
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As Hackney Council has a directly elected Mayor with executive
powers, the role of Speaker fulfils many of the ceremonial and public
duties traditionally associated with the Mayor.
• The Speaker of Hackney Council is a serving councillor elected to
the office for one year by fellow council members at their Annual
Meeting.
• The job of the Speaker is to chair meetings of the full Council and,
as the Borough's Civic Representative, to attend numerous events
throughout the year and welcome visitors to the Borough. In
addition, the Speaker presides over citizenship ceremonies at the
Town Hall.
• The current speaker is Cllr Susan Fajana Thomas.
Focus of the Mayor’s Role
• Leading the community
• Acting as First Citizen
• Presiding over civic functions
• Attending a range of functions
• Helping to raise funds
• Observing civic protocols
• Supporting corporate objectives
Joining the Chain Gang: Preparing for the role of
Civic Mayor – LGA Councillor Handbook
The Political Roles are changing…
Management
Leadership
Organiser
Inspirer
Present focused
Future focused
Giving answers
Asking questions
Fixer
Diplomat
Networker
Convenor
Reactor
Advocator
Expert guide
Enabler
Some ‘new’ local leadership roles
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Talent spotter
Champion of the ‘backbencher’ society
Promoting local democracy
Social media
Let’s hear some of your examples of new
roles and innovative approaches
The role of civic offices
“There are too many authorities where a
hard pressed mayor’s secretary will spend
several weeks in advance organising a
charity tiddlywinks match, which the Mayor
heralds as a great success if it raises £200.”
Philip O’Brien, Deputy Chair, NACO
Your leadership and localism
top ten tips
‘We only serve a year, we spend six months
learning the job, we then spend six months
possible trying to innovate, and then we
hand it on to another ingénue who doesn’t
know what he is doing either and he spends
six months learning the job.’
Former mayor
Better leaders and localists?
What would be your top ten tips
for an incoming mayor?
“The trouble with most
of us is that we would
rather be ruined by
praise than saved by
criticism”
- Norman Vincent Peale,
author
Be
Fearless
© www.cartoonstock.com
“I try to avoid looking
forward or backward,
and try to keep
looking upward.
- Charlotte Bronte,
author
Be
Optimistic
© www.cartoonstock.com
“Anyone who lives within
their means suffers from a
lack of imagination”
- Oscar Wilde,
dramatist, novelist and poet
Be
Creative
© www.cartoonstock.com
“Be who you are and say
what you feel because
those who mind don’t
matter and those who
matter don’t mind”
- Dr Seuss (Theodor Geisel),
author
Be
Unique
© www.cartoonstock.com
“There is no greater
agony than bearing an
untold story inside of
you”
Maya Angelou,
- poet and civil rights activist
Be a
Storyteller
© www.cartoonstock.com
Effective political leaders
are…
Fearless
Storyteller
“The whole is greater
than the sum of its
parts”
- Aristotle,
philosopher
Optimistic
Be
Unique
Creative
FOCUSed
Leadership and Localism Quiz
Win a place for your Mayor on
the Leadership Academy
Getting Your Message Across
Master Class
AND THE WINNER IS……
RESOURCES AVAILABLE
Political Skills Framework
http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=6386809 Councillor mentoring programme
http://www.local.gov.uk/web/10161/councillor-mentoring-programme Political mentoring toolkit
http://www.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/103765/Political-MentoringToolkit-V1.pdf Localism Act Plain English Guide
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/1896534.pdf
Member Development Community of Practice
Councillor workbooks
http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=11055406 -
Thank you for listening and taking part
Any Questions?
Pascoe Sawyers – [email protected]
Welna Bowden – [email protected]