Create time to think

Leaders within Local Authorities must create the time to learn and think.

With so much change happening, it is important that Local Authority leaders create the time to learn, think about and discuss the implications of the changes, and of the opportunities offered by technology. Unless they do this, there is increased risk of opportunities not being grasped and decisions being made with only superficial understanding of the implications. This is especially true of decisions which enable certain things, but that prevent the development of others. Creating this time can be very hard to do in management cultures in which ‘being seen to be doing something’ is more important than strategic oversight.

Management culture

It’s crucial that staff in senior management positions work together to understand the issues presented by technological, social and behavioural change.

This strategy needs a management culture that is able to engage with the issues at hand, monitor them, keep abreast of them and communicate strategy relating to them – this is a crucial factor in the successful transition to a new mode of operation. There must be a core set of people at strategic positions within the organisation who use the same terminology and who actively engage in building capacity throughout the organisation.