Drawing on his experience of completing our ‘Becoming a Director of Adult Social Services’ leadership programme, Matt Everitt, service director for strategic commissioning and procurement at Buckinghamshire Council, reflects on connection, system leadership and leading through uncertainty.
Local government has never been short of challenges. Rising demand, financial pressures, workforce shortages and constant change are everyday realities for leaders across the sector.
But leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about learning, adapting and drawing strength from those around us.
I was reminded of this recently while taking part in the National Development Team for Inclusion’s (NDTi) Becoming a Director of Adult Social Services (DASS) programme. While the course offered valuable leadership insights, a space for reflection and an opportunity to develop skills; it’s greatest strength was bringing together leaders from across local government and the NHS to share experiences and learn from one another.
The formal content was excellent, but the most valuable lessons came from the conversations between sessions and the people in the room to reflect on our leadership approaches, discuss the challenges facing public services, and learn from each other’s experiences. The conversations we had in the room, in the breakout areas, and over dinner frequently generated ideas that could be applied beyond the original context in which they were discussed; as well as some polarised views about football teams and whether or not it’s ever appropriate to come to work in fancy dress.
Lesson One:
Leadership isn’t a solo activity
Across the sector, Local Authorities continue to balance growing demand for services with significant financial pressures. Adult social care, children’s services, housing, public health and many other areas are experiencing rising complexity and demand. At the same time, expectations from residents, partners and government continue at a high level.
For us as senior leaders, this creates a challenging conundrum. We strive to provide stability for our workforce, whilst navigating complex change ourselves. We must make decisions with imperfect information, balance competing priorities and often implementing difficult changes while maintaining motivation and engagement within our service areas.
Engaging with colleagues during the programme reinforced how universal these challenges are. Regardless of role, experience or geography, we all talked about remarkably similar experiences and had similar puzzles we’re working through:
- How do we make the best use of increasingly limited resources?
- How do we maintain staff engagement through periods of significant change?
- How do we continue to innovate when operational pressures are so high?
- How do we balance immediate demands with longer-term priorities?
The programme created an environment where people could share experiences honestly, reflect together and offer support without judgement – and we did have lengthy and frank discussions about the challenges, what we are doing and what we could do to mitigate these.
Leadership can sometimes feel isolating, particularly in senior roles. Having a network of trusted peers who understand the realities of the job and can provide both encouragement and challenge is invaluable. The relationships formed through programmes like this often continue long after the final session ends, creating networks that leaders can continue to learn from and rely upon.
Perhaps the biggest reminder for me was that leadership doesn’t need to be a solitary activity. In many cases, we’re at our best when we’re learning alongside others.
Lesson Two:
Change is about people
In local government, change is often portrayed as a distinct project with a clear beginning and end. The reality is that many local authorities, and thus senior leaders, are operating within a constant state of transformation.
New legislation, financial pressures, technological developments, workforce challenges and expectations of our residents changing all require organisations to adapt continuously. And I’ve not even mentioned LGR.
Leaders can often spend significant time designing processes, governance arrangements and implementation plans – and these are important – but ultimately change succeeds when people understand the purpose behind it and feel involved in shaping the solution.
Through both formal sessions and informal conversations, several common themes emerged:
- Clarity of vision
- Authentic engagement
- Visible and accessible leadership
- Psychological safety
None of these ideas are particularly new, but applying them consistently can be difficult when organisations are under pressure.
The sessions on the course reinforced the importance of slowing down sufficiently to bring people with us. While there is often urgency to deliver, investing time in engagement and communication frequently saves time and difficulty later.
This became particularly relevant when discussing system leadership. Many of the challenges facing our communities, whether around health, housing, prevention or workforce sustainability, can’t be solved by a single organisation acting alone.
Increasingly, leadership is about influence rather than authority. Traditional hierarchical models of leadership still have an important place, particularly in moments requiring immediate and/or decisive action. However, much of today’s leadership challenge involves building relationships, finding shared objectives and creating environments where different organisations can work together effectively.
My own experience leading the commissioning and procurement hub in Buckinghamshire has demonstrated this repeatedly. We have often had the most impact when partners have aligned around a shared purpose and are willing to approach problems collectively rather than organisationally.
Lesson Three:
Make time to think
One of the often-overlooked benefits of development programmes is the opportunity to pause.
Like many senior leaders, much of my week is occupied by meetings, emails, decisions and competing priorities; and carving out time to process and/or reflect can be difficult.
But colleagues on the course all agreed that this is fundamental to us delivering well in our roles, and thus is one of the most important leadership disciplines.
Taking a step back allows us to challenge assumptions, consider alternative perspectives and think more strategically about the decisions we make. It moves us beyond simply reacting to events and helps us become more intentional in how we lead.
The programme deliberately created space for reflection, and some of the most valuable learning emerged from those quieter moments.
One comment from a colleague has stayed with me in particular. They reflected on how new ideas land within organisations. Do they arrive like a raindrop falling into a puddle, creating ripples that spread outwards? Or do they land like the same raindrop hitting concrete, making a brief splash before disappearing altogether?
It was a passing observation rather than a major discussion point, but I’ve found myself thinking about this a lot – and what this means for how I lead within my service and what I can do more to encourage and enable a culture of innovation and creativity.
As leaders, we all want innovation, creativity and continuous improvement. The question is whether we create the conditions for ideas to take root and grow, or whether they’re lost amongst the demands of daily business.
Looking ahead
The future of local government will undoubtedly remain challenging. Rising demand, financial pressures and increasing complexity aren’t going away any time soon.
It’s important that we recognise and are honest about these challenges, but engaging with colleagues and peers through the programme made me feel genuinely optimistic.
Not because the challenges have become any easier, but because of the quality, commitment and generosity of the people leading across the sector. Throughout the programme I met leaders who were willing to share their successes, their frustrations and the lessons they’d learned along the way. Those conversations reinforced something important: while leadership can sometimes feel lonely, none of us are leading alone.
Looking back, I expected to leave with new tools and techniques. I did. What I didn’t expect was the lasting impact of the conversations, relationships and moments of reflection that happened between the formal sessions.
One of the key challenges for us as leaders is not whether we’ve got all the answers, but whether we create the conditions for learning, innovation and collaboration to spread beyond ourselves.
For me, the relationships, insights and reflections from this programme have certainly created ripples. If local government leaders continue to learn from one another, challenge one another and support one another as openly as I experienced throughout this programme, I’m confident those ripples will extend far beyond any single course or organisation, helping us deliver better outcomes for the communities we serve.
And ultimately, that’s what effective leadership is all about: not simply making an impact ourselves, but creating the conditions for that impact to grow, spread and endure long after we’ve moved on.