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The pressures and challenges facing local government mean this is a critical time for effective political and managerial leadership. Joint development involving officers and members is an important way for authorities to galvanise their capacity for leading change and making progress.
Some of the issues to consider in joint development are
•Historic member/officer culture and how this will impact the learning environment and scope of the programme
•Different understandings of member and officer roles and how this could influence behaviour and full participation
•How we develop trust and confidence to enable openness and meaningful engagement while retaining appropriate boundaries between members and officers
•Potential tensions between members from different parties and how they communicate their role on the programme
•pre-programme communication to clarify expectations and identify concerns
•Clear goals for the programme emphasising the benefits to the people of North Lincolnshire
•Identifying programme evaluation criteria early, to promote value for money, buy-in and ownership
•How attendance is managed especially for mandatory parts of the programme
•How we encourage meaningful participation rather than representation, especially from members
•The credibility and impartiality of facilitators/consultants
We believe these can be overcome by getting participants to address them at the very outset, by working together to:
•gain clarity on the desired outcomes
•identify potential barriers / how to minimise them (and their role in this )
•agree how they can maintain clear boundaries / roles
•create shared aspirations and engagement
